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Koreans in Kando and “Struggle for Clothing”-Between Cultural Identity and Political Identity-

Lee, Dongjin 1

1경북대학교

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ABSTRACT

Kando is a region where Koreans settled earlier than the Chinese and formed a majority. The Chinese government intended to expel the Koreans from Kando or naturalize them. The symbol of naturalization was to wear the Chinese hairstyle and clothing, a clear form of cultural assimilation. The Joseon Koreans could easily embrace assimilation with the Chinese with their willing belief in sinocentrism. However, Joseon did not regard the Qing Dynasty as belonging to the sino-culture and rather had a belief in the so-called ‘petit sinocentrism’ that Joseon had inherited from the Ming Dynasty. Thus, Koreans in Kando resisted the order to wear the Qing hairstyle and clothing imposed that the Chinese government imposed. Moreover, the idea of keeping their cultural identity―‘cultural (clothing) nationalism’―was sometimes shown in the form of ‘land nationalism’. However, with ‘the nation’ disappearing after Korea had been colonized, as such ‘land’ had lost its meaning. Instead, the Koreans in Kando sought after ‘autonomy’ between the Chinese and Japanese authorities. This autonomy could be granted by either of the two countries or should be obtained by Koreans themselves. In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang government forced the Chinese outfits on the Koreans as the condition of naturalization. But in the early 1930s, the Chinese Communist Party, which had fought against the Japanese Manchu invasion, decided to grant nationality to Koreans in Kando. These Koreans were the main force of the communist movements in the area, and the Chinese attire was not imposed on them. This meant that the Koreans in the region were granted their separate cultural (ethnic) identity and political (national) identity. Furthermore, this privilege provided the foundation on which the Koreans and the Chinese in the area could be united and helped to solve ‘the problem’ of the Koreans in the Kando.

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