Chinese Koreans (Chaoxianzu), residing predominantly in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, are one of 55 minority nationalities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Pre-PRC Chinese Korean music was largely traditional vocal or Western-style music; since 1949, Chaoxianzu have constructed their own music, using traditional music practices from Korea, re-created along government guidelines on creating a progressive and ethnically distinct minority culture. Focusing on Chaoxianzu kayagŭm music and its musicians, I illustrate the diasporic context in Yanbian as a foundry of hybrid Korean identities, embodying the Chaoxianzu’s unique political and social reality with access to two Koreas and the PRC.

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