The Advantage of Transnational Coethnic Networks

Abstract

This is a case study of the cross-ethnicization and globalization of an ethnic food by entrepreneurial Korean Chinese. Korean Chinese (also referred to as Joseonjok or Chaoxianzu) in China came from a strong agricultural background with little tradition of commerce and no tradition of consuming lamb meat. However, when Xinjiang-style barbecue-lamb skewers were introduced to their community in the early 1980s, Korean Chinese fell in love with this exotic food. Soon, Korean Chinese entrepreneurs began opening their own barbecue-lamb-skewer restaurants. Within the next two decades, they transformed this humble street food into a luxurious gourmet food through various innovative measures. They also globalized the barbecue-lamb-skewer business by expanding it to other cities in China, South Korea, Japan, the United States and beyond. Based on fieldwork conducted in Korean Chinese communities in China, South Korea and Japan, we found that their transnational coethnic networks were the key behind this intriguing success in ethnic entrepreneurialism. This paper explores how the Korean Chinese developed their transnational coethnic networks, and how these networks contributed to this formerly non-coethnic lamb-skewer business.