International Ethnic Networks and Intra-Ethnic Conflict: Ethnic Trust and its Demise Among ...

242 Pages·2013·5.63 MB·English

INTERNATIONAL ETHNIC NETWORKS AND INTRA-ETHNIC CONFLICT:
ETHNIC TRUST AND ITS DEMISE AMONG KOREANS IN CHINA
By Hyejin Kim
A dissertation submitted to the
Graduate School-Newark
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
in partial fulfillment of requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Graduate Program in Global Affairs
Written under the direction of
Professor John Cantwell
and approved by
tc. fa*-* I A-
o
Newark, New Jersey
May, 2006
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UMI Number: 3234413
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2006
Hyejin Kim
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ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS
International Ethnic Networks and Intra-Ethnic Conflict:
Ethnic Trust and Its Demise among Koreans in China
By Hyejin Kim
Thesis director: Professor John Cantwell
This thesis examines interactions between South Koreans and ethnic Koreans
who have lived in China for decades (Korean-Chinese). Since the normalization of
Sino-Korean diplomatic relations in 1992, South Koreans have moved to China in
large numbers for business and schooling. In China they have come into contact with
Korean-Chinese, with whom they have emphasized ethnic solidarity. Korean-Chinese
have worked as mediators between the Chinese government and Korean businessmen,
as managers of Chinese laborers for Korean businessmen, as interpreters and
translators between Chinese and Korean companies, as maids, tutors, and service
providers for South Koreans, and as dock workers shuttling between the two countries.
The maintenance of ethnic characteristics of Korean-Chinese despite several decades
of separation from the Korean peninsula helped erect a bridge of ethnic trust on which
economic transactions took place.
To study this interaction, I conducted interviews with South Koreans,
Korean-Chinese, and Chinese in Korean communities in several cities of northern
China. Korean-Chinese did prove to be crucial to South Korean activities in China.
Yet, against expectations that ethnic Koreans would cooperate well, this thesis finds
that ethnic conflict has exploded between them. Decades of separation and the greater
socio-economic change in South Korea during that time created differences between
ii
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South Koreans and Korean-Chinese in their cultural and economic expectations. Still,
when the prospect to reunite emerged in the early 1990s, South Koreans and Korean-
Chinese spoke of their “one ethnicity” that would be the basis for cooperation. Only
after becoming mutually dependent have members of the two Korean groups
recognized their differences.
By showing how ethnic identity underpins transnational flows of people and
resources but also how those flows transform ethnic configurations, this thesis
contributes to debates about the interaction of globalization and community.
iii
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction... 1
Chapter 2: Korean Migrations to and within China... 24
Chapter 3: Ethnicity or Nationality? Korean Identities in China... 53
Chapter 4: South Korean and Korean-Chinese Business Relations in China... 78
Chapter 5: Korean Business, Intra-Ethnic Conflict, and Adaptive Strategies... 112
Chapter 6: Relations between Korean-Chinese and South Koreans in the Service
Sector... 146
Chapter 7: Community Networks and Activities... 170
Conclusion... 221
Bibliography... 226
Vita... 234
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List of Figures
Figure 1-1: South Korean Direct Investment in China... 3
Figure II-1: The Population Distribution of Korean-Chinese in 2000... 43
Figure II-2: Job Distribution by Sex among Korean-Chinese in 2000... 47
Figure II-3: The Population of Korean-Chinese and Han-Chinese in the Yanbian
Autonomous Region... 49
Figure IV-1: Volume of the Export and Import of Korea with China and the United
States... 80
Figure IV-2: Foreign Investment by SMEs as Proportions of Total South Korean
Foreign Investment... 82
Figure IV-3: Hourly Wages of Manufacturing Laborers... 83
Figure IV-4: Purposes of Korean Investment in China... 85
Figure IV-5: Distribution of Korea Investment in Eight Zones of China... 93
Figure IV-6: Amount of Investment in China by Korean and All Foreign Companies
by Region... 93
Figure IV-7: Composition of Company... 95
Figure V-l: Insiders and Outsides in the Chinese Workplace... 124
Figure V-2: Employment Relations in Korean Firms... 136
Figure VI-1: Age Distribution of Korean-Chinese in Beijing, 2000... 151
Figure VI-2: The Number of Korean Travelers in Japan and China... 152
Figure VII-1: Korea Networks in China... 183
Figure VH-2: Distribution of Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry... 185
Figure VH-3: The Structure of Cultural Festivals... 208
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List of Tables
Table IV-1: Selling Structure in China (1993-2001)... 86
Table V-l: South Korean Investment in China by Province... 127
Table VH-1: The Number of Students in the Beijing International School... 215
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Chapter 1: Introduction
Do greatly increased flows of people, goods, and money across borders
undermine ethnic identities or reinforce them? Has intensified interaction between
diverse peoples made them more similar or more different? International changes in the
last few decades have raised these questions about the relationship between globalization
and ethnicity.
This dissertation takes up these questions through a study of South Koreans in
China. Ethnic networks have played an important part in facilitating South Korean
business and life in China. With the opening of diplomatic relations in the early 1990s,
South Koreans and Koreans who have lived in China since before the Chinese revolution
rediscovered each other. Ethnic trust between them underpinned the movement of South
Korean investment and people into China. The larger implication of this argument is that
ethnicity and globalization are not always at odds. On the contrary, global links can even
run more easily along ethnic lines.
However, as South Koreans worked with Chinese-born Koreans, problems arose
and the viability of the network has declined. Ethnic trust between them has turned to
distrust and even prejudice between the two parts of the ethnic network. This dissertation
thus shows how ethnic networks have been crucial to globalization, but also how those
networks can be broken down by challenges to the ethnic trust that underpins them.
Ethnic Koreans in China
This dissertation addresses Koreans in China who belong to one of two
nationalities. The ethnic Koreans in this story are either citizens of South Korea or of the
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People’s Republic of China.
South Koreans in China
Between 1949 and 1992 South Korea recognized the Republic of China on
Taiwan as the government of China. Still technically at war with a member of the
Communist world, the Republic of Korea was reluctant to establish diplomatic relations
with mainland China. While other countries began investing in China from the late 1970s
or early 1980s, South Korea got a later start because of its relations with Taiwan. When
China and South Korea engaged in trade, it had to be through a third country such as
Taiwan or Hong Kong. But with the normalization of relations in 1992 South Koreans
started going to China in large numbers.
Business has been the primary reason for South Korean movement to China.
Like other foreign businessmen in China, South Koreans have been interested above all
in the cheap labor force. They have set up factories, especially in electronics and textiles,
and exported their products back to South Korea or directly to other markets. China has
quickly become the major foreign base for South Korean manufacturers. Figure 1-1
shows the rapid increase of business interests of South Korea toward China. The figure
depicts the rise of South Korean direct investment in China from 1992 to 2004. In 2004,
for example, manufacturing investment in China occupied 62 percent of South Korea’s
total manufacturing investment in foreign countries (Export-Import Bank of Korea,
www.koreaexim.go.kr. 2005). Service sector investment has also boomed, particularly in
real estate, restaurants, and lodging facilities.1
Education has been another purpose of South Koreans’ moving to China. Going
1 In 2003, real estate became the second largest target of investments.
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