In theMing dynasty, Yanbian was governed by the Jianzhou Guard (建州衛) and in the lateQing dynasty the area was divided into the Yanji (延吉廳) and Hunchun (琿春廳)subprefectures. From 1644 to 1800s, the Manchurian Qing state maintained a policy of disallowing Han Chinese immigration into traditionally Manchurian lands in order to ensure that the Manchu were not assimilated by the Han Chinese. However, this effort failed because of the trading and agricultural opportunities available to Han Chinese migrants in the northeast region which made it profitable to evade the rules, as well as later Qing relaxation of the same rules (Chuang Guandong) to discourageRussian encroachment. Thus, in the 19th century, Chinese immigrants migrated en masse from China proper to areas that were formerly off limits to Han Chinese migration.[5][6]
In the late 19th century, Korean immigrants migrated en masse from theKorean Peninsula to China. Korean (Joseon) migration intoNortheast China began in significant numbers in the last quarter of the 19th century and was mainly motivated by economic hardship on the Korean side of the border. After the Japanese annexed Korea in 1910, a small but significant number of migrants also came to Manchuria for political reasons.[7]
After the foundation of theRepublic of China, a second wave arrived. Of the 2 million ethnic Koreans in Manchuria at the time of the communist takeover, 1.2 million remained in the region after the end ofWorld War II.[citation needed] Many participated in theChinese Civil War, most on the side of the Chinese communists.
On the 3rd of September 1952, the Yanbian Autonomous Region was established.[8] This was the sixth of over 157 different administrative areas created in the 1950s for ethnic minorities in China.[9] In December 1955, Yanbian was 'administratively downgraded' to an Autonomous Prefecture[10] due to its 'insufficiently large' population.[11] It now sits one level below theJinlin provincial government which, despite containing many ethnic-majority counties, is a regional not an ethnic province.[11]
During theCultural Revolution, ethnic Koreans were killed and persecuted in Yanbian.[12] Many non-Han Chinese residents of Yanbian were suspected to be disloyal to the Chinese state, and subsequently beaten, killed, publicly humiliated, fired, exiled or imprisoned.[10]
Many Yanbianese Koreans died in theKorean Civil War. Of the Yanbianese fatalities, 90% were ethnic Koreans.[13]
In 1952, the Korean migrants comprised some 60% of the local population, but by 2000 that was down to 32%. The Chinese authorities subsidize Korean language schools and publications, but also take measures to prevent an emergence of Koreanirredentism in the area.[citation needed]
In July 1982,national census data indicates there were around 1.8 million ethnic Koreans in China, the overwhelming majority of which (over 755,000) residing in Yanbian. The provincial capital,Yanji, was around 56% Korean, with the highest concentration situated inLongjing County, at a 65.1% majority. Overall, the area of Yanbian was reported to be 40.3% ethnically Korean.[13]
From the late 1990s, theChaoxianzu have assimilated into mainstream Chinese culture with increasing speed, often switching to daily use of Chinese and choosing to attend Chinese-language schools.[2]
The rivers sustain 28 running water processing facilities. They created basins, which are suitable for agricultural uses, likerice paddies andbean farms.
The total registered population in Yanbian at the end of 2022 was 2.015 million.[14] The urbanization rate was 69.6% in 2022.[14] Between 1952 and 2002, Yanbian had among the highest rates of urbanization at 55.6%, 20 percentage points greater than the provincial average (31.3%) and 25 more than the national average (26.5%).[15]
As of 2005, the overallsex ratio among Yanbian Koreans is relatively balanced at 99.1, going against the trend ofsex-ratio imbalance across China, but significant differences emerge between urban and rural areas. Urban centers likeYanji show a lower sex ratio of 95.3, indicating more women than men, while rural counties have a higher ratio of 105.7, reflecting more men.[16]
In 1881, numbers of ethnic Koreans in Yanbian were less than 10,000.[13] By 1910, this number had increased 10-fold.[17]: 6 [18]: 77–78 [19]: 162
In July 1982,national census data indicated that 1.8 million ethnic Koreans lived in China overall, with 755,000 in Yanbian alone.[13] The proportion of ethnic Koreans in Yanbian Prefecture was reported as:
As of 2022, the population of Yanbian was predominantlyHan, who were estimated to make up 60.2%, followed by Koreans at 35.5%, and Manchus at 3.6%.[14] The ethnic composition according to the2020 census:[20]
Demographic Profile of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture
The GDP of Yanbian was aboutCN¥83.857 billion (US$12.479 billion) as of 2022[update]. Its per capita for 2022 was CN¥44,007 (US$6,542).[21] Its primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were worth CN¥7.652 billion (US$1.138 billion), CN¥33.527 billion (US$4.9285 billion), and CN¥42.708 billion (US$6.350 billion), respectively.[21]
During the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and Korea, education for ethnic Koreans in Yanbian was tightly linked to anti-Japanese resistance movements. As such, the Japanese government sought to exert their own influence over Korean learners. In Yanbian specifically, by 1928 Japanese authorities managed to enroll around 6,056 students across 38 schools, while Korean-run Christian, religious, and private schools enrolled a comparable number - 5,386 students - across 137 schools. In the 1930s, the Japanese government was able to impose further crack-downs on Korean-run institutions, banning the use of the Korean language in education.[13]
Following the collapse of the Japanese empire, local Koreans in Yanbian had to rebuild Japanese schools, which were shut down or abandoned. In fact, in the years after the Japanese occupation fell, more pupils were enrolled in education in Yanbian than before. The number of primary schools had risen from 557 in 1944 to 647 in 1949, and student enrollment grew from 96,800 to 129,800 in the same period. Middle schools increased from 18 to 31, while the number of enrolled students nearly doubled from 6,700 to 13,797.[13]
In the late 1970s, there was a rapid expansion in the number of Korean schools in Yanbian. 96 new primary schools and 27 new middle schools were opened between 1976 and 1982.[13]
However, since the turn of the 20th century, enrollment in Korean schools in Yanbian has been declining. Attendees of Korean-language schools have significantly lower fluency rates inMandarin Chinese, which inhibits socioeconomic mobility and cultural integration into wider Chinese society. Between 1996 and 2000, the number of Korean elementary schools in Yanbian fell from 256 to 183, and student enrollment was cut in half. Equally, attendance ofJoseonjok atHan schools in Yanbian more than doubled between 1987 and 2000.[22]
As of 2017, 303 in every 10,000 people in Yanbian hold university degrees, which is 2.13 times the national average.[11]
TheYanbian Museum was planned in 1960, and constructed in 1982. It contains over 10,000 exhibits, including 11 first-level artifacts. The exhibits' labels and explanations are bilingual in Korean and Chinese and tour guides are also available in both languages.[27]
Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture is an important region forChinese football. Over 50 years, more than 40 footballers have been selected by theChina national team.
The first professional football team in this prefecture isJilin Three Stars Football Club. From 1994 to 2000, this club had played each year in the top Chinese football league. In 2000, they were relegated from the top league. Because of poor economic conditions the club was sold toLucheng Group inZhejiang Province.
In 2016,Yanbian Football Club was sponsored by Shenzhen Funde Group (Chinese:富德集团) when they got the permission ofChinese Super League, since they acquired the 1st place in the Chinese Second League in 2015.
^Min, Pyong Gap (1992). "A Comparison of the Korean Minorities in China and Japan".International Migration Review.26 (1):4–21.doi:10.2307/2546934.JSTOR2546934.PMID12285045.
^Lovell, Julia (2019-09-03).Maoism: A Global History. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 114–115.ISBN978-0-525-65605-0.Events took a horrific turn in the frontier town of Yanbian, where freight trains trundled from China into the DPRK, draped with the corpses of Koreans killed in the pitched battles of the Cultural Revolution, and daubed with threatening graffiti: 'This will be your fate also, you tiny revisionists!'
^abc"延边州2022年国民经济和社会发展统计公报 - 中国统计信息网" [Yanbian Prefecture's 2022 National Economic and Social Development Statistical Bulletin].www.tjcn.org. 16 June 2023. Retrieved2024-01-06.
^Cite error: The named referencehuang was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).
^Cite error: The named referencejin was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).
^Cite error: The named referencesun was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).
^"吉林省人口普查年鉴-2020" [Jilin Province Census Yearbook-2020].Jilin Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved2024-01-06.
^ab"延边朝鲜族自治州2022年国民经济和社会发展统计公报" [Statistical Bulletin on National Economic and Social Development of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in 2022].Jilin Bureau of Statistics. 5 July 2023. Retrieved2024-01-08.[dead link]
^"Where Are We?" (Archive). Yanbian International Academy. Retrieved on October 1, 2015. "Yanbian International Academy 2728B Chaoyang Street, Yanji City, Jilin Province China 133000[...]吉林省延吉市朝阳街2728B 外国人学校 中国 133000" - Google Maps has it listed as "Yanbian Waiguoren School"
^Home page (Archive). Korean International School in Yanbian. Retrieved on January 10, 2016. "우) 133-000 中国 吉林省 延吉市 朝阳街 2728A 延边韩国国际学校"
延边朝鲜族自治州概编写组编写 (June 2009).延边朝鲜族自治州概况 [Overview of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture] (in Chinese). Beijing: Publishing House of Minority Nationalities.ISBN978-7-105-08642-9.