 | |
| Total population | |
| 1,702,479–1,893,763 (2023)[5][6][7] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Jilin,Heilongjiang,Liaoning,Shandong peninsula,Beijing and other Chinese cities | |
| Languages | |
| Korean Mandarin Chinese | |
| Religion | |
| Mahayana Buddhism[8] · Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Koreans |
Korean Chinese are Chinese citizens ofKorean descent,[11] who account for the vast majority of ethnicKoreans in China. The official term used in thePeople's Republic of China isChaoxianzu (Chinese:朝鲜族;Korean: 조선족;RR: Joseonjok, lit. "Joseon ethnicity"),[12][13][14] a term that is used only occasionally outside of China.[15][16] They are one of the 56 officially recognizedethnic groups by theGovernment of China and theChinese Communist Party, and the 15th-largestethnic minority in China according to the2020 census. InSouth Korea, they are referred as "compatriots with Chinese nationality" (Korean:중국국적동포; Chinese:中国国籍同胞).[17][18]
Most Korean Chinese are descendants of migrants from theKorean Peninsula who settled inManchuria primarily between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, especially during the famine inNorth Hamgyong in 1869–1870, after theJapanese annexation of Korea in 1910 and after theJapanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Many Koreans in Manchuria, both native descendants of prior immigrants and newrefugees fleeing theJapanese-ruled home country, joined theNortheast Counter-Japanese United Army inguerilla warfare against the JapaneseKwantung Army and thepuppet state ofManchukuo, among them a youngKim Il Sung, who later became thesupreme leader ofNorth Korea. After theJapanese defeat and end of theSecond World War, some of the Korean migrants chose to stay and acquired Chinese citizenship, forming their own communities in various settlements inNortheast China, especially in theYanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture andChangbai Korean Autonomous County inJilin province.[19]
Consequently, Korean Chinese have a dual identity: anational identity as Chinese and acultural identity as Koreans. Many Korean Chinese, educated under China's education system, often view theKorean War as ananti-imperialist struggle to "ResistAmerica and Aid Korea", reflecting the official Chinese narrative.[20]
TheChinese Communist Party had begun to include Koreans in official documents in 1928, however they had various terms to refer to them, such as:Gaoliren (高丽人; 'Goryeo people'),Hanren (韩人; 'Han people'), andChaoxianren (朝鲜人; 'Joseon people'). These terms are today used to mean Koreans regardless of nationality, though are sometimes used interchangeably or erroneously by those unaware of their distinction.[21] Following the first census in 1954, the term "Chaoxianzu" became the official name for the Korean ethnicity in China.[22]
Chaoxianzu's presence in China began intensively in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries. In the 1964 nationalcensus, the number of ethnic Koreans in China was reported at over 1.3 million, or 0.19% of the Chinese population. By 1982, this figure had grown by 30% to 1.7 million, but due to rapidly increasing birth rates across China, the overall proportion of Koreans actually dropped slightly to 0.18%. This ranked Chaoxianzu as the 11th largest minority in the country.[23]
As of 2021, the Chinese government officially recognized a population of around 1.7 million Chaoxianzu. It is important to differentiate between Chaoxianzu and South Koreans who might have acquired Chinese nationality, which together may sum up to approximately 2.11 million in 2023, according to the Overseas Koreans Agency of South Korea.[6]
Their total population of Chaoxianzu is 1,702,479 according to the 2021 Chinese government census.[24] High levels of emigration to South Korea for better economic and financial opportunities have contributed to a decrease in their numbers in China. Conversely, it is estimated that 42% (Approximately 708,000) of this Korean Chinese population now resides in Korea, maintaining their Chinese nationality. They are calledJaehan Joseonjok (재한조선족) orZaihan Chaoxianzu (在韩朝鲜族/在韓朝鮮族) (Chaoxianzu in Korea). Based on the data from the 7th population census conducted in 2020, it was observed that the population of the Chaoxianzu (Korean ethnic group in China with Chinese nationality) inJilin Province has fallen below 1 million, indicating a trend of dispersion across China. Out of 1.7 million individuals, around 700,000 are economically active in South Korea.[25] As of December 2019, the number of Chinese descendants residing in Korea amounted to 701,098, accounting for 27.8% of the total foreign population in Korea (2,524,656). This has made Chinese descendants the largest immigrant group in Korea.[26][27]
Based on the data from the "Chinese Ethnic Culture Resources," the Chaoxianzu population makes up about 0.14% of China's total population of 1.4 billion, ranking them 13th among the country's ethnic groups. The official Chinese government's census in 2010 reported their population as approximately 1.83 million.[28]
The majority of the Korean Chinese population resides in theYanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, which holds special significance as China's first ethnic minority autonomous prefecture. There is also theChangbai Korean Autonomous County and various other regions in China with a lower population density of Korean Chinese. Notably, around 700,000 Korean Chinese, which constitutes over 41.2% of their total population, live or have established residency in South Korea.[29]
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| Austroasiatic | |||||||||||
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| Indo-European | |||||||||||
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| Related | |||||||||||
Underlined: the 56 officially recognised ethnic groups ranked by population in their language families according to2020 census | |||||||||||
