INVENTING ETHNIC MUSIC: VOCAL MUSIC OF THE KOREAN ETHNIC MINORITY IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Chaoxianzu, members of the Korean ethnic minority in China, predominantly reside in the Yanbian Korean Minority Nationality Autonomous Prefecture. In the prefectural capital of Yanji, many Chaoxianzu households watch national and transnational TV stations by means of satellite TV systems. They also enjoy a variety of popular music, of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Western origins, available through commercial recordings, the Internet, and the broadcast media. Despite Chaoxianzu's growing access to and interest in national and transnational popular cultures, the major Chaoxianzu broadcast media and record labels continue to promote only certain types of popular music that conform to the government-sanctioned image of the Korean ethnic minority in China. In this essay, I examine Chaoxianzu popular songs that have been produced and published by the government-sponsored broadcasting and recording companies based in Yanji-the Jilin National Audio-Visual Publishing Company and the Yanbian Television Broadcasting Company. Based on ethnographic data collected from Yanji, I explore the significance of Chaoxianzu popular music and its stylistic creations. In doing so, I show how Chaoxianzu popular music provides a space for Korean minority musicians to construct and affirm their ethnic cultural identity in the face of an influx of global popular cultures.