earticle

영어

This study argues that affect toward Chinese in South Korea has been normalized as a form of everyday “hate” that goes beyond mere anti-China sentiment, and analyzes it through the theory of ‘banal racism’. Based on in-depth interviews with 10 Chinese international students in Korea- comprising both Hanzu and Chaoxianzu ethnicities- this study analyzes their experiences using the categories of ‘marginalization’, ‘problematization’, and ‘containment’. Among the three elements that constitute banal racism, marginalization refers to marking Chinese people as culturally inferior others, problematization involves framing Chinese cultural ‘differences’ as problems that need to be controlled, and containment refers to the self-censorship of Chinese individuals in order to conform to the imagined ‘normality’ of mainstream Korean society. This study reveals that hate grounded in banal racism does not always produce its intended effects. Ethnic Hanzu students tend to question or resist the everyday hate they encounter, rather than passively accept it. Some Korean-Chinese (Chaoxianzu) students responded to such hate while simultaneously exercising self-restraint. These acts of agency demonstrate that the hate toward others in South Korean society remains incomplete, a form of ‘futile hate’ destined to fail. However this study is limited to Chinese international students in their twenties within Korean colleges, a relatively protected setting. Future research should move beyond this group to explore how banal racism operates across wider social contexts and populations. By foregrounding the ineffectiveness of routinized hate, this study calls for critical reflection and urges South Korean society to move toward a more mature and inclusive democracy.