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Political Organizations and Dynamics of Overseas Chinese Society in Korea: Focusing on Incheon Chinatown

  • 중앙사론
  • 2011, (33), pp.41-85
  • Publisher : Institute for Historical Studies at Chung-Ang University
  • Research Area : Humanities > History

CHANGHO LEE 1

1한국학중앙연구원

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the process of conflict and periodic change of political organizations on overseas Chinese society in Korea. Based on fieldwork this article analyzes how public political processes and personal relationships overseas Chinese in Incheon interact and face various tensions by focusing on political and economical organizations. Through this research I will illuminate how traditional socal capitals of Chinese like guanxi are transformed to political capitals and the significance of the changes that are taking place in overseas Chinese society in conjunction with the appearance of Western rationality. The important socio-political principles operating in overseas Chinese society in Incheon are guanxi(關係), renqing(人情), mianzi(面子), and bao(報). The banquet(qingke, 請客) is the place and space where these principles are comprehensively practiced. Therefore the ownership of such social capitals is an important virtue of a leader and the leadership is measured by how well he or she converts social capitals to political capitals. Nevertheless these socio-political principles of overseas Chinese society are negotiated and rearranged as the need for economic rationality and community service arose after the normalization between south Korea and China in 1992.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.