Re: "The symbols were appropriated 1,000 [to] 1,500 years ago--they're Japanese at this point," MacLardy said.

Why would an ethnic Chinese run a Jajeongmyun restaurant with a
caricature of a chinky Chinaman as their logo?

They Came When Chajangmyon Was Yellow


By Philip Dorsey Iglauer
Staff Reporter


Li Chen Chiang, front, and three Hwakyo cooks pose in front of the
Chinese restaurant he and his wife Chang Teh Chi run in Sunhwa-dong,
Seoul.
/Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Korea's ethnic Chinese community epitomizes the cultural
cross-fertilization between China and Korea, and more than 100 years of
modern bilateral relations.

Li Chen Chiang and Chang Teh Chi are a typical married couple of
Korea's oldest immigrant community. They are third generation
Chinese-Koreans, called Hwakyo in Korean, and run a popular Chinese
restaurant in Sunhwa-dong, Seoul.

Even though their families have been here for over 100 years, they
carry alien registration cards like all foreigners here, opting to
maintain their Taiwanese citizenship.

``I love Korea, but I am proud of who I am and where I came from, my
culture and language,'' said Chang, 42, who operates the restaurant
with her husband Li.

Chang said her grandfather immigrated to Korea over a hundred years
ago, running a silk trading business in Inchon. He later moved to
Pusan, married a local girl and settled there. Li had a similar story.

His grandfather came to Inchon in his 20s to make it big in the booming
silk trade, but years later, the family settled into operating a
Chinese restaurant in Seoul.

``Hwakyo run restaurants not because we aren't allowed to do other
businesses, but because we know the business and do it well,'' Chang
said.

``I have a brother who is a doctor,'' added Li.

A survey reported in a 2003 U.N. report of 700 Hwakyo parents of
students attending school in June 2000, showed that 489 of them run or
are cooks at Chinese restaurants. There are about 500 Chinese
restaurants run by Hwakyo in Korea, according to the survey.

Li and Chang and their relatives run five Chinese restaurants.

Hwakyo are known to have introduced Chajangmyon when they first
immigrated to Korea, and this year is the 105th anniversary of Korea's
most popular Chinese food.

``Originally, Chajangmyon was yellow, not black as it is today,'' Li
said. ``After all, the dish actually came from a Shandong way of eating
noodles.''

``Chajangmyon nowadays is different, because caramel is added to give
it a sweeter taste,'' he added.

The immigration of Chinese began with just 40 merchants, most from the
Shandong area across the West Sea. This came after General Wu
Chang-ching, dispatched by the Qing Emperor in 1882 to quell a Korean
military uprising against foreign influence over the Choson Kingdom.

These merchants are said to be the origin of today's Hwakyo. At the
urging of Qing China, Choson Korea signed treaties with a number of
Western nations, including the United States, the same year.

There were as many as 120,000 Hwakyo in Korea until the 1970s. Since
then, most have left the country for Mainland China, the United States,
Canada, and countries in South America.

Like Li and his wife Chang, the majority of these ethnic Chinese remain
technically foreigners in the country, as most of them _ though
eligible _ have not applied for naturalization.

The government estimates there are about 22,000 Hwakyo in Korea. Most
live in big cities, including 8,000 in Seoul, 2,000 in Inchon and
Pusan, 1,000 in Taegu and 800 in Taejon.

``We love Korea and feel very comfortable with Koreans,'' Chang said.
``We like visiting China or Taiwan, but this is our home,'' Li added.


ephilip2005@xxxxxxxxxxx
03-19-2006 16:19

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