Korean Wave (Hallyu) in China

“Korean wave (Hallyu) was coined in China in mid-1999 by Beijing journalists surprised by the fast growing popularity of South Koreans and South Korean goods in China. ” However, the phenomenon of Korean wave flows into East Asia especially China during the early twenty-first century. Korean wave covers the craze for South Korean music, TV dramas, pop stars, but also for fashion styles, cosmetics and electronics. There are many reasons causing Korean wave being a popular mass culture in China.

Korean wave spread so successful because of the Confucian themes that East Asian cultures are more familiar with, typically dealing with traditional issues such as family, love, and filial piety. China in particular share a similar history with Korea. Furthermore, Korean government propagates their modernization Korean wave through media power. Extensively promoting Korean culture transnational makes it another reason Chinese suddenly start engaging in Korean cultures. As two countries both strongly pay attention to the international culture exchange, people are more likely try to understand and accept it.

The effect Korean wave has made on Chinese people is enormous. Daily life like watching dramas becomes popular and the story lines are discussed among youths and housewives. Due to the drama contains everything like music, fashion styles, pop stars and foods. Chinese people start imitating both the way of dressing, make-up putting. Korean restaurants also sprang up quickly like mushrooms. Korean language is also being chosen as students’ third language in order to understand more about the culture.

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Chinese start travelling to the filming location in Korea so as to enjoy Korean wave natively and it also helps Korean to obtaining another way of economy profit making. Korean traditional ethnics and education view also influenced Chinese people’s life in many ways. Despite those advantages, Korean wave does challenge the Chinese its own culture. Less attention is paid on Chinese its own entertainment industry. As teenagers are the main target audiences under the Korean wave, their world outlook and life values are influenced by it. Korean wave might limits their minds and stop themselves up on the surface.

There are two reasons which cause the emergence of Korean wave being widely accepted in China. Firstly and the most important reason is that both Korea and China share a similar history background. Those two countries have had a long historical relationship and both of them are influenced by the spirit of Confucianism. The similar social structure, etiquette and philosophy make Korean wave more acceptable in East Asian countries especially China rather than western countries. Due to globalizations’ rapidly expanding, Chinese people are no longer being confined to American pop culture.

However choosing the one which they think is more understandable. Furthermore, the ideology of Confucianism plays an important role in both old days China until now. However, the Chinese Culture Revolution in 1966 has extensively and perniciously damaged the culture understanding which cause the lacking of Confucius value nowadays. Lots of Chinese people can easily trace their traditional values like loyalty, filial piety, benevolence by looking at the Korean drama as those dramas always emphasis on the family relationship and ethnics.

Korean dramas are favored because of their richness traditional values which gives a good example showing China how to manage the Confucius value in modern society. It offers both a nostalgic reminder of what has been lost during modernization and an example of an Asian country that has modernized and has retained its traditions. Secondly, since media becomes the global popular culture communicating tool, Chinese people observed that Korean wave is actually a new inspirable culture that they had never experienced before.

Depending on the age, interests and values of the spectators, different types of Hallyu have been propagated to different target audiences. Due to the Chinese harsh education system, youths would more likely to accept the new culture with plenty of vigor. Those good-looking pop singer, actor and actress represent the Korean type beauty which is attractive and scintillating. Through both television and internet, young people and women in particular have passion in pursuing their dreaming celebrities and even imitating their way of dressing.

Although Korean drama does not have spectacular scene like what Hollywood prefers to have, oppositely the exquisite scene in film and the beautiful actors in drama give people a difference feeling. The Korean public broadcaster KBS has aired its satellite channel “KBS world” in China for both Korean and foreigners in 2007. KBS hopes their new service can boost Korean wave in China with a population of 1. 3 billion. Moreover, media production is promoted by national policy. Korean government continuously support and promote Korean wave to the whole world by improving their production techniques.

The range of implementation of Korean wave expands rapidly as the exposure rate of the word Hallyu increases. Chinese people start to chase the new phenomenon due to the promoting of media. Since the phenomenon of Korean wave flows in to China during the early twenty-first century. The effects that Hallyu has been made largely influenced Chinese people’s daily life, knowledge learning and also largely challenged the development of Chinese its own culture. As TV drama was the first Korean wave imported into China. Watching Korean drama in China is as popular as having Kimchi everyday in Korea.

Housewives become the typical group who sit in front of the television and so as youths. The synopsis has been widely discussed at people’s leisure which occupies a large time on their daily life. The successful promoting of Korean dramas is evidenced by the fact that they are now becoming part of the everyday program among different Chinese local television broadcasters. Furthermore even having Korean food, so often appeared in Korean dramas, has become a new fad among Chinese. Thus, Koreans in China and local Chinese people take this as an advantage.

So Korean style restaurants sprang up like mushrooms in China especially in big city like Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen. A report in the International Herald Tribune noted that "South Koreans are only just starting to realize that food can be just as profitable an export as semiconductors. ” Dae Jang Geum is the drama which well talks about one girl’s life in the royal court within the traditional Korean culture, royal cuisine and traditional medicine being mentioned as theme. After the drama was exported into China and was very well received.

Many restaurants named Dae Jang Geum and attracted consumers by putting Royal court cuisine as their shop sign. Also cited was the new appetite for Korean food in China where “Korean court cuisine has become immensely popular and sales of hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) and traditional herbal medicine have skyrocketed” Korean food suddenly becomes the most popular cuisine among China. Learning and emulating become another significance effects which putted on Chinese people. Stars of such dramas and pop singers have emerged as Korean popular idols among Chinese teenagers. Regional music channel like Channel

V in China featured Korean pop music videos which created so many K-POP fans. They vie with each other in imitating their fashion, hairstyle and also make-up. Even more dramatically, some Chinese women ask plastic surgeons changing their face into the celebrity who they like because of the advanced plastic surgeon technology in Korea. As drama Winter Sonata was played on TV, the main actor- Bae Yong Jun’s fashion style was commonly being imitating among male teenagers. The gentle refined glasses with the special carrying scarf dominated the fashion style during that time. Those style dresses were easily seen on the street.

Since people are more curious about Korean culture, study Korean language so as to better understands the meaning of the pop songs and dramas. More students take Korean as their third language after Korean wave has coming into China. Furthermore, Chinese see Korean as a good opportunity having and organizing travel tour. Apart from the well-known destination like Seoul, Seoraksan National Park and Andong, the resort island of Namiseom where Winter Sonata filming took place on turned into a famous travel destination for foreigners. People have desires to see and to feel the beautiful scene by their own eyes.

Korean wave offers an opportunity for Chinese to experience the Korean culture and Korean wave also offers Korean itself having the opportunity to show their success in transnational culture delivery. The economy benefits Korea obtained from Korean wave are also enormous. Apart from those stunning things Chinese see from Korean wave, it also challenges Chinese people’s thinking, way of living and its own culture maintenance. The strong propagating of etiquettes and ethnics toward different generation among the entire country from Korean dramas and TV programs provokes Korean’s traditional Confucius ideology.

That is the part of important culture which Chinese is losing little by little. Korean wave is not only propagating its popular fashion things but also propagating their social values and life styles. As reported “Chinese people yearn and dream for a bright life by watching Korean dramas. ” People have desire to yearn for the lost ‘love’ in the rapidly growing society. Korean typical love story lines give them any opportunity to escape from the reality and believe that love and beautiful things will always beat evil or malignant behavior. The social values which have been communicated through the drama eep reminding Chinese never throwing away the traditions to modernize the country. Nevertheless, there are also some disadvantages Korean waves deeply influenced China and Chinese people especially youths. Firstly Chinese its own entertainment industry is challenged by the transnational power from Korea. As Korean dramas and K-POP came into China, they have taken almost eighty percent of teenagers’ audiences concentrating on foreigner culture but forgetting the Chinese native entertainment culture. Secondly, there is a need for greater diversity and choice in education for teenagers.

As Chinese people are not growing up in Korea and could not experience the life in real Korea. Misunderstandings will definitely being transferred from one country to another. Teenagers accept the surface of the Korean wave through the most visualized media tool like magazines and televisions. Without parents and the society’s rational guide, teenagers will hard to get a thorough understanding about the culture diversity of the whole world. There are complex reasons for the emergence of the Korean wave suddenly catches Chinese people’s attention.

For the great esteem people express for high-quality popular culture goods such as TV dramas, music, fashion-style and even cuisines. It is hard to predict the future for Korean wave whether it will fad or continue shining, however, the transnational culture it has been propagated made a remarkable job already. The extensively effects what Korean wave has made did impact on China and Chinese people’s everyday life. Not only up on the surface such as aesthetic standard, entertainment ways, appetite but also the ethnics on family value, loyalty, filial piety and the inviolability of tradition.

The Confucianism ideology connects Korea and China which challenged Chinese people’s thinking. In the mean time, since both of them share the similar culture background, Korean wave is easier to be accepted. Balancing Korean wave with Chinese native culture, Chinese people are also concerning about the invasion of Korean wave. Youths are mostly questioned about their future growth depending on other country’s culture. The transnational culture communications bring disadvantages as well. Reference and bibliography

Beng Huat Chua, KI 2008, East Asian pop culture: analysing the Korean wave , Hong kong University press. Cai, J 2008, 'China's first taste of the Korean wave', Korea. net news, 11 august 2008. Doo-hyong, H 2004, ' S. Korean Plastic Surgeons Ride 'Korean Wave' Into China', Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies, 30 May 2004. koichi, I 2002, From Western Gaze to Global Gaze, New York, London:Routledge, Diana Crrane eds. Mori, Y 2008, East Asian pop culture : analysing the Korean wave / Chapter 6 "Winter sonata" and cultural practices of active fans in Japan, Hong Kong University Press.

Onishi, N 2006, 'A rising Korean wave: If Seoul sells it, China craves it', The New York Times Seo, JDAY 2004, 'Korea as the wave of a future:', Journal of Futures Studies, August 2004, pp. pp. 31-44. Shim, D 2006, Hybridity and the rise of Korean popular culture in Asia, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE. The public broadcaster KBS 2007 , 'South Korean satellite TV to get foothold in China', BBC Monitoring Media, 26 august 2007. Zi, C 2005, 'KOREAN WAVE IN CHINA', China Daily, 3 december 2005.

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