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한식 세계화와 한중 문화전쟁 

Korean Food Globalization and Sino-Korean Cultural War 

 

Compared to the cases in English speaking world, the impact of Korean food promotion in Chinese speaking countries is much more complicated. Suggested by Koichi Iwabuchi, the Japanese popular cultures which spread across East Asia in the 1990s were mostly "odorless", since the explicit "Japanese identity" may irritate people in the countries invaded by Japan during the Second World War. In the case of Korean cultures, those with strong Korean odor, in fact, are also prone to nationalistic backlash in Chinese societies due to the long developed cultural war.

 

Since the 2000s, cultural nationalism is ever-growing in both Korea and China as the two countries have been active in making national cultures to be their Intangible Cultural Heritage listed by the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). However, due to geographical proximity and ages of cultural interaction since ancient times, China and Korea share a large number of traditional folklores and cultural practices. Thus, when either side try to make application to UNESCO with these common cultural practices, cultural nationalism and anti-Korean sentiment will then be triggered in Chinese media and internet. The most well-known case is the debate over Dano Festival (단오제/端午節) when Korea made it her own UNESCO intangible cultural heritage in 2009. Since the same festival also exists in China, even though the ways and ceremonies of celebration are different, furious criticisms lamenting the loss of culture can be found across Chinese media (Sun Daily 16 Sep. 2013). In addition, in 2007, similar argument took place when a Celestial Globe was printed on the newly-issued Korean won bank note, as both countries claimed their ancestors did invent the Globe (Newis 18 Dec. 2007). Similar examples, to name but a few, led to an endless tug-of-war over cultural ownership, while criticisms against Korea to be "a theft of culture" are prevalent in Chinese media coverage and internet constantly. Thus, cultural ownership and authenticity has become a sensitive issue in both China and Korea, to an extent that even unproved rumours can easily lead to strong nationalistic sentiment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In March 2014, the Korean government made application to UNESCO for her ground heating system (온돌). When being interviewed by the media, the responsible Korean official especially highlighted that China will be the greatest obstacle. In most Korean coverage of this news, the main stress went to the point that "Korea should move faster than China" (Donga Ilbo 17 Mar. 2014). Nonetheless, there is not any Chinese official claimed that ground heating system should be China’s intangible culture. On the other hand, whenever there is rumour that Korea is going to "steal" Chinese cultures, Chinese netizens and media tend to believe it and give emotional responses. For instance, in early April 2014, the local government of Henan Province planned to launch the application of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage for Taichi, and one provincial official told the media that Korea is the major competitor. After the news report, huge wave of criticism emerged on the internet and the number of hashtag titled "Korea makes Taichi her own cultural heritage" reached the number 150,000 on Weibo (Sina 3 Apr. 2014). However, no such kind of plan could be found in Korean media.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Based on this accumulated hostility surrounding cultural ownership, the war has further expanded from traditional folklores and festivals to Korean popular culture including food, and also from shared cultures to every single national culture of Korea. In March 2013, there was a trend of writing about Chinese gourmet in Weibo because of a popular documentary named A Bite of China, and the Korean Embassy in China also started blogging "A Bite of Korea" to recommend Korean food in Weibo. The first post introduced 부대찌깨 (Korean hotpot with chili sauce, instant noodles, sausages, ham, Kimchi etc.) and triggered hot discussions amongst Chinese netizens, as the number of comments is 30 times more than other posts of the embassy. However, the comments are mostly very disdainful saying that "Korean food culture is only Kimchi and Kimchi", "How come instant food can be a gourmet?", "Chinese food culture is much richer than Korean one" etc., and the embassy has discontinued the series since then (Tencent News 22 Mar. 2013).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this incident, Chinese comments online were mostly very cultural nationalistic, reflecting that the Chinese netizens and media tend to contempt every "Korean culture" promoted by the Korean government, as a result of the relentless cultural heritage war between the two countries. On the same grounds, the promotion of Korean Kimchi and its new Chinese name also becomes a part of the cultural war, which explained why the Chinese media mostly responded negatively and critically against the name Xinqi even though China is not fighting for Kimchi’s ownership with Korea. Looking through the news headlines in P.R. China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, most of them criticise the cultural nationalism of Korea, saying that Korea always claims ownership over everything and deny the Chinese origins of Korean cultures (Ettoday News 08 Nov. 2013; Xinmin News 21 Mar. 2014; Ctitv 03 Dec. 2013). Until this point, in the supermarkets and restaurants in Hong Kong, rarely can the new "official" name Xinqi be seen, and most people still use the word Paocai. Hence, in spite of the original plan to make Kimchi more "high-class" and "unique", the Xinqi campaign did only reinforce the nationalistic image of the Korean government in Chinese media and added fuel to the Sino-Korean cultural war.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A talk show in Taiwan even took 12 mins to criticize Korea for making the new Chinese name of Kimchi 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KORE3022 Korean Studies Reserach Project

The University of Hong Kong

 

From “Paocai” to “Xinqi” – The Role of Kimchi in Korean Culinary Nationalism

 

 

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