Dreams in Flux

This chapter examines how the lived experiences of Korean Chinese labor migrants from Yanbian, China, are structured by the peculiar rhythm and temporality imposed by the visa regulations of the South Korean government. The regulations limit stays in South Korea, requiring repetitive migration, leading to a spatial division: South Korea as a place for making money and Yanbian as a place for spending it. The chapter details how, under these split spatial practices, migrants have internalized a back-and-forth rhythm that serves as a governing force on the laboring body, thereby making care for the body more difficult and prolonging its exploitation by intensive labor.