The Koreans in China are an unassimilated minority with their own written and spoken languages. They number about 1.2 million and live mainly in the Yen-pien Korean Autonomous District and the Korean Autonomous County, both located in Kirin Province. Many came to China around 1870, when North Korea was struck by famine; others crossed the border in 1910 and the following years to escape the Japanese, who conquered and annexed Korea. But later, even Yen-pien fell under Japanese domination for some 14 years, when northeast China was ruled by the puppet regime of Manchukuo.
Most of the Koreans of Kirin are rice farmers, but an increasing number are entering the labor force of Manchuria, which is a highly industrialized part of China. Yen-pien produces lumber, metals, and minerals such as gold, silver, iron, coral, and oil shale.
Yen-pien is also known as the "Land of Song and Dance," for the lively and outgoing Koreans love to express their feelings through dancing and singing. They are athletic, too: the men enjoy football and wrestling and the girls play games of jumping on seesawing boards or gliding through the air on swings.