Minority Ethnic Clothing

Chaoxianzu

Population: 2.5 million

Distribution: Most Chinese of Korean descent (Chaoxianzu) live in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture that borders North Korea in Northeast China.¹⁵ This area is known for an abundance of lush, green public parks and fertile river basins. Other autonomous Korean districts lie in the surrounding provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning

Economy: The environment in Yanbian is ideal for growing rice and beans. In addition to tourism in the scenic areas, this region is known to be a key location for Chinese football (American soccer).¹⁶ Many players for the national team are drafted from this area.

Language: Chaoxianzu speak Korean and/or Mandarin Chinese. Many of these people are Chinese citizens who hold onto their Korean heritage, so they speak both languages.¹⁵

Traditions: The neighboring countries of Korea and China have enjoyed a long history together. Koreans have been migrating to China for hundreds of years with a large migration in the 19^th century due to natural disasters in Korea and again in the 20^th century to flee from foreign invaders.¹⁵ In the past, the Chaonianzu were great farmers. Currently, they strive to attain higher education and are one of the most educated ethnic minorities in China. A harmony was established by the Koreans living in China who wanted to preserve their cultural heritage by identifying connections with the Chinese such as a shared belief in Confucianism – a set of moral, social, political, and philosophical thought that greatly influenced a number of Asian countries.

Chaonianzu use a unique age reckoning system that was first developed in China.¹⁷ When a child is born, he or she is considered one year old after having survived the period spent in the mother’s womb. Afterwards, the birth is celebrated not on the day that the child was delivered but on the first day of the lunar year. If a child is born just before the Lunar New Year, it will be considered two years old according to the Asian age reckoning system but only days old according to the western system. 

Traditional Chaoxian dress is known as hanbok, translates as “Korean clothing.”¹⁸ Hanbok, like hànfú, consists of multiple garments put together to make one outfit. Women’s clothing consists of three pieces: chima, jeorgori, and goreum. The chima is a long skirt that was originally worn by upper class women.  A shorter, calf length skirt was worn by common women. The jeogori is an upper garment that covers the arms and upper torso. Women adorn the jeogori with a goerum – a colored ribbon that ties the jacket together by the neck or chest.  Men’s clothing consists of multiple pieces as well: baji, jokki, and magoja. The baji refers to all pants. While men too wear jeogori, they also wear a jokki (vest) or magoja (jacket) over it. These two pieces were originally worn by men but have mainstreamed to be worn by women as well. Nowadays, many Chaoxianzu have abandoned traditional dress for more modern and urban styles.

This work by China Learning Library @ George Mason University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.