#koreainchina

[hanjanamja]

KOREA IN CHINA - KOREATOWN, SHENYANG (沈阳）

The final location on my trip to China this march was a visit to Shenyang   (沈阳) in northern China. Shenyang was the old capital of the Qing Dynasty, and thus has an assortment of historical sites, including Shenyang Imperial Palace.  The palace is a smaller version of the Forbidden Palace in Beijing.  

While I was there in March it was still quite cold.  So I didn't spend too much time traveling around the city.  Instead, I headed straight for KoreaTown.  KoreaTown is a lively part of the city complete with restaurants, Korean shops, Korean chain stores, and several jjimjilbangs (찜질방).  

I stopped first into a small Korean restaurant.  Upon entering, the woman greeted me with an 안녕하세요.  Ahhhh, after five days traveling in China it was comforting to hear that familiar greeting.  I spoke to the woman for a while in Korean and then ordered and ate my 비빔밥:

After dinner, I stopped over at Angel-in-us for a coffee and some wifi:

[hanjanamja]

KOREA IN CHINA - CHINESE PEOPLE'S ANTI-US WAR MUSEUM

Address: No.7 Shanshang Road, Zhenxing District, Dandong, China

Back in March, I visited Dandong (丹东), a city in Northern China that borders North Korea.  In fact, from this city you can look across the river directly into North Korea.  As one might expect, Dandong has a mix of both Chinese and Korean culture that makes it a unique place to visit.  Here, you can visit restaurants owned and run by North Korea, see vehicles drive directly between North Korea and China on one of the only bridges to link the two countries, and hear citizens speaking both Chinese and Korean. 

One place of note is the "Chinese People's Anti-US War Museum", a museum dedicated to China's efforts to fight off America and support North Korea during the Korean War.  As an American living in South Korea, it was interesting to see another perspective of the war. 

Perhaps the most glaring observation of my visit: Aside from a few banners written in Korean, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO KOREAN WRITTEN ANWHERE IN THE MUSEUM.  All descriptions are written in Chinese and English only.  One can quickly conclude that this museum is strictly meant as a message for Americans and local Chinese and was not constructed in any way to reach out and show North Korea support.

Below are a glimpse of what lies inside this museum:

Despite this sign promoting the relationship between China and North Korea, notice that there is no Korean written anywhere on the sign:

The Below photo shows perhaps the only Korean Hangeul shown anywhere in the museum:

[hanjanamja]

NORTH KOREAN KOREAN vs. SOUTH KOREAN KOREAN

In my recent trip to Dandong (丹东）， China, I explored a few different North Korean restaurants and sites along the border.  In talking with a North Korean staff member at the Korean restaurant and viewing signs written in Korean, I began to notice a few differences from learning Korean in South Korea.

The most striking contrast is the fact that the two countries use completely different words to refer to the language itself:

South Korean’s refer to Korean as: 한국말 or 한국어 (Hangukmal)

North Korean’s refer to Korean as: 조선말 or 조선어  (Joseonmal)

Joseon comes from the Joseon dynasty (1392-1897), which was a very important period in Korean history and was when the Hangeul alphabet was created. 

I first realized this when I asked the waitress at the North Korean restaurant to speak in Korean.  As she is used to greeting visitors in Chinese, she first spoke to me in Chinese.  I used the South Korean word for ‘Korean’ to ask if I could speak in Korean.  When she looked at me puzzled after repeating several times, I simply just started speaking in Korean and all was fine.  

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Another difference?  South Korean has quite a lot of Konglish.  That is, words taken directly from English but changed slightly to match Korean phonetics. 

North Korean, on the other hand, does not use much English.  I asked my Korean teacher about this recently and she suggested that North Korean has more borrowed words from Russian. 

However, there were a few Konglish words I recognized on Korean signs, but where spelt differently than the same word in South Korea.  For example, the word television is written as follows:

South Korean:  텔레비전

North Korean:   태래비죤

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The word for “friend” is also different in the two countries. 

South Korea: 친구 (Chingu)

North Korea: 동무 (dongmu)

Apparently, 동무 was used all over Korea in the past, but in the South it is now only used to refer to ‘comrade” rather than ‘friend.”

[hanjanamja]

KOREA IN CHINA (RECENT TRAVELS)

In early March, I took a short trip to explore Korean communities and historical sites in Northern China.  My travels took me to Dalian (大连)， Dandong (丹东）， and Shenyang (沈阳）. 

Dalian lies on the coast of the Yellow Sea and is just an hour flight from Seoul.  Given it's close proximity, it has a pretty large Korean population.  Korean restaurants and stores can be seen scattered throughout the city.

Dandong lies right on the border to North Korea.  From the riverbank of Dandong, you can look out over the river to North Korea.  Much of the stores, restaurants, and signs in the city also include Korean.  The city also has a museum dedicated the China's efforts in the Korean War, somewhat humorously titled the "Anti-US War Museum" or the "Museum of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression".  It also hosts a few North Korean-run restaurants which includes North Korean staff members.  In some locations, you are also able to view North Korean television broadcasts (which were still airing Olympics while I was there even a week after their completion). 

Shenyang has a very lively and busy Korean Town located in the heart of the city.  It is complete with several Korean restaurants, a few Jimjilbangs (Korean saunas), and some Korean chain stores and cafes (Lotteria, Angel-in-us Coffee).  It also has quite an excellent memorial to the individuals in China affected by attacks from Japan in the early 1900's (which had a similar historical focus to the museum located at Seodaemun in Seoul that accounts similar events in relation to Japan in the 1900's).

I will post a few entries on each site I visited, as well as some information I gathered on the differences between the Korean language as spoken in South Korea and in North Korea.