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| Jimin of K-pop boy band BTS and the poster for the comedy-thriller "Parasite." Courtesy of Big Hit Entertainment, CJ Entertainment |
By Dong Sun-hwa
K-pop juggernaut BTS staged gigs in 23 cities around the globe during its world tour this year, but the seven-piece band could not perform in one neighboring country ― China.
The 2019 Cannes-winning comedy-thriller "Parasite," by auteur Bong Joon-ho, was to be screened at a Chinese film festival in July, but China suddenly called it off due to a "technical reason."
These are just a few examples of China's "unofficial" restrictions on hallyu, or Korean culture, imposed since 2016. They are believed to be a part of Beijing's retaliation against Seoul triggered by a dispute over deployment of a U.S. missile defense system ― the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ― on Korean soil. China saw the deployment as "threatening" to its national security. But Korea set up the system in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, in 2017. In the aftermath, Korean films, dramas and concerts were practically banned in China.
But the expectation that Beijing is loosening its restrictions has been growing here after some K-pop stars, including boy bands WINNER, GOT7 and SEVENTEEN, organized fan signing events in China at the end of the year.
Nevertheless, hallyu's resurgence in China is still in doubt and recent events are not signs of an easing of restrictions, according to an expert and an industry source. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also visited Seoul but didn't give any indication that China would lift the constraints.
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| Lim Dae-geun, a professor of Chinese Cinema Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS). Courtesy of Lim Dae-geun |
"THAAD seems to be a pretext for the restrictions," Lim Dae-geun, a professor of Chinese Cinema Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS), said during a recent interview with The Korea Times.
"The gist of the matter is the Chinese government's overall stance and attitude toward foreign cultures. Unless China changes its tune, it will be challenging for hallyu to enjoy the popularity it did before 2016."
He added: "China today aims to boost its domestic entertainment industry with its own strength. It has received help from Korean culture and joined forces with Seoul to foster its own industry, but now it believes the country has already gained a foothold to stand alone. Hence, Beijing thinks hallyu is unnecessary."
A K-pop music label official, who asked not to be named, told The Korea Times that he also thinks China looks virtually "indifferent to the hallyu constraints." He said China has been paying more attention to disseminating its own culture.
In fact, the quality of Chinese cultural content is known to have evolved with numerous creations such as the sci-fi blockbuster "The Wandering Earth" (2019), made by filmmaker Frant Gwo, earning international acclaim. Many say China, which has long dreamt of conquering the global content market, will realize its dream soon and become the next cultural icon of Asia.
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| A poster for the Chinese film "The Wandering Earth," which hit Korean theaters in April. Courtesy of Dexter Studios |
According to Lim, another rationale behind the restrictions is the ideology in Korean content.
"Hallyu is a blend of American, Japanese and Hong Kong culture, which is based on capitalism," he said. "Thus, hallyu content implicitly contains American and Western ideas such as political democratization, social justice and gender issues. Beijing wants to block the 'reckless' entrance of such content that it believes problematic, knowing the influence of pop culture could be tremendous."
Lim added: "In fact, China has recently been accepting 'less ideological' content from Seoul. It screened some Korean movies, including "Seopyeonje" (1993), at a local film festival in May. The government presumably found it unproblematic, because it merely discloses Korea's traditional culture."
"Seopyeonje" is an award-winning movie revolving around a family of "pansori" (traditional Korean musical storytelling) singers.
Lim picks China's willingness to engage in "psychological warfare" as the last reason.
"Hallyu is an unprecedented source of pride for most Koreans in terms of cultural psychology," the professor said. "Through the restrictions, China also seemingly aims to form a negative opinion among Koreans, fueling their worries about the possible backlash of the THADD dispute on the hallyu boom in China. But I believe this wasn't quite effective here."
"Strategies to detour"
For Korea, the Chinese market is too lucrative to give up. Hence, the professor offered "strategies to detour" that Koreans could use to earn Chinese money despite the restrictions.
"China has been setting its sights on Southeast Asian markets and has been participating in various cultural cooperation projects with nations like Thailand and Indonesia," Lim said. "Hence, Korea could join this 'team.' Seoul could form the trilateral cooperation system without coming to the forefront to re-enter the Chinese market."
Hong Kong and Taiwan could also function as "bridges" to China, according to Lim. But as of now, the situation has become complicated because of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and China's crackdown on them.
Lim says there are other opportunities in the pre-production and post-production markets.
"We don't have to sell or export solely finished products made in Korea. In terms of movies, Korean writers can sell their scenarios to Beijing and the technicians can do their bit in the editing of the Chinese flicks," he said. "Another tactic is to keep an eye on the distribution of Chinese content in Korea. Although it is not about exporting hallyu, we can still make profits by assisting the distribution of process in Korea."
