The Winter Olympics kicked off on February 4th and will be taking place for a little
over two weeks until February 20th. This time it is being held in the
Chinese capital, Beijing, which has promoted boycotts from a number of western figures over
potential human rights violations in the country. Like seen with the boycotts, the Olympics can be
interesting for much more than the sports—owing to the mammoth global event that it is, where
most countries around the world gather together to compete and coexist in a spectacle that draws many
millions of viewers from all over. And, with such an event, this is naturally going to come with a
variety of political and cultural differences. And it's the latter of those,
cultural differences, that we're going to be taking a look at today and something that had
ended up causing a big stir in South Korea. The controversy stems from the hanbok,
which is traditional clothing in Korea comparable to the Japanese kimono or the Chinese cheongsam.
However, during the Chinese opening ceremony, China demonstrated people dressed in hanbok. And
this promoted large outcries from the Korean media and public over concerns that China was trying to
claim Korean culture and history as their own. And for example, it's been making headlines on
a number of prominent news outlets, such as this article from Yonhap News Agency,
which is one of the biggest news companies in Korea, and they also provide translations
for multiple languages including English. Yonhap reports that during the ceremony,
people representing 56 ethnic groups across China carried the Chinese national flag into the
stadium. And that one woman was dressed in hanbok, apparently representing ethnic Koreans in China.
Yonhap then adds: "The depiction of a hanbok-clad woman as a minority group in China angered many
South Koreans, who argued that China is trying to promote hanbok as its own."
And adding that somewhat ironically, the South Korean Culture Minister was
in attendance while dressed in hanbok. The news agency then cites various Korean
figures who have spoken out about the incident. One figure was the Culture Minister, who has
said that the depiction of ethnic Koreans as a minority group could create "misunderstanding"
in China's and Korea's bilateral ties. He also said, to quote: "When you refer
to people as a minority, it often means they haven't evolved into a sovereign country."
"We are among the 10 or so largest economies in the world located right next to China.
This could cause some misunderstanding in otherwise good bilateral relations."
Alongside the Culture Minister, the presidential candidate for the ruling Democratic Party
has opposed China's move and has called it, to quote, "cultural appropriation."
And he was joined by the main opposition People Power Party, who criticized China for stealing,
to quote, "anything Korean," and also going on to criticize the South Korean government for not
doing enough about previous attempts from China to adopt Korean cultural elements as part of its own.
A professor at Sungshin Women's University, who is also an activist promoting South Korean culture,
also stepped in, saying that China has previously already
made too many claims that hanbok is their own. Also saying, to quote: "We have to stand up to
China's cultural appropriation and point out exactly what the problems are." "We have to
protect our own history and culture." Now, taking a look at lexico.com,
which is an online dictionary from Oxford University Press, you'll see that their entry
for hanbok reads: "A traditional Korean costume consisting of a long-sleeved jacket or blouse
and a long, high-waisted skirt for women or loose-fitting trousers for men, typically
worn on formal or ceremonial occasions." And then, at the bottom under the word
origin section, it says that the word itself actually originates from the Korean language
and that it comes from the Korean words for South Korea, as well as clothes. Thus, even the term
hanbok itself means Korean clothes in Korean. And then, looking at the online encyclopedia
from Encyclopedia Britannica, the writers say: "Hanbok was the everyday dress of Koreans
for thousands of years before the opening of the country to the West."
If you just search on Google with the term hanbok, you'll find countless resources talking about its
history in Korea and its cultural importance—with hanbok still being worn for certain occasions
or just casually within the country, comparable, again, to something like the Japanese kimono.
And so, this incident during the opening ceremony was very controversial in Korea,
and this is also not the first time that something like this has happened,
which further added to the public outcry. It's not just hanbok, though. In December 2020,
for instance, headlines were made across the world over the controversy that erupted
when China appeared to try and claim the traditional Korean dish kimchi as their
own—kimchi being a very popular dish in Korea that involves fermented cabbage.
But, sticking with the clothing hanbok, in November 2020, the popular mobile
game Shining Nikki got completely pulled in Korea over the controversy
that happened when hanbok was depicted. The game is a dress-up game, and hanbok
was introduced into the game via an update, where it was described as Korean clothing.
However, this angered some in China, who asserted that the clothing was instead
Chinese. And this then caused a big outcry from those in Korea, and the situation went on to
generate a lot of attention in the two countries. As reported by The Korea Herald, the Chinese game
developers responded to the controversy by siding with the Chinese players, saying, to quote:
"We will not only restrict chatting for the users in the Korean server who
insult or spread malicious rumors about China but also suspend their accounts."
The developers would then announce that they would remove all controversial items and that
they would not be released in any country. But, this didn't quell the protests from
Chinese and Korean players, who wanted an explanation about the situation.
The developers would then ultimately announce, to quote: "What angers and saddens us is that
although we announced that we will get rid of the controversial attires in the game,
some accounts continued to insult China, and they have finally crossed the line. As a Chinese
company, we strongly reject these actions and reports from media and will protect the
integrity of China." "As a result, we will shut down Shining Nikki's Korean server."
But what are your thoughts about the situation? As always, let us know
your thoughts in the comments below and hit subscribe for more videos on everything to
do with how media is changed around the world. And, until next time, thank you for watching.