Korean Wave Overrated?

by Robert Koehler on August 24, 2007

in Asides, China, East and Central Asia, Korean Culture

Chinese companies say the “Korean Wave” is receding, a KOTRA survey reveals.

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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Janus August 25, 2007 at 2:59 am: I guess this means the “Korean Wave” class at my university is going to be cancelled. Nuts. There goes the easiest A I would have ever received…
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2 slim August 25, 2007 at 3:12 am: There may well be Chinese jealousy, chauvinism and prejudice behind those survey results, but (those great Korean films in recent years notwithstanding) I have always thought the wave was mostly hype by the Korean media. In the West, there has been scarcely a ripple, and I wonder whether the embarassing Dragon Wars may kill off even that.
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3 Rambutan August 25, 2007 at 1:21 pm: It may be receding in China – or it may not – it could just be the wishful thinking of Chinese nationalists. But here in Southeast Asia it’s as relentless as it ever was.

Before moving here from Korea I was sort of hoping the “Wave” was hype. It wasn’t. The hunger for all things Korean – movies, “dramas”, music, food – far outpaces demand for Japanese or Chinese cultural products.

Local companies even run tours of Seoul where passengers can have their pictures taken on the so-and-so bridge over the Han as seen on some TV show. I actually know people who have paid real money to go on these, and have suffered through the photo albums.
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4 WangKon936 August 25, 2007 at 1:42 pm: “In the West, there has been scarcely a ripple…”

Ooooh…. I don’t know about that…

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404254/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410297/
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5 abcdefg August 25, 2007 at 2:04 pm: How easily we forget bibimbap-loving Paltrow. Not to mention Spears and all her hangeul fashion proclivities! Do I even dare mention Michelle Wie and… Hines Wards???

Even today a curious fellow keeps popping on my tv talking about Korea spok-keur-ling. Wanjeon tsunami-da!

There. I’ve totally pre-empted the dis-grunt expat crew.
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6 ZZOOzzoo August 25, 2007 at 2:24 pm: I agree with Rambutan. As much as you guys love to make fun of the so-called Korean Wave (I hate this term personally), anyone who visited Hong Kong, Singapore, etc in past the two years or so would have noticed the sudden surge in demand for all things Korean.

Just go to a local DVD shop in Singapore and you would notice that the demand for Korean dramas far outweigh those for Japanese and even Chinese these days. Not to mention all the media glitz for each Korean celebrity who visits here.
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7 Brendon Carr August 25, 2007 at 2:39 pm: Yeah, the Korea Wave is not bunk — in Asia, at least. Whenever I’m in Chinese Southeast Asia or Hong Kong people I meet seem positively envious that I can watch Korean dramas whenever I want.
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8 bumfromkorea August 25, 2007 at 3:06 pm: I think it is fair to say that the media has exaggerated the extent of Korean Wave. While the surge in popularity of Korean media is impressive (and, let me just say, yay!), I can definitely agree that some articles about Korean Wave in newspapers are a bit ridiculous ^^;.

But I understand that there are some cultural backlash to the popularity of Korean media in certain countries… perhaps this is one of those events?

I, for one, am doing my part in propagating Korean Wave in United States by offering Korean movie nights to my friends and classmates. I have made cultists following Park Chan Wook and Kim Gi Duk ^^.
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9 gbevers August 25, 2007 at 3:30 pm: A few days ago, I chatted with a Chinese girl who is attending college in Daegu. When I asked her why she came to Korea to study, she told me it was because she loved Korean music videos and dramas. When I asked her how she liked Korea, she said she was disappointed because it is not like the Korea she imagined from the dramas.
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10 WangKon936 August 25, 2007 at 3:38 pm: Oh I heard the same thing from a Russian in Long Beach. SoCal wasn’t the place he imagined from watching Baywatch…

What’s the point? People are stupid if they believe what they watch in TV’s and movies.
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11 bumfromkorea August 25, 2007 at 3:59 pm: From TV shows, I got the impression that Arizona was, to put it bluntly, hot as the deepest levels of hell. I was… not mistaken. At all.

^^ I know way too many Arizona kids who watched the OC too much and went to a SoCal university… came back a year later and had nothing but venomous things to say about Californians. And don’t get me started on the guys who went to Alaska to look for “easy” work…
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12 dda August 25, 2007 at 4:00 pm: #6

anyone who visited Hong Kong, Singapore, etc in past the two years or so would have noticed the sudden surge in demand for all things Korean.

Wel, I live in HK and the Korean wave is hardly noticeable. The Korean restaurants cater to, well, Koreans, both tourists and locals. I could say there’s an HK wave in Korea, as far as tourism is concerned: they’re everywhere! The wife and I see tourists every single day…

Then again, I’m just back from Saigon, and Korea has its own little circus there, next to the airport. One of the largest communities, TWO Korea-towns, the largest foreign industrial base, etc… The shops cater to Koreans, mostly, and outside these pockets of Koreanitude, I can’t say you could notice a Koran Wave per se. Maybe a faint, garlicky scent, at best.
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13 dda August 25, 2007 at 4:13 pm: I have made cultists following Park Chan Wook and Kim Gi Duk.

Good man!
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14 pawikirogi August 25, 2007 at 4:55 pm: ‘I can’t say you could notice a Koran Wave per se. Maybe a faint, garlicky scent, at best.’ dda

And how did you notice that you could not notice the Korea wave in Vietnam? You mean, you went to Vietnamese DVD stores and found few Korean titles? You mean, you went to Vietnamese music stores and saw few Korean acts? You mean, you looked through their newspapers and magazines and found few articles on Korea?

I’d like to know how you noticed the lack of a Korea wave in Vietnam.

Moving on to those who say it’s hype, it isn’t hype, it’s real. Indeed, I just got done lending my entire Korean DVD collection to this young filipina girl who just happens to be mad about Korean television. And then, the other day, I was at a Vietnamese website that specialized in DVDs and CDs. Saw lots of Korean entertainment products there. the Korea wave isn’t hype.

BTW, I feel a bit bewildered by all this interest in Korean pop culture. I would have never guessed that k-drop would be so big.

‘In the West, there has been scarcely a ripple…’ slim

So? Asians are good enough.
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15 dda August 25, 2007 at 6:13 pm: Pow Pow

And how did you notice that you could not notice the Korea wave in Vietnam? You mean, you went to Vietnamese DVD stores and found few Korean titles?

Yup. My favourite store in a back street from Le Loi, and the street vendors around Pham Gu Lao — no brownie points for calling it Fan’ culo!

You mean, you looked through their newspapers and magazines and found few articles on Korea?

Right, at least the ones in English, and the most prominent article was about the Ambassador leaving. Not much of an event, eh? And I watched TV, of course, as I usually do when visiting a country — every week or so — and Korea wasn’t a remarkable part of the programmes. Which actually surprised me since Korea used to be big[ger] in the past in Saigon, with lots of ads and shit.

And that is prolly a lot more than you will ever do, Yankie.
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16 pawikirogi August 26, 2007 at 4:38 am: ‘Yup. My favourite store in a back street from Le Loi, and the street vendors around Pham Gu Lao — no brownie points for calling it Fan’ culo!’ dda

seeing that i’ve proven you to be a liar in the past, i’ll just bet you’re lying now. how’s that mongol grammar going? lol!

‘Pow Pow’ dda

well, that’s an improvement! e-mail when you get a chance.
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17 dda August 26, 2007 at 1:15 pm: You know it all, Yankie asshat, dontcha? Accusing others of lying because you can’t achieve anything but spite must be tough. But somehow, I don’t pity you, you just got what you deserve.

Email? Where? at nuljimaripkan@aol.com maybe?
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