My research concerns the building of an ethnic policy in China in
the 20th century- both pre-and post-1949 (Communist victory on
Mainland). I look at how identities have been mediated- both by
the state and groups themselves- and what purposes this has
served. My focus is on Northeast China, and I am using the
Korean community as a case study. Koreans migrated north into
China in the late 1800s for economic reasons and then after 1910,
fleeing Japanese repression. It is in China that the Korean
Communist Party is founded and gains its strength, thus making
them an interesting group. Also, Korean culture has remained
relatively "intact" until the exception in China.
Vanessa Sterling
Dept. of History
Univ. of Pittsburgh
3P01 Forbes Quadrangle
Pittsburgh, PA 15260