Yanbian (延边朝鲜族自治州; Yánbiān Cháoxiǎnzú Zìzhìzhōu; Korean: 연변조선족자치주) is a Korean autonomous prefecture in Jilin province, next to the border with North Korea and Russia.

Cities

Yanbian in China

• Yanji City (延吉市, 연길시) - The capital city
• Dunhua City (敦化市, 돈화시)
• Helong City (和龙市, 화룡시)
• Hunchun City (珲春市, 혼춘시) - City on the corner of both North Korea and Russia
• Longjing City (龙井市, 룡정시)
• Tumen City (图们市, 도문시) - A small city on the Tumen river that looks into North Korea

Other destinations

• Antu County (安图县, 안도현)
• Wangqing County (汪清县, 왕청현)

Understand

Over 2 million ethnic Koreans live in China, and this area has a large concentration of them. While there are some expatriates from North and South Korea, most of the ethnic Koreans here hold Chinese citizenship, making it the largest ethnic Korean community outside Korea.

Talk

Korean is an official language in this area, along with Mandarin Chinese due to the large number of ethnic Koreans. The dialect of Korean spoken here is the Hamgyong dialect, which is also spoken in Hamgyong province in North Korea, and is slightly different from the Seoul dialect which is standard in South Korea, or the Pyongan dialect which is standard in North Korea. Most younger ethnic Koreans in this area are bilingual in Korean and Mandarin, so Mandarin speakers should not have any problems communicating.

All official signs, as well as most restaurant menus in the area are bilingual in Korean and Mandarin.

Respect

Despite being Chinese citizens, the ethnic Koreans in China share a common culture with their North and South Korean counterparts. The various respect tips in the South Korea article generally apply to the ethnic Koreans in China as well.