Early Chinese Immigration Analysis

Every individual leaves his or her country and resides in another country as a permanent citizen for a better life. This is the main incentive that explains why people from Korean diaspora left their country and settled down in the territory of Russia, China and the United States without hesitation. In both articles “Korean Emigration to the Russian Far East, 1860s-1910s” and “The Early Korean Immigration,” the authors discuss some typical issues that people from Korean diaspora and early Korean immigrants had encountered. Moreover, both authors analyze how people from Korean diaspora and early Korean immigrants built their relationship with local residents and other races. Although both Ban Byung-yool and Yong-ho Choe depict the living
attitude of people from Korean diaspora in oversea countries through their words, Choe’s article differentiates from Ban’s article that he emphasizes early Korean immigrants were active and positive in these countries under capitalism, such as the United States, while Ban’s purpose of writing his article focuses on expressing that people from Korean diaspora were passive and submissive in countries under imperialism and communism. In Ban’s article, he deems that people from Korean diaspora always stand on the passive side and they did not rebel at all. He introduces the reason why many people left Korea and moved to Russia, “Manchus asked the Korean Government to dispatch military troops against Russians in the Amur region. ”(Ban 116) Most of them are farmers with lower level or none of education. When they moved to Russia, they farmed and provided food to the Russian government to trade for the living permit in Russia. The author describes“ Russian authorities not only allowed the Koreans to cultivate these lands, but also provided seeds and foodstuffs.”(Ban 118) In their whole lives, they served for others to obtain living permit. They were used as solders to protect China and Korea and they later became cheap labor and food supply in order to survive in Russia. On the contrary, the Russian government welcomes these people from Korean diaspora after the war rather than expelling them because they did more efficient work than Russian farmers. Although the Russian government established some rules to control the rapid increase of Korean migration to Russia due to the pressure from Chinese government, the Russian government still provides opportunities for people from Korean diaspora to work for them. “ The Koreans announced that they would rather die from starvation in Russian territory than return to Korean,” this sentence indicates how daunting Chinese government and Korean government were that people from Korean diaspora were refused to return to their homeland during that time period. Therefore, people from Korean diaspora insisted to stay in Russia by doing the extreme hard work to pay back to the Russian government for their living permits. Ban’s words demonstrate how powerless these people from Korean diaspora were and they had to passively accept the work assigned by others. Choe’s words highlight the change of living attitude of early Korean immigrants.
Choe quoted Bernice B.H. Kim’s words in his article that “nearly all (Korean Immigrants) had been city dwellers” and “farmers ……made up less than one-seventh of the total number who came to the Territory (of Hawai’i).” (Choe 18) He suspects that the backgrounds and identities of most people who migrated to live in Hawai’i and worked at the sugar factory were forged. Early Korean immigrants are different from people from Korean diaspora, they believe it is proud to live in a western country and this motivation impels them to do something illegal. It can also be seen from how the author interpret picture bride. He refers a 19-year-old picture bride’s words “My parents would be very shame, so I can’t go back” and “I (married him)… … Then, I didn’t talk to him for three months, living together in the same house.” (Choe 29) Even though this girl’s words express her helplessness, it also reflects that early Korean immigrants‘ living attitudes dominant in their decisions whether to live abroad or not. The author also adds “Of course, not all the picture bride marriages were as disappointing as this one.” (Choe 29) Early Korean Immigrants gradually become active to make their living decisions. Especially, when the author mentions the mix marriage between Japanese and Korean or Korean and Chinese, it mirrors that Korean immigrants are positive to build relationship with other ethnical groups. And they send their children to high-level institutions for their children’s education. it explains that Korean immigrants are making efforts to coevolve with western people and intend to integrate their culture with western culture and other cultures. Thus, early Korean immigrants have more advanced and active thoughts than people from Korean diaspora. Overall, the migration movement of Korean people made contribution in the diplomatic relationship between Asian area and Western area. Additionally,
Korean people’s selflessness and persistence push the speed of evolution between different races.