Sound of the Border: Music and Identity of Korean Minority in China

Sound of the Border: Music and Identity of Korean Minority in China by Sunhee Koo is a well-argued, nuanced, and important contribution to Asian studies and to the literature on Chaoxianzu, or Koreans who have migrated to China, mostly between the 1860s and 1940s (called Chosŏnjok in Korea). Although the numbers of Chaoxianzu have been substantial, they have not received as much attention in the English-language literature compared to other Korean diasporic communities, such as Korean Americans or Korean Japanese, the latter of which have recently been featured in the hit American television drama Pachinko based on the novel by Min Jin Lee. Like the Korean Japanese, or Zainichi, the Chaoxianzu have developed a complex diasporic identity in their adoptive state vis-à-vis their relationship to their now divided and distinct “homelands” of North and South Korea. Interestingly, Koo has also written several articles on Zainichi Korean music making,¹ and...