Xinmin District spreads across Changchun's eastern side and contains the city's largest concentration of ethnic Korean residents — a community that has been present in this part of northeast China for generations, with roots in the late Qing and early Republican period migrations from the Korean peninsula. The neighbourhood has Korean-language signage, a range of Korean restaurants serving the real food of the Korean diaspora rather than the adapted versions common elsewhere, and a social texture that is distinctly different from the Han-majority districts.
Walking through the Korean commercial streets near Xinmin Square gives a sense of Changchun's multicultural northeast identity — a reminder that this region has been shaped by Korean, Manchu, Han Chinese, Russian, and Japanese populations, all of which left traces in the present city.