花大錢，沒人氣
南韓中華街 破落無華人

編譯陳世欽／報導

最近的某個上班日，南韓仁川中華街一片死寂，中午用餐人潮散去後，街況變得和上午一樣的寧靜。紅色燈籠、閃耀的牌樓、「歡迎蒞臨中華街」的標語原意是讓遊客留下深刻的印象，如今則徒然襯托周邊社區缺乏人氣。 

吸引觀光客 仁川先闢建 

紐約時報報導，四年前，仁川市政府斥資改造當地的一個破落華人小社區，使它成為南韓首見的中華街，以吸引中國大陸的投資人及觀光客。部分南韓城市隨即推出類似的計畫，卻因為資金與旅居當地的華僑人數不足等因素而進展有限。即使在華人一八八○年代即已進駐並聚集成村的仁川，常住的華人也只有大約四百人，主因是廿世紀期間南韓政府刻意壓縮華人經商空間，迫使數千名華人陸續離去。 

中國迅速崛起，海內外中國人不斷累積財富，連帶造就拉斯維加斯、杜拜、貝爾格勒、羅馬尼亞都伯伊斯堤等地中國城，但對南韓人而言，中國城計畫卻被歷史問題拖累。 

千百年來，華僑遍布全球，所到之處必有繁榮興盛的中國城，朝鮮人則一直將華人拒於門外。即使近代與中國大陸關係不睦的日本也有橫濱等三座人聲鼎沸的中華街。「沒有中國城的國家」一書作者伊仁熙（譯音）表示：「朝鮮半島緊鄰中國大陸，卻不曾出現成熟的中國城，相當奇怪。韓國人不缺自我認同，卻經常自認須與中國保持距離。」 

朴正熙打壓 華人跑大半 

朝鮮國勢最衰微時期也是當地中國人人數最多的時期。十九世紀，日本與中國為爭奪對朝鮮半島的影響力而明爭暗鬥。雙方與西方國家最後在仁川取得特許權，建立不受朝鮮法律管轄的商埠。 

日本對朝鮮半島實施殖民統治期間，中國的商人與勞工依然絡繹於途。日本殖民統治一九四五年結束時，旅居仁川的華人多達數千人。但一九六○及七○年代的朴正熙強人統治時期，南韓政府刻意壓縮華人經商及擁有土地的空間，迫使許多華人轉往台灣及美國發展，留下的華人只能經營中國餐館，尤其是醡醬麵館。 

膚淺無美感 怎是中國城 

專欄作家趙宇成（譯音）表示，仁川的中國城不是真正的中國城，而是當地政府的人工產物，非常膚淺做作，毫無美感。 

在仁川經營餐館的范彥江（譯音）表示：「早年我在這裡成長時，它是全南韓最黑暗貧窮的地方，因為有辦法的華人都已離去。沒有華人的地方，能叫中華街嗎？」

【2007-03-12/聯合報/A14版/兩岸／國際】

韓國唐人街缺少中國人

　美國《紐約時報》3月2日文章，原題：韓國的唐人街缺少的就是中國人 最近的一天，韓國不那麼繁華的唐人街裏，一切都顯得那麼安靜。午餐時間的稀疏人流離去，只留下空蕩蕩的街道，看起來就像早晨時一樣。閃閃發亮的拱門、懸掛的紅燈籠以及高高聳立的“歡迎來到唐人街”的標誌本來是為了吸引遊客，反而凸顯出唐人街的冷清。 

　　為吸引中國的投資者和不斷發展壯大的中國遊客，4年前仁川當地政府把一個幾近荒廢的華人聚居區修建成了韓國的第一個唐人街。沒多久，韓國又有6個城市的官員宣佈了建造唐人街的計畫，不過由於遇到了一大堆障礙，沒有一個唐人街獲得真正的發展，要麼缺少資金，要麼缺少華人。

　　仁川的華人聚居地舊址可以追溯到19世紀80年代。但現在，即使在這兒也只有約400名華人。上世紀時，這裏生活有數千名華人，但當韓國採取限制他們經商的政策後，多數華人離開了。

　　中國的崛起以及中國人和海外華人財富的不斷增長在世界各地催生了眾多的新唐人街，如美國的拉斯韋加斯、阿聯酋的迪拜、塞爾維亞的貝爾格萊德和羅馬尼亞的伯伊斯堤。由於地處“中央王國”的邊緣，數百年來韓國人一直把中國人拒之門外，而這個時期大批中國移民在亞洲和西半球建立了日益繁榮的唐人街。即使在當代與中國關係緊張的日本(請比較原文)，也有三個欣欣向榮的唐人街。

　　“韓國離中國那麼近，乘飛機只有一個小時的路程，所以當想到這裏從來沒有一個發展完善的唐人街時就讓人感到奇怪。”研究海外華人的韓國專家、日本一家大學的助理教授尹晶喜說。

　　韓國唐人街斷斷續續的發展也反映了韓國對正在崛起的中國存在的矛盾心理。近年來，韓國一直努力加強同這個龐大的鄰國的關係。中國是韓國的第一大貿易夥伴。為數眾多的韓國人在學習漢語。很多人密切地關注著中國如何解決朝鮮等問題。然而，韓國擁抱中國的同時也存在擔憂，害怕受到中國的壓制。“如果這個唐人街能發展成一個真正的唐人街，”餐館老闆范先生說，“我們必須讓那些離開的華人回來或者帶來新的華人。如果沒有華人，我們怎麼能叫它唐人街呢？”▲

　　（陳一譯）

《環球時報》 ( 2007-03-05 第06版 )

This Chinatown lacks only one thing — Chinese 

By Norimitsu Onishi 

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/01/news/korea.php

INCHEON, South Korea: All was quiet in South Korea's non-bustling new Chinatown on a recent weekday. The lunch-time trickle was over, leaving the streets as deserted as they had been in the morning. The shiny new arches, the ubiquitous red lanterns, the towering "Welcome to Chinatown" sign, all magnified the neighborhood's inactivity.

Hoping to lure ever-increasing numbers of Chinese tourists and investors, the local government here in Incheon, just outside Seoul, transformed a dilapidated Chinese toehold here into the country's first Chinatown four years ago.

In no time, officials in half a dozen other cities across the country announced plans to build their own Chinatowns, despite a host of obstacles ranging from a lack of capital to, well, a shortage of Chinese residents.

China's rise, as well as the growing wealth of both Chinese and overseas Chinese, has given birth to new Chinatowns in places as varied as Las Vegas, Dubai, Belgrade and Dobroiesti, Romania. But for South Koreans, Chinatown plans are fraught with historical subtexts.

Sitting on the rim of the Middle Kingdom, Koreans warily kept the Chinese out of their peninsula for centuries. If Korean officials traveled to Beijing to pay tribute to China's emperor, they at least took pride in the fact that there was no Chinatown back home.

Chinatowns flourished in every corner of Asia and in the far reaches of every other continent. If San Francisco, Paris and London had Chinatowns, so did Sydney, Johannesburg and Lima. They took root in three boroughs in New York and even in three cities in Japan, the only other Asian country besides South Korea where the Chinese never succeeded in gaining economic power.

"Korea is so close to China, not even an hour away by plane, so that makes it even odder that there has never been a full-fledged Chinatown," said Yi Jung Hee(李正熙), a South Korean expert on the overseas Chinese and the author of "A Country Without a Chinatown."(チャイナタウンのない国：韓国華僑経済史)

"Korea had its own identity but always felt the need to protect itself from China," added Yi, who is now an assistant professor at Kyoto Sosei University（京都創成大學）in Kyoto, Japan.

It was during Korea's weakest period that China's presence here reached its peak. In the 19th century, after the West forced unequal treaties on Japan and China, these two countries fought over the Korean Peninsula.

They, along with Western nations, wrested concessions here in Incheon, with the Japanese and Chinese settlements abutting each other.

Japan eventually defeated China and later colonized Korea. But Chinese merchants and laborers kept gravitating here, so that several thousand lived here by the end of Japanese rule in 1945.

In the decades that followed, Chinese ran businesses here and in the heart of Seoul. But in the 1960s and 1970s, under the military rule of Park Chung Hee, South Korea carried out policies designed to curb Chinese business activities and restrict land ownership.

Chinese emigrated to Taiwan or the United States. Those remaining were effectively restricted to running Chinese restaurants.

"When I was growing up here, this was the darkest and most impoverished area of Korea because all the Chinese had left," said Fan Yenchiang, 48, owner of the Tae Rim Bong restaurant here. "It wasn't a neighborhood that people came to visit."

By early this decade, only a couple of hundred Chinese were left here.

But by then, South Korea's trade with China was booming, and Incheon officials were working on turning this historic footnote into a full-grown Chinatown.

The authorities aggressively courted Chinese investors and spent the equivalent of about $18 million to put up signs and lampposts and build a Chinese Cultural Center. Local governments in China donated artifacts for the center and a statue of Confucius, as well as three arches leading into the neighborhood, which sprawls across a hill and overlooks the harbor here.

"In Chinatowns across the world, merchants themselves band together to raise the funds to build arches," said Chae Jin Kyu, a city planning official. "But this may be the only Chinatown in the world whose arches were donated by mainland China."

The placement of one arch became knotted with the local history.

山東 Province asked that its arch be erected in a spot that was near the local government office, which also happened to be inside the former Japanese concession.

Some Korean residents objected that it was too close to the local government office; others saw the request as China's backhanded retribution to Japan for an earlier humiliation.

"This was their idea of settling scores from a 100 years ago," said Cho Woo Sung, 59, a columnist for the local newspaper, Incheon Ilbo, and a local historian. "This was just China trying to show off its new power."

"This is not a real Chinatown," Cho added. "It's a creation of the local government — very shallow and artificial. What is this? Do Chinese come here? No. There's nothing beautiful here. Plus the parking's terrible."

The Chinatowns' fitful progress — 400 Chinese now live here — reflected South Korea's larger ambivalence toward the reemergence of China.

South Korea has been strengthening ties with its big neighbor in recent years, even as it has put distance between it and the United States.

Still, South Korea's embrace of China has been tempered by the historical fear that this country could be suffocated.

China's claim in recent years to Goguryeo — an ancient kingdom that straddles the northern part of the Korean Peninsula and northeastern China and that Koreans regard as an integral part of their history — sharpened those fears in South Korea.

Last month, South Korean athletes participating in the Winter Asian Games in 長春, China, caused a diplomatic kerfuffle when they held posters stating that Baekdu, a mountain in that area in both China and North Korea, was Korean "territory."

(Baekdu，白頭山，中國稱長白山，參見附圖)

So how much of Korean territory are Koreans willing to cede for the sake of Chinatowns? Can you build a Chinatown without Chinese?

"Chinatowns should be where the Chinese live," Sun Meiling, 40, a third- generation Chinese-Korean, said.

Sun, 40, who owns three shops here with her husband, left South Korea to do business in China for a decade. "But in 2002 we heard that they were building a Chinatown in Incheon, so we decided to come back," Sun said.

Fan, the restaurant owner, heads a local merchants' association that was formed in 2004 and now has 73 members. It includes 50 new arrivals from mainland China, though the number is only a fraction of what the authorities had hoped to attract.

Fan said that obtaining visas for Chinese was a big obstacle and that a mainland Chinese businessman's plan to open a $200,000 foot massage center had fallen through because of his inability to get visas for Chinese therapists.

"If this Chinatown is to become a real Chinatown," he said, "we must bring back the people who left or bring in new people. How can we call this a Chinatown if there are no Chinese here?"