Visual History of Korea

Jjajangmyeon, Korean Chinese dish invented in Incheon by Chinese migrant workers

Traditional Korean architecture involves Hanok, buildings mostly built with interlocking lumber and clay walls. Korean architecture also uses granite stones which are abundantly available all over Korea.

In the 19th and 20th century, western missionaries introduced western brick buildings to Korea. Most of the brick building work was done by Qing dynasty “Hwagyo” the overseas Chinese workers.

The Myeongdong Cathedral, Korea's national cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul, was built with bricks by Qing dynasty “Hwagyo” workers in the late 1800's. Ehwa Women's University's brick building was also built by Qing dynasty Hwagyo workers.

According to Professor Yi Jung Hee of Incheon National University, "Qing dynasty workers were large-framed, cheap wage workers who were hired by Japanese to build the Supoong dam, a 900-meter long dam along the Amrok River (Yalu River) and Changjinho dam" better known as the Chosin Reservoir where US troops took severe losses against advancing Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) before retreating during the Korean War.

Incheon, the birthplace of Korea's best-known Chinese noodle dish Jjajangmyeon, has always been the gateway into the West Sea of Korea, also known as the Yellow Sea.

During the Joseon Kingdom period, foreigners in Korea were limited to living in exclusive foreigner settlement districts called Jogye, in Incheon. By law, foreigners were not allowed to travel more than 4 kilometers away from their respective enclaves in Jogye.

The Japanese jogye was first to be established in 1883, linking banking and commerce back to the city of Nagasaki, which had closest trade relations with Korea.

The Qing dynasty's Jogye followed in 1884 as neighboring nations were competing for their interests in Korea. Citizens from the rest of other nations such as the U.S., Germany, England, France and the surplus Japanese population in Korea shared an area called "Joint settlement districts."

Historically, the West Sea of Korea, the Yellow Sea, was Baekje Empire’s Mediterranean Sea, just as the Roman Empire’s main body of water was the Mediterranean.

The Qing Hwagyo exclusive settlement district called Qing Jogye overlooked the waters of the West Sea where overseas Chinese settlement grew its own vegetables and laid business roots in Korea.

Jjajangmyeon, the original Korean Chinese dish, was invented in Incheon by Qing dynasty migrant workers in Korea during the early 1900's when both Qing and Japanese business were competing to establish business roots in Korea.

"Chunjang, the black sauce for the Jjajangmyeon does not exist in Chinese cuisine outside of Korea" said Seo, Hak-bo, a restaurateur and a second-generation Chinese Korean whose father was born in Shandong province on the west side of the West Sea of Korea, also known as the Yellow Sea.

"I've visited all of China researching Chinese cuisine and I can say that Shandong, Balhae Bay, Korea and all of the surrounding land around the West Sea cook with green onion and garlic, while the rest of China cooks with ginger," said Seo.

Baekje's 22 vassal states called Damro, surrounding the West Sea(Yellow Sea) and covering the rest of Asian continent's coast included the Liang dynasty's territory in the Shandong Peninsula during the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589) period. Shandong Peninsula, where the famous Taishan Mountain is located, is only 450 kilometers from Incheon, Korea.

When researchers excavated the tomb of Muryeong (462 - 523) of Baekje, the 25th leader of Baekje, Emperor Muryeong's burial chamber was made with bricks, in typical Liang dynasty (梁 502 ~ 557) burial style, instead of the traditional stone-wall burial chambers typical of Baekje, Goguryeo, Buyeo, Shilla and Gaya confederacy.

Baekje people called Muryeong's death a "Boong" (붕 崩) - a clear reference to the passing of an emperor.

The Book of Qi, or Book of Southern Qi Dynasty (479 - 502), records a Baekje war against the Northern Wei Dynasty (386 - 534) of the Xianbei people.

In the year 490, hundreds of thousands of Wei cavalry attacked Baekje. King Dongseong the Great of Baekje defended Baekje with leaders of his vassal states, inflicting considerable damage to the Wei. As an emperor, Dongseong the Great promoted several of his generals to various vassal states in locations in modern day Hebei province near Beijing, Shandong province on the Yellow Sea, and Jiangsu province north of Shanghai, all along the Yellow Sea.

Generations of Qing dynasty Hwagyo have settled in Korea but their nationality remains as citizens of the Republic of China, Taiwan.

When Mao Zedong's People's Republic of China was launched in 1949 on the mainland, Qing dynasty nationals were stranded in Korea. The overseas Chinese population in Korea were forced to side with Taiwan since Korea had no diplomatic relations with the communist China, the People's Republic of China, until 1992.

When America needed inexpensive immigrant labor in the 1800's to build the First Transcontinental Railroads, which was originally called as the "Pacific Railroad," Qing dynasty migrant workers blasted their way through the rocky mountains from the west coast to Promontory Summit in Utah, connecting the first Transcontinental RailRoad on May 10, 1869.

While the Qing dynasty migrant workers were building the western half of the Transcontinental Railroads in the U.S. in the 1800's, kitchens set up at labor camps along the path of the railroad construction were the first of American Chinese Food restaurants where Chinese dishes are made with locally available ingredients.

The unique American Chinese food is unlike traditional Chinese food available in China. American Chinese food which restaurateur Seo describes as "too sweet" is immensely popular all over. Today, there are more Chinese food restaurants in America than there are all other fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, KFC, Wendy's combined.

In the 20th century, Qing workers were mobilized to build railroads by the Japanese colonizers who needed railroads to transport soldiers and weapons to wage war in Manchuria.

A tragic massacre of overseas Chinese took place in Pyongyang and other cities in Korea in 1931 during Japanese occupation.

"Some 200 Chinese workers were killed as a result of false Extra News printed in July 1931 by Chosun Ilbo incorrectly reporting the killing of Korean farmers in Jilin province in the NorthEast Manchuria by the Chinese." said Yi of Incheon National University.

Seo Hak-bo, 62, is a restaurateur and second generation Chinese Korean, a descendant of an overseas Chinese from Shandong province.

"In my 20s, I struggled with my identity. "Who am I" is an unending homework for all of us Hwagyo. I thought I was Chinese in my 20s. So I went to attend college in Taiwan with the intention of not returning to Korea but I quickly realized Taiwan was not my home,” Seo said.

"My blood is of Qing Chinese, but my flesh and bones are made of Korean rice, Kimchi and Makgolli, the rice wine of Korea." said Seo.

While Seo Hak-bo's father Seo Yoo-gong lived most of his life in Korea as a first generation immigrant, he never learned to speak Korean fluently. Korean law prevented the elder Seo and other overseas Chinese from owning farmland beyond their residences and required them to renew their temporary residency in Korea every three years.

But when elder Seo was dying in Orange County, California while visiting his daughters who immigrated to the U.S. one of the last words the elder Seo said was "I want to go home to Korea."

The Seo siblings had their father's body flown to Korea aboard the Korean Air and buried their father next to their mother at a cemetery in Paju, in Gyeonggi Province, Korea,

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