This paper gives historical and social consideration on the pregnancy, growth, differentiation and restructuring process of Korean-Chinese enterprises since China’s reform and open-door policy in the late 1970s. The paper sheds light on the rural reform and the formation of Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs) in the initial stage, the extension of ethnicity-base private business in the early 1990s, the formation of large enterprises and Korean-Chinese entrepreneurs towards China market, and analyzes the features of the Korean-Chinese enterprises from the historical context. This paper has two main implications. First, it arranges the history of Korean-Chinese enterprises in China’s 30 years of reform and opening up. Second, at this point of time of North Korea’s economic system reform, the formation process of Korean-Chinese enterprises suggest an alternative to the analysis of the formation of a free-market system and corporate model in North Korea. China and North Korea are geographically close, and their economic cooperation is also close. Thus, the development of Korean-Chinese enterprises has significant implications on the formation of a market economy in North Korea.