Site Search:
 
Speak Korean Now!
Teach English Abroad and Get Paid to see the World!
Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

A Chinatown that only lacks one thing: Chinese
Goto page 1, 2  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion Forum
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Troll_Bait



Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: [T]eaching experience doesn't matter much. -Lee Young-chan (pictured)

PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:14 pm    Post subject: A Chinatown that only lacks one thing: Chinese Reply with quote

This is a little old (more than a week) but still relevant and interesting.
From the International Herald Tribune ...

This Chinatown lacks only one thing � Chinese

Quote:
All was quiet in South Korea's non-bustling new Chinatown on a recent weekday. The lunch-time trickle was over, leaving the streets as deserted as they had been in the morning. The shiny new arches, the ubiquitous red lanterns, the towering "Welcome to Chinatown" sign, all magnified the neighborhood's inactivity.

Hoping to lure ever-increasing numbers of Chinese tourists and investors, the local government here in Incheon, just outside Seoul, transformed a dilapidated Chinese toehold here into the country's first Chinatown four years ago.

In no time, officials in half a dozen other cities across the country announced plans to build their own Chinatowns, despite a host of obstacles ranging from a lack of capital to, well, a shortage of Chinese residents.

...


Page Two

Quote:
"This is not a real Chinatown," Cho added. "It's a creation of the local government � very shallow and artificial. What is this? Do Chinese come here? No. There's nothing beautiful here. Plus the parking's terrible."

The Chinatowns' fitful progress � 400 Chinese now live here � reflected South Korea's larger ambivalence toward the reemergence of China.

South Korea has been strengthening ties with its big neighbor in recent years, even as it has put distance between it and the United States.

...


.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
europe2seoul



Joined: 12 Sep 2005
Location: Seoul, Korea

PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:21 pm    Post subject: Re: A Chinatown that only lacks one thing: Chinese Reply with quote

Food is pretty good there...Koreanized of course but still.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
stumptown



Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Location: Paju: Wife beating capital of Korea

PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:35 pm    Post subject: Re: A Chinatown that only lacks one thing: Chinese Reply with quote

europe2seoul wrote:
Food is pretty good there...Koreanized of course but still.


Do they have authentic dim sum? The type where they bring the carts around to your table and you choose the dishes you want?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
europe2seoul



Joined: 12 Sep 2005
Location: Seoul, Korea

PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:44 pm    Post subject: Re: A Chinatown that only lacks one thing: Chinese Reply with quote

stumptown wrote:
europe2seoul wrote:
Food is pretty good there...Koreanized of course but still.


Do they have authentic dim sum? The type where they bring the carts around to your table and you choose the dishes you want?


Yeah right Smile An even an authentic one Smile
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
rocklee



Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:43 pm    Post subject: Re: A Chinatown that only lacks one thing: Chinese Reply with quote

stumptown wrote:
europe2seoul wrote:
Food is pretty good there...Koreanized of course but still.


Do they have authentic dim sum? The type where they bring the carts around to your table and you choose the dishes you want?


I didn't see this. You may have to go to Jackie Chan's for this in Coex.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
lowpo



Joined: 01 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:35 pm    Post subject: Re: A Chinatown that only lacks one thing: Chinese Reply with quote

rocklee wrote:
stumptown wrote:
europe2seoul wrote:
Food is pretty good there...Koreanized of course but still.


Do they have authentic dim sum? The type where they bring the carts around to your table and you choose the dishes you want?


I didn't see this. You may have to go to Jackie Chan's for this in Coex.


Just a quick question for everyone. Do you like Korean style restaurants or would you rather eat at a authentic Chinese restaurant.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger
venus



Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Location: Near Seoul

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:47 pm    Post subject: Re: A Chinatown that only lacks one thing: Chinese Reply with quote

lowpo wrote:
rocklee wrote:
stumptown wrote:
europe2seoul wrote:
Food is pretty good there...Koreanized of course but still.


Do they have authentic dim sum? The type where they bring the carts around to your table and you choose the dishes you want?


I didn't see this. You may have to go to Jackie Chan's for this in Coex.


Just a quick question for everyone. Do you like Korean style restaurants or would you rather eat at a authentic Chinese restaurant.


If you mean Korean Style Chinese food over authentic Chinese, then of course, authentic Chinese!

Authentic Korean over Authentic Chinese....? I'd opt for both on different days
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
seoulsucker



Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Location: The Land of the Hesitant Cutoff

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My [i]adult[i/] student, when asked what kind of Chinese food he liked, replied with a straight face, "Both. 짜장면 and 짬뽕."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mindmetoo



Joined: 02 Feb 2004

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That was front page on the IHT a couple weeks back. I had to laugh. I think I read elsewhere that Korea pretty much rounded up all the Chinese in the '80s and deported them. Now they're like "oh ummm... sure wish we still had some of those Chinese people around."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
stumptown



Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Location: Paju: Wife beating capital of Korea

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't been in a while but I'm going this weekend to a restaurant in Seoul by Garibong that's owned by a Chinese immigrant and serves some of the most awesome authentic Chinese food I've had here. If you speak Korean, you can manage to order but I just point to the pictures on the menu. I'll post the directions if anyone's interested. I also have to write down the name because it's in hanja.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ilovebdt



Joined: 03 Jun 2005
Location: Nr Seoul

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

stumptown wrote:
I haven't been in a while but I'm going this weekend to a restaurant in Seoul by Garibong that's owned by a Chinese immigrant and serves some of the most awesome authentic Chinese food I've had here. If you speak Korean, you can manage to order but I just point to the pictures on the menu. I'll post the directions if anyone's interested. I also have to write down the name because it's in hanja.


Yes, please.

ilovebdt
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Yahoo Messenger
thepeel



Joined: 08 Aug 2004

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think some Chinese food is good. But, since I have been in Asia, I've realized that I previously didn't have a clue as to what Chinese food was. Think, Ho Lee Chow..

Back to the OP. I always thought it was strange that every large city in North America has a Chinatown but Korea did not. I guess they just felt the need to protect themselves from the cultural, political and economic monster to their north and west.

As the Koreans become more wealthy and thus confident (as opposed to their current streak of insular arrogance) about their culture, I think you will see more acceptance of outsiders expressing their cultural artifacts in Korean cities. Currently, they think of everything not Korean or American/Western as "dirty". Thai's are "dirty". Chinese are "dirty". Malay's are "dirty" Africans are "dirty". They need to get past that.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pkang0202



Joined: 09 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would love some shrimp lo mein. I'd always get the hot red pepper (oil and flakes mix) on the side so I can mix it in with the lo mein to make it more spicy.

Hunan chicken, egg foo young, crab rangoon. I'm so hungry right now.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
thepeel



Joined: 08 Aug 2004

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had char-sew for lunch. Good stuff. But Chinese food (at least as cooked in Singapore) is very oily. Very very oily.

When I was in China I ate at few local haunts, and don't remember... But is Chinese food in China as oily as it is outside of China?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Roch



Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:13 am    Post subject: Re: A Chinatown that only lacks one thing: Chinese Reply with quote

lowpo wrote:
rocklee wrote:
stumptown wrote:
europe2seoul wrote:
Food is pretty good there...Koreanized of course but still.


Do they have authentic dim sum? The type where they bring the carts around to your table and you choose the dishes you want?


I didn't see this. You may have to go to Jackie Chan's for this in Coex.


Just a quick question for everyone. Do you like Korean style restaurants or would you rather eat at a authentic Chinese restaurant.


The latter.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion Forum All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group

TEFL International Supports Dave's ESL Cafe
TEFL Courses, TESOL Course, English Teaching Jobs - TEFL International