随着中韩建交后两国关系的改善和经济交流增多,移居韩国的中国移民快速增长并一跃成为韩国最大的外国人族裔群体.运用统计分析和实地调查的方法,首先分析韩国的中国移民的人口结构变化,进而以首尔为例探讨中国移民的居住空间分布及其社会经济特征.研究发现,中国移民主要由中国朝鲜族、中国大陆居民和中国台湾人构成.其中,中国朝鲜族被视为韩国人的在外同胞,较易获取韩国签证,人口数量一直高居首位.现阶段,基于民族和语言的差异,在首尔形成三大中国人聚居区——延南洞的台湾人聚居区、大林洞的中国朝鲜族聚居区以及紫阳洞的中国留学生聚居区,打破了以往中国人在韩国社会难以扎根的情况,其作为中韩两国今后更进一步交流发展的媒介,亟须给予重视和关注.
Against the context of diplomatic relation establishment and an increase in economic exchange between China and South Korea, the number of Chinese people who have expatriated to South Korea soared over the last two decades. This population growth has turned the Chinese transmigrants into the largest ethnic group in South Korea. This study first analyzes the demographic structure changes of the Chinese transmigrants, and then sheds light on Seoul, South Korea, which is used as a case to examine the residential distribution and social-economic characteristics of the Chinese transmigrants. Based on the statistical analysis and first-hand data gathered from onsite surveys conducted in March 2016, we found that the Chinese transmigrants mainly consist of three groups: Korean-Chinese people, Chinese mainland residents and Taiwanese. In particular, the Korean-Chinese group has the largest population size within the Chinese transmigrants due to their ethnicity, who are treated as oversea Koreans by the South Korean government. At present, three Chinatowns have been formed and developed in Seoul, including the Taiwanese enclave in Yeonnam-dong, the Korean-Chinese enclave in Daelim-dong, and the Chinese students’ enclave in Jayang-dong. The Chinese transmigrants growth, and formation and development of Chinatowns in South Korea, which are the result of diplomatic relation establishment and economic exchange between the China and South Korea, have broken the situation that Chinese people are hard to put down roots in South Korea. At the same time, these Chinatowns are especially important and need lots of attention because of their role as a bridge between China and South Korea in further communications.