Korean Village in China

[Anchor Lead]

There is a Korean community in Manchuria, China comprising ethnic Koreans who moved there during the Japanese colonization of Korea. Residents of this town have retained many of the traditional winter customs of their Korean ancestors. Take a look.

[Pkg]

An hour's car ride from Yanji, China... takes us to a town called Jeongamchon Village where it's already the thick of winter. An earthen crypt dug in the front yard is filled with food for the winter including potatoes, radish and the fermented Korean cabbage dish kimchi. Rooms with the Korean floor heating system working very much in the traditional way were prepared two months ago. Heat comes from oak tree firewood as well as coal. Koreans moved to this area in China in the 1930s during the Japanese colonial era. Jeongamchon Village was once home to over 400 Koreans. Now young people have all left for the big city and only senior citizens remain. They gather at the local community center to fight loneliness.

[Soundbite] Kim Yeong-seon(68/Korean-Chinese) : "It's nice to gather around whether in the winter or summer. We all live alone."

The ethnic Koreans have lived here for some 80 years holding on to tradition and overcoming all kinds of adversity and hardship. They try to ease past memories singing the Korean folk song "Arirang."

[Soundbite] "Arirang, arirang, arariyo. Pass me over the Arirang hill."

They had to leave Korea against their wishes but their dwelling place in China appears just like the hometowns they left in their homeland.