Korean Wave and its Impact on Chinese TV Formats
Korean Wave, taking the form of TV programs, films, movies, songs, K-pop music, and other cultural products has received significant popularity across not only China but the entire Asian region. The main aim of this research was to investigate how the Korean Wave in terms of TV programs has transformed and dominated the local Chinese TV formats. From a mixed research approach conducted through snowball sampling, this research has established various results.
Preferences of Young Adults and Integration of Confucian Values
First, the Korean Programs are highly preferred by young adults, especially females, who admire the lifestyles of the celebrities and actors featured in these TV programs. Secondly, the Korean Programs integrate more Confucian values that emphasize on family values, respect to the adults and the authority, and love. Thirdly, Korean TV programs are used by the local televisions to attract and maintain an audience for advertising products. In this case, the television companies are able to generate substantial revenues from broadcasting the commercials and adverts to the target audience.
Influence of Korean Dramas on Malaysian Viewers
The research has also found that the unique and new approach (Western filming techniques) employed by Korean dramas has attracted a larger number of Malaysian viewers. The study shows that the Korean television shows feature a comfortable living that focuses on love and family issues as well as low levels of violence. The dramas are presented in a more interesting manner compared to those from western countries. Accordingly, the Korean media are liked because lacks imitation of contents from other dramas originating from other nations. The audiences are attracted and influenced by Korean cultural values depicted in these dramas. The main weakness of this study is that it entailed a small sample of respondents. Future studies should adopt larger sample to investigate the perceptions of a larger sample of the audience.
Abstract
With increasing globalization, Asian countries are sharing various cultural products in the form of media contents due to aspects such as social proximity and commonness in traditional values. The most common being witnessed in China is the Korean Wave, which has transformed the format of most of the local televisions. The TV stations in China are broadcasting various dramas, soap operas, and K-pop music at higher rates. Due to the trend, this paper focused on investigating how Korean Wave, Hallyu, has transformed the Chinese TV formats. In order to achieve this objective, the research adopted the mixed approach to combine both quantitative and qualitative methods and have a rich understanding of the perception of Chinese audience concerning the Korean TV programs.
Analysis of the Study and Future Research Recommendations
The analysis of this study reveals various results that are aligned to the existing literature of the Korean Wave in other Asian states. First, the Korean TV programs are mostly liked by young audience within the age bracket of 18 and 34 years. Secondly, this audience is mostly attracted by the combination of modernism and tradition Confucian values emphasized by these programs. Thirdly, the main themes of family ties, individualism, and love been featured in these programs make them to be more valued among the teenagers. Lastly, the TV programs are leveraging on the Korean Wave to gain revenue from advertising companies. The respondents also predicted that Korean TV programs will continue to dominate the Chinese entertainment industry in the coming future. As a result, it is important for local producers from China to start blending the Korean and Chinese culture in broadcasting dramas and films. Despite the above findings, the study was restricted to a small sample of 50 respondents due to the snowball sampling technique. Therefore, future studies can employ a larger sample and focus more on qualitative approaches to collect substantial information relating to Korean Wave.
INTRODUCTION
Hallyu, the Korean Wave, describes the uprising of the Korean culture and its increasing visibility across international borders (Lee: 85). The rising culture of Korea has exploded various media platforms across Asia and the entire world as well as created the foundation of carrying out this research. According to Ko et al (2014: 298), the Korean Wave is mostly confined to the nation's most prevalent culture, especially movies, TV dramas, fashion styles, and music. New markets of the Korean cultural products have grown across the Asian region making more TV formats to start adopting the Korean formats. As a result, there exists the need to investigate why such products are being preferred over the more expensive imports from Western countries (Ko, et al., 2014: 298). Individuals across the market are showing strong interests in the Korean entertainment and music through the internet. As a result, a number of media channels such as TVs, films, and newspaper are airing and featuring the Korean-pop (K-pop) in their products. The current study is motivated by the need to understand how the Korean Wave in the form of TV programs has transformed the local television in China. Accordingly, the research aims at determining how Chinese TV broadcasters benefit from the expanding Korean Wave.
The significantly rising popularity of the South Korean culture across the globe has been influencing a number of media industries. Due to these trends, the current study aims to determine why Korean TV programs are more unique and receiving a significant welcome in China. The term ‘Korean Wave' was developed by the Chinese journalists in 1999 when they realized the expanding popularity of the Korean culture and entertainment in China. The Korean Wave is composed of the television soap operas and pop music of Korean origin. In China, the first phase of the Korean Wave was experienced in1997 when CCTV, a government-managed Chinese television, broadcasted What Is Love All About, a Korean TV play. The drama followed the broadcast of Jealous, the first imported South Korean popular culture in 1993, on MBC-TV (Lee 2011: 86). The two South Korean dramas, Jealous and What Is Love All About set the stage for penetration of more cultural products from Korean into China. The period 2000 to 2002 market the penetration stage of Hallyu as it covered most regions in Central and Southeast Asia.
Unfortunately, the widespread has also received resistance from the media stakeholders and personalities in China. For instance, Zhang Guoli, a top television actor from China, claimed that Hallyu has invaded the Chinese culture urged the Chinese citizens to purchase the local media contents. In early 2006, the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television in China claimed that imported drama products from China were to be reduced by a half (Lee 2011: 90). On the other hand, the Korean government was considering the ban on import of foreign dramas. In this case, the Korean Wave was perceived to be a way of popularizing the country's culture as well as aiming to represent the culture of entire Asia. The Korean Wave represents a one-way incursion of the Korean drama and pop leading to a cultural imbalance in the region. However, as a remedy, the Chinese media urged the government of Korea to design and implement trustful and mutual engagement with China and other states in Asia to sustain Hallyu.
From various anti-Hallyu campaigns and sentiments from China through the social media, the Korean culture was termed as a short event which was meant to last for a few years. The Korean Wave was compared to fast fashion whose trend is short-lived, isolated, and temporal (Yang 2012: 105). Despite these descriptions, Hallyu has continued to spread across East Asian countries and dominates a substantial portion of television programs. Initially, Hallyu was limited to television films such as Winter Sonata and the main actors as Y0ng-Joon Bae. Currently, the Hallyu products in these foreign nations have expanded into various areas such as Korean culture, language, fashion, and food leading to vigorous participation in a broad range of Korean activities (Yang 2012: 105). This study investigates the rate at which these other products are being preferred by Chinese audience.
Rationale of the Study
From the existing literature, the studies on Hallyu are categorized into three topics. First, those research that tries to explain the reasons behind the rising of Hallyu across Asia. Secondly, the studies that investigate how various audiences for these nations receive the Korean cultural products in the form of television dramas and films. The current research falls into this category and aims at identifying why Chinese audiences are fascinated with the Hallyu media content and how they evaluate and interpret such products. The third group of survey examines the impacts of Korean wave on the receiving nations and Korea itself. Lastly, the research that assesses the relationship between globalization and Hallyu (Yang, 2012: 106). The current study focusses on analyzing the influence of Korean Wave on Chinese Media Industry in the form of television format. In order to achieve this objective, the research will try to answer the following questions.
Research Questions
i. In which ways has the Korean Wave attracted the Chinese Audience?
ii. What is the implication of these waves on Chinese Media Industry?
iii. In which ways has the Korean Wave-influenced the Chinese television format?
1.3 Research Objectives
i. To determine the ways in which the Korean Wave attracts Chinese audience.
ii. To evaluate the implication of Korean Wave on Chinese Media Industry.
iii. To determine the ways in which the Korean Wave has influenced the Chinese Television format.
The following section, literature review, provides the theoretical background of this research. The first and second part discusses the cultural theory and globalization of media contents in Asia. The last section contextualizes the Korean Wave in terms of transnational TV channels with the main emphasis on Chinese television format. The methodology section offers the rationale for selecting the research approach to this study. The next part discusses the method of data collection and analysis. The fourth chapter will focus on critical discussion of the findings. The conclusion will provide the implications of the results and suggest considerations for future surveys.
The Cultural Impact of Media and Cultural Globalization
The theories that discuss the Korean Wave in South Asia can be categorized into social, cultural, and political-economic. In this section, the literature review will focus on cultural and social approaches concerning the encroachment of the Hallyu. The cultural approach towards the Korean Wave emphasizes on its contents, such as traditional values and the Confucian elements. Such features have a substantial impact on the reception and the taste of the Hallyu across the audience. The concept of cultural proximity also supports this theory by arguing that culture flows easily between states with similar beliefs (Yang 2012: 110). Therefore, the audience will highly accept imported media contents with common shared experiences, feelings, and values.
Most of the TV movies and dramas from Korea are integrated with substantial traditional values and Confucian ethics such as family respect, community, harmony, and strong morality that highly attracts consumers from East Asia (Yun 2009: 23). For instance, Winter Sonata was preferred by middle-aged females from Japan because of its old-fashioned beliefs that emphasize on pure love, kinship networks, and self-possessed expression of feelings (Yang 2012: 110). Besides, Kim (2007: 48) noted that some of these dramas featured racial proximity in the form of shared clothing styles, mannerism, and beauty. However, there is lack of studies that have not shown how Koren Wave has transformed the local televisions in China, a gap that is fulfilled by the current research.
Cultural Theory behind Korean Wave
Through the evolution of cultural policies, Korea has regained its cultural norms and consequently built a reputable cultural recognition. The decision to terminate regulation and control of foreign cultural displays have contributed immensely towards Korea is becoming one of the elite cultural countries. Through the support of the government in championing for competitive local cultural industries, Korean Culture has overcome all the political and economic barriers to emerge as one of the most popular cultural hubs worldwide. Typically referred to as Korean wave (Hallyu), its inception is attributed to the cultural policies enacted by the government. The government has played a vital role in supporting this Wave globally and this is imminent through the many mushrooming Cultural Centers across the country, with the recent one located in Mexico (Hwang 2012: 71). In the meantime, Korean media houses are ganging up in their quest of penetrating more markets in the world after managing to dominate Asia. The encroachment being witnessed from the Hallyu phenomena creates the need for understanding how the concept has changed the local TV stations. This paper answers this question by focussing on China.
In employing the cultural perspective, young viewers from the Asian countries are perceived to prefer modern television programs and dramas from Western countries rather than the traditional ones which emphasize on Confucian (Yang, 2012:11). The reasons behind this variation include recent development in transportation and communication technologies. The Hallyu products blend the two aspects in that they use the modern format while maintaining the Confucian contents and values. The integration has enhanced the popularity of the Korean media products across the young viewers from Asia. In this case, the teenagers are deemed to be uneasy with modern television formats from Western nations as well as attached to the traditional Confucian contents. Compared to other countries, younger generation from China tends to consume more of the Korean media because the country is unable to offer content that balances between modernity and traditional values (Yang 2012: 111). The current study employs this concept but extends a step further to show how the local TV stations benefit from the Hallyu phenomena.
The above trend is caused by the differing preferences and tastes of different social groups. Factors such as demographic characteristics and the socioeconomic position influence the behavior and taste of people. Therefore, the consumption of different cultural products is shaped by the differences in demographic and social characteristics. During socialization process, the life experiences of people have also influenced their perceptions of different cultural products (Lee 2011: 89). In this case, it is argued that the consumption of Korean culture media products differs across gender, age, and social groups (Yang 2012: 112). However, fewer studies show how specific gender benefits from Korean Wave. The current paper fulfills this gap by analyzing why female audience likes the Korean TV programs more than males.
Most of the researchers similarly lay their emphasis on the cultural attributes of Hallyu in their endeavor to find a hint of its success. The majority of them focuses on its content, for instance, the Confucian elements or even the traditional norms and values in their dramas. Similarly, cultural tastes and its reception criteria of the audiences is worth to examine so as to find a common element of the Korean culture. However, the majority of the audience is conversant with the Asian culture while at the same time they are attracted by the uniqueness and the good-feeling effect that comes with K-pop (Jang and Paik 2012: 199). One can come to a consensus that Korean wave is loved for different reasons. To have come to a conclusive reasoning behind the love of K-pop culture, it is essential to comprehend the prevalence of the Korean Wave in China and how it has turned to influence the Chinese Media industry particularly in terms of television formats. The current research aims at achieving this objective through the use of mixed research approach.
Globalization of Korean Wave across Asian Countries
Advancing from both economic and political instability, Korea has gradually gained a reputation, particularly due to their famous culture. For a long period, Korea's culture has been influenced by countries such as China, Japan as well as the United States of America (Kendall 2012: 32). Throughout the modernization process from early 1960's, the popular western culture which laid its foundation on commercialism and capitalism impacted negatively on the Korean culture and consequently greatly influenced the name of the citizens in Korea (Yim 2012: 39). This was all facilitated by globalization as well as change norms and consequently local as well as the domestic culture was heavily impacted. In support of this extremely rapid expansion, global capitalism has played an integral role in facilitating the unification of the media industry and this led to a positive impact on the globe due to the airing of foreign contents. Additionally, "economic development and the growth of consumer culture (especially among the youth) led to the mushrooming of cable and satellite TV stations" (Armstrong 2016: 247). This has positively contributed to the strengthening of Korea's cultural identity against the globalization of their culture. There exists no studies that show connect globalization to young viewers of the Korean Programs. This research fulfils this gap by focussing more on university and college students.
Over the last 10 years, Korea, whose approximate population is 55 million recently dominated the Asian Hollywood, by airing the various entertainments that are highly adored by millions of supporters from different geographies (Farrar 2010: 29). The significance of this culture is strongly felt across Asia and at one instance, Ben Richardson, who is the vice president of Indonesia applauded the significance of Korea in the production and distribution of cultural contents (Kendall 2012: 34). He points out that:
"Korea as an entertainment exporter is, right now, very significant. Pretty much every market that MTV is in, I would say that Korean content is really driving ratings, program sales. It's really connecting with audiences" (Kendall 2012: 34).
To cater for the rising demand of the audience in search of the Korean media since the year 1997, Cultural department collaborated with the media industries in Korea and strategized on the viable measures to bridge this demand deficiency. Wayne Arnold (2012: 2) argued that Korea is among the few nations that have laid a lot of emphasis on their entertainment industries and more so by investing heavily in entertainment media with a very high-speed connectivity regardless of the financial constraints that faced the country in 1997, while other developed nations have been investing a little in cultural sectors (Arnold 2012: 2).
The increased popularity of Korean culture has similarly led to a rapidly increased awareness of Korean brands, particularly in China and Japan. Increased interest in beauty products has triggered cosmetic companies in the likes of Amore Pacific to expand their markets in other countries such as the Middle East and Latin America. Holly has emerged manifested itself to the Korean government as being an essential political, cultural, and economic asset and it has managed to win interests of the majority of the international audience. Most recently, the emergence of k-pop to be one of the most popular Korean pop cultures has been evident intertwined with the interests of other countries (Howard 2015: 298). However, it has not been an easy process for Korea successfully spread its culture given the various political and historical issues that faced the country. For instance, a Chinese magazine once asserted that k-pop's rapid expansion should be perceived to be a "Korean invasion" (The Korea Wave 2011: 37). This resulted in various desires to a point whereby one of the Chinese actors challenged their own singers to compete with their counterparts from Korea on international platforms (Ota 2011: 160).
Since the inception of Hallyu more than a decade ago, the queries on its longevity as well as its influences, particularly in the Chinese media industry have been a major concern having it in mind that people's preferences and tastes change rapidly particularly in this postmodern world. Similarly, a country's culture is determined by various factors such as economic situations, cultural traditions, policy measures, and historical contingencies. Despite these criticisms and skeptics, Hallyu is very much alive and expanding tremendously today. According to Messerlin (2013: 46), posits that Korea has viable measures of diversifying Hallyu so as to meet the varying needs of its global clients. The success of this wave and particularly in influencing the Chinese media industry, especially in terms of television format has been attributed to its ability to diversify and integrate all relevant measures (Messerlin 2013: 46).
For instance, the k-pop group commonly referred to as Exo-k establishes a twin band that was geared towards ensuring that the Chinese-Korean singers are able to sing K-pop songs in China by the use of Chinese. Diversification has similarly been implemented by "K-pop performers who, for instance, interpret pieces of classical European music with their K-pop spirited guitar or with a mix of Korean traditional instruments and B-boying" (Messerlin 2013: 24). Most of the academicians opine that globalization of Hallyu has aided K-pop in mobilizing new ideas and skills which leads to varieties. K-pop is highly regarded to possess dynamics of being open as well as transcendence (Messerlin 2013: 12). Kim (2016: 137) asserts that "flexible associates itself with old and new, local and global while interweaving both retrospective and anticipatory vectors of cultural modalities" (Kim 2016: 137-138). Therefore, Hallyu can be said to possess attributes of adaptation and flexibility.
Majority of K-pop musicians collaborate with their counterparts in America and Europe by believing that diversity can enrich soundscape. K-pop has the attributes of the international music genre, aired and accepted by Koreans as well as those from other continents (Kim 2016: 139). Kim (2016: 140) agrees and asserts that Korean culture imports as well as outsource the readily available and best talents from abroad. These assertions inspire other global nations as a basis of conceiving K-pop culture recognition. Currently, Hallyu seems to be laying a basis of success for the reversed flow of culture. Kim (2016: 151) postulates that k-pop led to the inception of a new category of cultural traffic, which is marked by intra-Asian as well as the trans-Asian flow of culture globally. One of the researchers from Australia claims that the wave (Hallyu) is "now reaching the West" (Sung 2014: 95). This research indicates that K-pop is stretching and spreading its cultural norms to global markets and more so penetrating in the Chinese market. Sung describes the wave as more international (Sung 2014: 96).
The Concept of Transnational TV Channels in the Context of Korean Wave
While studying the spread of the Korean Wave in Peru and Brazil, Ko et al (2014) found that most low income earning people preferred Hallyu entertainment because the dramas gave people hope of achieving and succeeding class mobility p. 319. In the same study, it was identified that Hallyu has spread significantly through social media platforms such as Google and YouTube. From the statistics, 77.4 and 77.6 percent of the Peruvian and Brazilian respondents, respectively noted that they engage in daily conversations featuring Hallyu on social networking sites (Ko, et al., 2014: 319). The main topics under such discussions were social mobility and a better future life. From these observations, Ko et al (2014) asserted that the Korean Wave, Hallyu, other observers an illusory perception which on the extreme side resorts to escapism behavior where they isolate themselves and withstands specific beliefs. The continuous involvement with Hallyu, Korean films, pop idol stars, films, and movies to the extent where a person dedicates most of their time, and family income in purchasing, pricing, and viewing the Korean’s cultural products can be dangerous when the featured reality is rejected or unwelcome (Ko, et al 2014: 320).
The impacts of Korean Wave on television format are influenced by the types of characters featured in the film and television dramas. Most of the audience or TV observers search for specific features that suit their cultural or personal needs. The Korean Hallyu features a different image of the masculine personality. For instance, in Yonsama, a Korean drama broadcasted in Japan, the main actor Bae Yong Jon depicts the character of a flawless man (Jung 2011). Jun represented an admirable level of feminine tenderness and manly charisma without being overly masculine. In general, the Korean idols and dramas reflected a South Korean man associated with gentle manners, caring towards the females, tender charisma, and sweetness (Ko, et al., 2014: 320). From these characters, Jung (2011: 170) argued that the Korean Wave shows that South Korean men depict the example of "Versatile masculinity". Due to these cultural presentations, Hallyu was mostly preferred because it features individuals with above average sweetness, cuteness, soft looks, and gentle manners (Ko, et al., 2014, p. 321). This paper takes a further step to investigate why television viewers are attracted to the beautiful faces and adaptable masculinity that characterizes the idols in Korean Programs.
In the Phillipines, Igno and Cenidoza (2016) found that Hallyu was viewed as a fad or a broadly distributed and intense enthusiasm shared for a short period of time. They further indicated that Korean Wave started with trendy Korean dramas which expanded to popular music, movies, and films. Most of the Korean Dramas watched in this region include Endless Love and Autumn in My Heart. Such films are characterized by good-looking actresses and actors who bring charms of the movie series. In addition, the storyline of these dramas is distinct because both principal characters died. These unique attributes make the Koreanovelas to be liked more by the Filipinos (Igno and Cenidoza 2016). Currently, Koreanavelas have become common scenes on the main televisions such as ABS-CBN in the Philippines. The televisions are broadcasts of different genres to offer an added taste. For instance, more dramas such as Full House and Jewel in the Palace are popular in the Philippines. However, the study found that Korean Musics were not common in the Philippines because the Filipinos hardly understand what the music means. Despite this trend, most Filipinos use the internet to search for the meaning of the Korean Pops (Igno and Cenidoza 2016: 723).
Like other Asian cultures, the Hallyu media trends across these regions because it represents close home artifacts without stigmatizing Asian race or ethnicity as seen from other cultural products from the West. The popularity of the Hallyu is influenced by the longing to belong and being a portion of the convention. According to Kim and Ryoo (2007: 134), the movies and dramas depicted in Hallyu feature various forms of exploitation and suffering which are distinct from the ones depicted in Hollywood series. The exploitation from Western movies tends to be based on ethnicities and race. As a result, Ariffin (2016: 39) observed that Korean TV dramas have grown to be the favorite across Asian mediascape which entails both visual imaginary and cultural presentations compared to American TV films and programs. In this case, the Korean TV films are the most loved media among Asian audiences including the Japanese. Most existing studies do not predict the future of Korean Programs in China. The current survey fulfills this gap by analyzing how the audience views the longevity of Korean soap opera in China.
The immense inflow of Korean actors, singers, actresses, and film presenters in the Asian countries has transformed the TV formats of the countries from this region. For instance, in Malaysia, many singers from Korea are visiting the country on a daily basis. As a result, most television and radio stations are subscribing to and incorporating Korean drama and music in their domestic media programs. From the inception of the Winter Sonata, a Korean romantic and traditional play, various dramas such as City Hunter and Deajanggum, Boys Over Flowers have emerged to become the favorites among Malaysian audiences (Ariffin 2016: 39). The satisfaction of the Koreans TV dramas and programs across the Chinese tourists is brought about by the credibility and attractiveness of the Korean stars (Won-Jun 2015: 347). From his study, Won-Jun (2015) found out the use of young and attractive Korean celebrities with gorgeous make-up and fashion delight a broad range of viewers. In addition, the skillful storytelling depicted in these Korean media contents grips the attention of the viewers, making them be committed to such programs.
From the social identity theory, viewers are more willing to watch Television programs that feature individuals with similar cultural backgrounds. In other words, the fans are more attached and connected to the stars emotionally and therefore are more committed to Televisions that broadcast dramas and films featuring their best actors and actresses (Won-Jun 2015: 350). In this context, it can also be argued that the ‘Asian-ness' depicted in Korean telenovelas has increased the popularity of these films across East Asian states (Hogarth 2013). Won-Jun (2015: 350) further argued that all-Asian casts featured in the Korean dramas together with modern images provide immediate appeal to both film and television viewers because of the cultural and physical similarities. As a result, the Chinese audience is perceived to feel comfortable with Hallyu.
