A post in the Imprisoned Bear topic caught my eye. Apart from language and culture, are there any racial differences between Chinese and Koreans? Are Koreans simply Chinese who live in the Korean peninsula for thousands of years and developed culturally apart, or are they from a single group of people who migrated into different places?
Well, if you go back far enough, I’d imagine that’s true of everyone. 
I have read that the Chinese look down on the Koreans as a lower class culture. It would seem, however, that they are pretty much the same genetically. Pretty good example of pure racism if this is true.
I’m a bit of an Anime fan, and I think I’ve gleaned a few things about how these cultures see each other. As always, people can correct me if I’m wrong. Japanese and Chinese tend to think of Koreans as lower class peasants, kind of the same way that rich whites is America look at rednecks. Koreans tend to think of the Chinese as arrogant, self-important pricks. Then there’s the Japanese, who by everyone’s account are arrogant, self-important pricks.
Just doing my part to promote global harmony. 
Well, I’ve met Chinese who lived in Korea and they are discriminated against. They cannot own more than one house, are barred from government jobs etc. And the Koreans will not marry the Chinese there unless they are poor etc.
OTOH, I’ve not met any Chinese who view Koreans as peasants, rather as people who’re exotic.
The discrimination of Koreans who live in Japan are well known. No Japanese citizenship for even 3rd generation Japanese born Koreans.
I cannot comment on racial differences (and don’t see any ultimate need to, since only a miniscule number of the quater-million bits of information on our DNA is involved in racial distinction), but I will offer one note I’ve always found interesting: the Korean language is structurally closer to Finnish and Hungarian than it is to Chinese. Some basic words are an indicator: Koreans say “dong” the same as we say “dung” for feces. The Korean word for dog is pronounced “sickie,” similar to the verb to “sic” your dog on someone (the Korean "“omah” for mother doesn’t count, since almost every language has a nursing-inspired “M” word for mother). Apparently the Koreans are an eastern branch of the same Steppe people that also branched west to create the Magyars. Or at least they can claim to be so more strongly than the Scots, who once claimed descent from the Scythians!
According to Mrs. Kunilou, the ethnic rivalries in eastern Asia make the eastern European ethnic rivalries look like a Sunday School picnic. It’s not only Chinese vs. Korean, it’s Vietnamese vs. Laotian, Indonesian vs. Filipino and on and on.
She once jokingly gave me an overview of the hierarchy/feud order and when she was finished I asked “what about the Koreans?”
“Oh, everyone hates the Koreans.”
I haven’t heard of the Finnish-Korean connection and the examples you cite seem to be inaccurate and the connections a bit tenuous. Not that I am refuting the connection (I really don’t know), just that the argument for it was a bit weak.
“Dong” is pronounced with a longer “o” sound and not like “dung”. Plus, “dung” is an english word. What is the Finnish or Hungarian equivalent? “Sickie” is pronounced more like “seck-ee” and is more akin to “bastard” or somesuch, depending on the context. “Gae” is the common word for dog. “Seck-ee” is used in phrases which correspond to “son of a bitch” in english which may account for connection of the two.
I am Korean though I will concede that my Korean isn’t as good as it should be but I believe native speakers will agree with my assessment above.
I do remember seeing a language chart at the Exploratorium in SF some years back. It showed the lineage of different languages. A couple of “nodes” in the chart were unconnected to any of the others and one of them was Korean. While the Korean alphabet was a distinct break from the Chinese character system (though you will still see Chinese characters in Korea), I always assumed that the language derived from Chinese.
I stand corrected, the articles I have read dealt with the Japanese and the Koreans, not the Chinese. Sorry.
Funny you should ask. I have a Chinese girl visiting me these days and just a couple days ago I saw an Asian woman on TV who I know is of Korean descent. (The sound was off but would have made no difference as she was speaking English) Anyway, I asked my friend “where is that woman from?” to see if she could tell, and without the least hesitation she said “Korean!”. I asked why and she said the eyelid fold (I forget the name). I did notice the Korean woman has it more pronounced than the Chinese.
So, to answer the OP, it seems (generally speaking) Korean are slightly different from other Chinese BUT, remember China has something like 60 different ethnic groups which are quite different from each other.
As for “racism” I believe pretty much it is human nature to identify with one’s own group and pretty much everybody does that except that western manners have taught us to repress it and not show it. Other peoples do not have this value of politeness and are more open about their views. It is not necessarily racist as much as cultural.
Sailor brings up an important point. Just who are the Chinese? The Manchus who live next to Korea aren’t considered to be Chinese by most Chinese.
Books talk about how the Manchus came and took over China. The thing is China’s population is so big whoever takes it over winds up assimilated into the Chinese people as there are so many of them.
Just like Austrians are everybit as German as folks who live in Germany.
The Slovenes are considered Slavisized Germans, while the Slovenes call the Austrian Germanic Slavs. It depends on who does the looking.
This is a slightly, well more than slightly, off topic hijack. With apologies to the OP.
I have been to many Asian nations. I can look at a Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Vietnamese and tell you exactly who belongs to what area. My wife asked me how I could tell the difference. To be honest, I do not know.
Can anyone here do the same? How can you tell the difference?
I am a Korean adoptee, so I look at racial differences from a very “white American” view… It’s taken almost 26 years of practice but I have made some observations about Asian facial features:
The Koreans tend to have that “frying pan” face - round and somewhat flat, with big jolly cheeks (think Margaret Cho). The Korean eyelid also tends to have a puffier appearance than some of our other yellow brothers/sisters.
The Japanese tend to have a somewhat of an overbite (not quite buck teeth, but definitely an overbite of noticeable proportion) - think Kristi Yamaguchi - not the most obvious example, but if you look close enough…
The Chinese are the most difficult to peg; they fall in to what I think of as the “Everyday Asian” category - If they don’t look obviously Korean or Japanese, they’re probably Chinese (think Ming Na Wen from ER as the most visible example). This is not always fool-proof because my sister (also Korean) and I are sometimes mistaken for Chinese.
Keep in mind that this is a generalization! However, I have found this to be accurate enough that I can now look at Asians and 8 times out of 10 get their nationality right 
I concur with the observations of the last post, and I would add that Japanese sometimes have heavier brows. I wasn’t sure about that for a while, but I remember seeing a Chinese actress wear a fake uni-brow to play a Japanese, so I guess I’m not the only one. I think, though, that it’s just a matter of looking at enough members of each group for a long enough period of time, rather than learning a few indicators.