Nationalism and Ethnic Identity in the Sino-Korean Border Region of Yanbian, 1945–1950

This article chronicles the evolution of ethnic politics in the Yanbian region, focusing on the Chinese Korean communist leader Chu Tŏk-hae during the Chinese civil war and the early Korean War. Chu's advocacy of Chinese nationality for ethnic Koreans is juxtaposed with his cooperation with North Korea, conflict over North Korean refugees, and examinations of the Yanbian region's role between the People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The "Resist America and Aid Korea" movement provides the most dramatic example of how Chu and ethnic Koreans in Yanbian expressed a uniquely tinged Chinese nationalism while continuing to lend support to North Korea. The article thereby aims to contribute to the regional history of Northeast Asia, add texture to debates on Chinese and Korean nationalism in that region, and reveal new aspects of Chinese Korean agency in the earliest years of Chinese Communist Party control.