South Korean Migrants in China

South Korean Migrants in China

An Ethnography of Education, Desire, and Temporariness

  • Author: Ma, Xiao
  • Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
  • Serie: New Mobilities in Asia
  • ISBN: 9789463726252
  • eISBN Pdf: 9789048553808
  • Place of publication:  Amsterdam , Netherlands
  • Year of digital publication: 2024
  • Month: January
  • Pages: 190
  • Language: English
This book is an ethnographic account of education and migration from the perspective of three groups of South Koreans in contemporary China: migrant parents, children/students, and educational agents. The book reveals how these temporary migrants make choices, plan their trajectories and engage with the authorities, both in China and South Korea. Migrant subjectivities among these groups are driven by and respond to the education-migration regimes of both the sending and receiving countries. As ‘people in between’, they occupy flexible and multiple positionalities that are transnationally distributed. However, paradoxically, they experience a juxtaposition of privilege, integration and separation, which is indicative of the Chinese style of internationalisation. The book adds weight to the argument that China is a temporary destination for foreigners and not one for long-term settlement.
  • Cover
  • Table of Contents
    • Acknowledgements
    • 1 Introduction
      • Education as a Lens: Korean Migrants In-between Two States
      • Educational Desire: Agency in Temporary Migration Regimes
      • ‘Foreigners’, ‘Immigrants’ and Chinese Internationalisation
      • ‘Temporary Residents’, ‘Blood-kins’ and Korean Globalisation
      • A Multi-Scalar Ethnography
    • 2 Temporary Residents’ Community in Beijing
      • Come and Leave: South Korean Migration to China From the 1990s Onwards
      • Emergence, Development and Dispersal: the ‘Koreatown(s)’ in Beijing
      • The Variation in Ethnic Incorporation
      • Ethnic network
      • Ethnic category
      • Ethnic association
      • Conclusion
      • Bibliography
    • 3 The Internationalised Education of China and the Globalise
      • International Schools in China: Beijing as a Hub
      • Internationalised Chinese Schools: Integration and Separation
      • Internationalisation of Higher Education in China: Talent as a ‘Profit’
      • Overseas Korean Schools in China: The Patriotic and the Pragmatic
      • The ‘Education Exodus’ of South Korea
      • Conclusion
    • 4 Educational Desire in School Choice: Identities of Home, Destination and the World
      • ‘Language Obsession’: a Sino-centric Cosmopolitanism?
      • International/Bilingual Education Fever: The Quest for Social Status
      • Concerns About Chinese Schools: Undesirable Integration
      • Anxiety About the Korean School: Home-oriented Cosmopolitanism
      • Conclusion
    • 5 Desirable Homecoming: The Pursuit of Tertiary Education in the Context of Temporary Migration Regimes
      • Return Migration in the Asian Context
      • ‘Why not an American University?’
      • The Motivation to Return Produced by Temporary Migration Regimes
      • Prolonging Their Stay: Creating ‘Eligible’ Returnees from Overseas
      • Hakkyo and Hagwŏn: Indispensable Intermediaries in Homeward Journeys
      • Conclusion
    • 6 Internationalisation in Chinese Education: The Quest for Entry to a Top Chinese University
      • Choosing to Stay: From ‘Chibang’ to Centre
      • ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Students: The Desire to Enter Tsinghua and Beida
      • ‘High’ and “Low’ Thresholds: Desirable Students and the Internationalisation of Chinese Education
      • Segregation and Integration: Korean Students at Chinese Schools
      • Compliant and Canny Agents: A Bridging Service for Clueless Students and Chinese Universities
      • Mr Kim and Changchun Guojibu
      • Mr Paek and Ch’ingan Ipshihagwŏn
      • ‘Illegal’ Ipshihagwŏn and ‘Exemplary’ Guojibu?
      • Conclusion
    • 7 Conclusion
      • The People In-Between
      • Temporary Migrants and Temporary Migration Regimes
      • Desire as a Socio-Political Force in Migration
      • Understanding Chinese Internationalisation
      • Afterthoughts
      • Bibliography
    • Index
  • List of Illustrations
    • Figure 1 Number of South Korean Nationals in China (2005–2021).
    • Figure 2 The ‘Koreatown(s)’ in Beijing.
    • Figure 3 Wangjing Xiyuan Siqu.
    • Figure 4 The Community Policing Studio in Wangjing Xiyuan Siqu.
    • Figure 5 Seoul Sweet City in Yanjiao, Hebei Province.
    • Figure 6 The ‘Shrinking’ Korean Businesses in Wangjing in 2019.
    • Figure 7 A Korean-Chinese-Run Real Estate Agency in Wangjing.
    • Figure 8 A Korean Business Cluster in a Residential Compound in Wangjing.
    • Figure 9 A Lunch Break at One Bridge Class at Wangjing Experimental School.
    • Figure 10 The Number of International Students in Chinese Higher Education Institutions (2003-2017).
    • Figure 11 Number of Korean Students Studying Abroad (2000–2014).
    • Figure 12 Attending a Parent-teacher Meeting at an International Bilingual School in Beijing.
    • Figure 13 ‘Let’s go to the world!’.
    • Figure 14 Enrolled Student Number in KISB (Grade 1–12) in 2013 and 2014.
    • Figure 15 White Envelopes Filled With One-month Tutoring Fees.
    • Figure 16 Study Abroad Agencies (Yuhagwŏn) in Seoul.
    • Figure 17 The Student Dormitory on Shilla Campus in Suburban Beijing.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

By subscribing, you accept our Privacy Policy