China’s Korean expats, students lament loss of jobs and opportunities as mass exodus comes into focus
- China was once seen as a land of opportunity for South Koreans, but as their businesses close and livelihoods come under threat, that perception has reversed
- However, not all Koreans can simply upend their entire lives – often built over several decades in China – and their struggle reflects a rising dilemma facing foreigners
For South Korean national Baek Hwi-jeong, China has not only been her home for nearly a quarter century, it’s also where she raised a family and became a seasoned businesswoman.
She moved to China in 1998 at age 30, accompanying her husband who had received a government scholarship to study at Peking University, along with their then one-year-old son.
Their move came amid the Asian financial crisis, and was just a few years after the 1992 normalisation of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea – a period that saw many South Koreans settle in China, forming large communities in major cities.
Baek saw this as an opportunity. In 2001, after her family had moved from Beijing to Shenzhen, she created a magazine business targeting the growing Korean expat population in the booming southern metropolis.
And her freely distributed Korean-language magazine, Kyomin Segye, found great success by featuring paid adverts for various Korean-owned businesses.
“In the first 10 years, there were around 100 to 150 advertisements in the weekly magazine,” she recalled. “At one point, the magazine was as thick as 2cm because of all the ads. Each month we would print around 40,000 copies.”
