Chinese In Pre-Colonial And Colonial Korea, 1882-1945

Vladimir Tikhonov- Professor, East Asia Studies, University of Oslo

Contrary to the commonly accepted wisdom, Korean society never was “ethnically homogeneous,” even before the onset of the epoch of multiculturalism in the 1990s in South Korea. In pre-colonial and colonial Korea, ethnic Chinese – mostly from Shandong – were the main non-Korean ethnic group residing in Korea, alongside with (much more numerous) Japanese. By 1910, they numbered ca. 2000; by 1931, however, the number reached ca. 61000, most of them being manual workers and petty traders. The presentation will focus on the roots of generally negative perception of resident Chinese in Korean pre-colonial and colonial press and literature. It will also emphasize the efforts towards Sino-Korean solidarity by both some anti-Japanese nationalists and leftists in colonial-time Korea.