March 28, 2024
Evergreen

For Chinese students learning North Korean, Pyongyang is far away

A look at Yanbian University and the Hegemons of Study

Chinese students of Korean at Yanbian University are enrolled on a major called ‘North Korean language’ and receive extensive instruction in socialism. But few have chosen degrees in Korean out of any interest in the subject, which they in fact learn from Chinese Korean teachers and textbooks preferring the Southern variety of the language. As a result the DPRK, only 20 miles away, could not be further from their minds.

“Wait a minute everyone,” shouted newly-appointed banzhang, or class monitor, Jianye as the Korean grammar lesson ended and Group 14 stood up to leave with a bone-jarring scraping of chairs.

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