• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.167-181
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• 2010

This research was designed to explore the meaning of housing among Korean Chinese in Harbin, China. In particular, the meaning of housing was examined by using the pathway approach. Utilizing qualitative research methods, this study administered the in-depth interview on the oral history of an individual life, and the 5 elderly persons in their 60s and 70s participated in the individualized interviews that were conducted from May 28 to 31 in 2010. The main findings of meaning of housing were as follows; 1. Similarly to the meaning of housing in 1970s and 1980s in Korea, house was viewed as both a shelter for family members and relatives and a place for their comfort. 2. Prior to multi-story residences, Harbin had only 3 different forms of single-story houses available; Chinese style with Kang and soil room(地室), Korean style with 'Ondol', and Russian style with open floor and Pechka, The promotion at work enabled participants to move to multi-story residences, their moving time varied from 1970 to 1991, and the residential moving determined their current housing status. 3. Multi-story residences were available around 1970s, floor-heating system was introduced from 1990s, and high-rise apartments were built from 1998. Korean Chinese(朝鮮族) weren't satisfied with the spatial composition of individual units embedded into the Chinese culture, especially, entrance, kitchen, bathroom and veranda. 4. Based on assimilation through socialism, adaptation to socialist society and capitalist acculturation, the lifestyles of the interviewees were categorized into five types - capitalist-proactive(Ms. KS), socialist-pragmatic(Ms. J), socialist-inducive(Ms. KY), family centered-conservative(Ms. L), and socialist-adaptive(Ms. P). This study implies that housing-related services for Korean Chinese are necessarily provided so as to embrace their life style and cultural identity in housing design, and further studies need to be explored.