3. FromTV to Popular Music

The success of Korean dramas allowed Korean pop singers too, to gain popularity in Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Chinese markets. As TV shows shed the light on the social characteristics of Korean society, the modern Korean way of life and the development of Korean entertainment business, foreign audience, especially Chinese became more attracted to the Korean pop music, or K-pop, as well.

First, I need to specify what K-pop actually is and what aspects of popular culture this term comprises. Taking into consideration international interest in K-pop, one can not say that K-pop is just Korean popular music. According to Kim Chang Nam, “K-pop is both a product of transnational practices and a global term referring comprehensively to not simply Korean popular music produced by the Korean music industry and consumed overseas, but to related cultural phenomenon as well”Kim Chang Nam. K-pop: Roots and Blossoming of Korean Popular Music. - Seoul: Hollym Corp., 2012. P. 9.Thus, one needs to look at K-pop as a specific type of music, which does not comprise all popular music made in Korea. Instead, the term is connected to the notion of “idol music” - a sub-genre that represents a mostly teenage-oriented entertainment industry closely related to TV industry Ubonrat Siriyuvasak, Shin, Hyunjoon. Asianizing K-pop: Production, Consumption and Identification Patterns among Thai Youth // Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 2007. - Vol 8 (1). P.113.which is also one of the most commercially oriented cultural export of South Korea. This form of music possesses certain features typical for the pop genre, such as attractive looks, dynamic and complicated choreography, fast, catchy and easy-to-follow melodies.

The global rise of K-pop is best illustrated by Psy's“Gangnam Style”, which swept across the world in 2012. The song topped the charts in more than 30 countries, becoming the first ever music video to hit a billion views on YouTube. For almost 7 years from the moment it was released on July 15^th, 2012, it has reached 3.3 billion viewsThe information retrieved April 22, 2019 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0.

In fact, the central feature of the K-pop performance is not the music itself but a powerful and impressive visual presentation in combination with ideally synchronized dancing and identical thematic costumes.One of the most significant features that distinguishes K-pop from other popular music is that it is performed by “idols”. “Idols” are solo-artists or groups who are formed and managed by major Korean entertainment companies (like SM, YG, JYP, BigHit, CUBE, etc.). The companies professionally train them in all the aspects a successful artist would need (singing, dancing, songwriting, acting, behaving on and off stage, and even foreign languages, etc.) Such artists are usually discovered by agencies through tough auditionsnot only in Korea but worldwide as well (US, Canada, China, Japan, Thailand etc.) and start training at a very early age while living in special dorms provided by the agency. They debut in their early 20s or even younger, and their music is mostly oriented towards teenage consumers who have occupied almost all Korean pop music market since the end of the 1990sKim Chang Nam. Op. cit. P. 85.. After the training and stage experience, Korean idols become “total entertainers” able to sing, act, dance and perform with ease and style, which is a natural result oflong-term hard work.

Korean idol music is praised for mixing alluring melodies and strong beats. The essentials of K-pop are the “hooks” - “short and catchy riffs” repeated multiple times throughout the song - which get stuck in the heads of the listeners making them subconsciously follow alongwith the song. Other important factorsare the increasing quality of sound production and appealing dynamic dance routines perfectly executed after long hours of practice. More and more Asian and Western artists desire to cooperate with Korean singers, while many European and American directors and choreographers are invited to work in the Korean pop music industry.

So following the success of Korean dramas, the huge potential of China's market attracted many Korean pop singers. Chinese people first came across Korean popular music through TV dramas' original soundtracks. However, K-pop got wider attention due to the emergence of thematic Radio programs like “Seoul Music Hall” (º«³ÇÒôÀÖÌü) on Beijing FM (1996), “Nighttime at Han River” (ºº½­Ö®Ò¹) on Beijing Traffic Station (1999), or 2001 China National Radio's “Listen to Korea” (ñöÌýº«¹ú) Soo Hyun Jang. The Korean Wave and Its Implications for the Korea-China Relationship// Journal of International and Area Studies,Vol. 19. December,2012. - ¹ 2. P. 99..

Korean pop music became extremely popular among Chinese teenagers. A famous Korean group H.O.T. surprised critics when they sold tens of thousands of album copies within the short period of time. It is estimated that in 2002 in China alone there were 8 million fans of H.O.TKorean Wave in China. An Analysis. Essays, UK. November, 2018. Retrieved February 10, 2019 from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/the-impact-of-korean-wave-in-east-asia-media-essay.php?vref=1. A Korean group NRG was also a huge success in the Chinese market. 1999male duo Clon's and 2000 H.O.T.'s Beijing concerts attracted crowds of people. Such reaction of the Chinese audience was astonishing and made Chinese media turn their attention to the phenomenon of Hallyu in their country.The success of H.O.T. and NRG passed the fever to other various Korean groups like Shinhwa, TVXQ, Baby V.O.X., S.E.S., Fin. K.L., Super Junior and so on. They also held crowded concerts and topped music charts not only in China but also in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asian countries. They recorded albums and promoted in China, regularly holding concerts in Beijing. Like the first wave of Korean dramas, the influence of K-pop was not limited to music but spread out to thelifestyle and fashion of the Chinese fans who imitated their idols' hairstyles and clothes. For example, H.O.T.'s famous fashion style of dyeing hair yellow became a very popular trend among Chinese teenagers.All these singers were popular not only in China but throughout Southeast Asia as well as marking the Asian global wave of K-pop. Significantly, a Korean female singer BoA became one of the first K-pop stars to top the charts in Japan and then tobecomes a superstar across AsiaThe Korean Wave: A New Pop Culture Phenomenon. Op. cit. P. 31..

The initial craze was replaced by a few years of relative stagnation of K-pop. However, with the rapid development of Internet communications, social networks, videoand music streaming services Korean idol groups came to the center of attention once again spreading their influence far beyond the Asian region.So along with the development of information technology, the factor of cultural synchronization has become to play a crucial role in the spreading of Korean pop culture in China. New Korean cultural products spread in China without any major delay thanks to the accessibility of the Internet.People have started to share music videos through video streaming websites like YouTube. In China, in particular,such online platforms as Tudou and Youku contributed a lot to the spread of K-pop. They made special sections for Korean music and news allowing Chinese fans to catch up with the updates on their favorite celebrities on a daily basis. Music videos and performances of such Korean groups as Girls' Generation, Big Bang, 2NE1, f(x), 2PM, Wonder Girls, F.T. Island, SS501, SHINee, KARA, T-ara, CNBLUE attracted a lot of Chinese attention.

Recently, such groups as EXO, Seventeen, Wanna One, Blackpink, Twice and others have got really popular in China. With the introduction of Chinese music streaming services and mobile applications like QQ Music, NetEase Music (ÍøÒ×ÔÆ£©, Xiami Music, Kugou Music, and Kuwo Music legal K-pop tracks and digital albums have become more accessible to the Chinese listeners. When asked “what sources do you use to listen to K-pop”, most people mentioned NetEase Music (33 times), followed by QQ Music (16 times), Korean music streaming service Melon (11 times), and the video sharing platform Bilibili (7 times). Such services as Kugou, Spotify, Kuwo, Xiami, Apple Music, and Youtube were also mentionedseveral times. Some added they also buy physical albumsSee Appendix 2, question 11 of the poll..

A recent worldwide K-pop phenomenon - group BTS - has also taken over China The popularity of this group made apparent the global scale of the Korean Wave leading them to the top of the charts not only in Asia, but Europe and USA, huge concerts like 40-thousand stadium concert in New York Citi Field, the Billboard awards, Grammy nomination and various appearances on American TV. The group has already announced its new 2019 world tour, selling out such stadiums as Wembley in London (with the capacity of up to 90 thousands people) within hours.. This is also proved by the results of my poll, which show that BTS is mentioned more than any other groups (49 times) as the most popular K-pop group in China right now, followed by EXO (20 times), Blackpink (12 times), Wanna One (6), and Bing Bang (5 times) See Appendix 2, question 13 of the poll..

2018 statistics of digital music sales of all Chinese major streaming services combined shows the presence of two albums of BTS on the annual top 10 ratings2018ÄêÖйúÊý×ÖÒôÀÖר¼­ÏúÁ¿ÅÅÐÐTOP10 (2018 Top 10 Music Album Sales in China) Retrieved February 13, 2019 from https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1621631009526098844&wfr=spider&for=pc.(Meanwhile, if we look at the 2018 top list of albums on QQ Music alone2018ÄêQQÒôÀÖÊý×Öר¼­ÏúÁ¿Äê°ñÅÅÃû (2018 QQ Music Album Sales Rating in China). Retrieved February 13, 2019 from http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=5846824477&mo_device=1&ssid=0&from=844b&uid=0&pu=usm1%2Csz1320_2001%2Ctaiphone_1_12.1_25_12.0&bd_page_type=1&baiduid=FF5B74AC668441CE3003807C2333ACD8&tj=www_normal_1_0_10_title&referer=m.baidu.com%3Fpn%3D0&red_tag=b0044765926&traceid=, we will also see a strong presence of Korean popular singers as the first place is occupied by BigBang's album “Flower Road”.)It is the same statistical figures that are shown in Chapter I in the context of presenting such Chinese singers as Lay and Kris Wu who hold the first and the third positions on the chart, respectively. Taking into consideration the fact that they are both trained in Korea, first debuted under Korean label SM Entertainment and became known as K-pop artists, we can get a good understanding of the current pop music trends in China. In this regard, being active in China as Chinese singers, they still in a way represent Korean popular music industry and its influence on the pop culture trends in China.In fact, Chinese members of Korean idol groups are a common phenomenon in the K-pop industry. According to my analysis, ethnic Chinese people account for approximately 23,2% of the K-pop idol music industrySee Appendix 1..In some famous Korean groups like NCT, Chinese members may even account for almost half of the group. As in the film and TV industry, China-Korea cooperation is also common in the music industry. There are groups that position themselves as Chinese-Korean and are co-managed by Korean and Chinese companies, like Cosmic Girls (co-managed by Korean Starship Entertainment è Chinese Yuehua Entertainment), Uniq (Yuehua Entertainment), Time Z with 4 of its six members being Chinese (co-managed by Korean Stone Entertainment and Chinese Super Jet Entertainment), etc.

According to my survey, 30.9% of the respondents consider that the Korean groups which have Chinese members are more likely to appeal to them, while 29.1% are definitely positive about the fact that Korean groups with Chinese members appeal to them more as Chinese people. The two groups of respondents together account for 60% which contrasts sharply with 27.3% of those who said it does not matter to them at allSee Appendix 2, question 14 of the poll..

There is also a common practice to separate K-pop groups in different sub-units for the Korean and Chinese markets. For instance, all the Chinese members of NCT have recently formed a subunit for promotion in China called LabelV (ÍþÉñV)and record Chinese versions of NCT's songs as well as original pieces. Similar examples are SM Entertainment's groups Super Junior that also had a Chinese unit Super Junior-M and EXO (initially divided into EXO-K for Korean promotion and EXO-MHere and above “M” accounts for Mandarin. for China). Nowadays Chinese sub-unit of EXO has been already disbanded after Chinese members Kris (ÎâÒà·²), Tao (»Æ×Óèº), and Luhan (¹êÏ) left the group and turned to their solo singing and acting careers in China. These former members of EXO are currently ones of the most influential people in China's popular culture with Luhan's Weibo account (@M¹M)having over 60 million followers, two accounts of Tao (@²»°¡¿ÉÄÜÊÇÖ£°ØÐñ and @»Æ×ÓèºZTAO¹¤×÷ÊÒ) together having around 48 million, and two account of Kris (@Mr_·²ÏÈÉúand @Mr_ÎâÒà·²¹¤×÷ÊÒ) - almost 47 million followersThe information retrieved April 20, 2019 from the Weibo pages of Luhan (URL: https://www.weibo.com/u/1537790411?is_hot=1), Kris (URL: https://www.weibo.com/u/3591355593?is_hot=1, https://www.weibo.com/u/5306969855), and Tao (URL: https://www.weibo.com/u/5627047407?is_hot=1, https://www.weibo.com/u/2713968254).. As for another Chinese member of EXO Lay, he is still officially a part of EXO and is promoting in China, Korea, and the US). Two of his Weibo accounts together (@ŬÁ¦Å¬Á¦ÔÙŬÁ¦x and @ÕÅÒÕÐ˹¤×÷ÊÒ) also almost reach 48 million followersThe information retrieved April 20, 2019 from Lay's Weibo pages. URL: https://www.weibo.com/u/2706896955?is_hot=1, https://www.weibo.com/u/5582937157. .

One of the reasons for such popularity of K-pop in the Internet era is perhaps the fact that there has been a significant change in people's attitude towards music over recent years. In the past, they bought CDs and listened to music on the radio, but now thanks to the development of the Internet, people are able to search for the music they want themselves.Music has become “a multi-sensory experience synthesizing sight and sound”. Melody is no longer the main point of music. Instead, the combination of catchy rhythms, vocals, dances, cinematography of music videos and appearance of the performers themselves are breaking language barrier and attract music fans internationallyThe Korean Wave: A New Pop Culture Phenomenon. Op. cit. P. 57..So the young people around the world fall for K-pop even if they do not understand the lyrics in Korean.

When asked “what attracts you the most in K-pop”, the majority of my poll'srespondents chose “The quality of the music production” (24.1%), followed by “Good Looks of the Idols” (19.3%), “Dancing routines” (18.9%), and “The personalities of the idols” (12.3%). Significantly, “The Lyrics of the songs” took only the fifth place (10.8%) which illustrates that understanding the lyrics is secondary to the overall impressionSee Appendix 2, question 12 of the poll..

As Harry Kim points out,K-pop is a good illustration of the modern YouTube generation to whom visual attractiveness of music videos isequally, if not moreimportant than the music itself Kim Harry. Surfing the Korean Wave: How K-pop is Taking Over the World. University Wire; Carlsbad, Feb 2, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2019 from https://proxylibrary.hse.ru:2078/docview/1910331375/C21A24D8CD52498DPQ/98?accountid=45451.

3.1 Hallyu 2.0. K-pop asaPrimary Agent of the “Neo-Korean Wave”

Due to the development of information technologies, local cultures got a chance to spread even to the farthest corners of the world. As I already mentioned, new online media platforms like the Internet and Satellite TV appeared to be crucial for the spreading of Korean popular culture.

After the success of the first wave of Hallyu which was mostly due to the spreading of Korean TV dramas, with the development of social networking systems and online video sharing platforms K-pop became a new phase of Hallyu and marked the beginning of a “Neo-Korean Wave” or Hallyu 2.0. In comparison to the past phase of Hallyu, the Neo-Korean Wave, which started at the end of the 2000s, has demonstrated more intensive popularity and success. Obviously, it has the potential to reach a wider global audience thanks to the speed of the InternetJin D. Y. New Korean Wave: Transnational Cultural Power in the Age of Social Media. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2016..This new phaseis referred to the spreading of Korean popular culture through social media including TV shows, films, K-pop, online games, and animationLee S. J., Nornes A. M. (Eds.). Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the Age of Social Media. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2015..

For example, according to the survey I conducted, more than 72% of Korean Wave fans in China follow the updates on Hallyu stars, events and new releases through thematic Weibo social groups that post news on this topic. The Weibo group mostly mentioned by the respondents is @º«¹úMe2daySee Appendix 2, question 18 of the poll. that, as of May 2019, has more than 21 million followersThe information retrieved May, 2019 from https://www.weibo.com/u/2482557597?is_hot=1.Moreover, when asked about the overall perspectives of Korean Wave in China, most people (89.1%) noted that “It will last because of the development of Internet and social media”See Appendix 2, question 29 of the poll..

So started around 10 years ago, K-pop is leading a new tendency of stretching the geographical borders of Korean Wave well beyond Asia to Europe, North and South America and other countries. It is also worth mentioning that age and class structure of Korean pop culture consumers have also become much more diverse. Recently, K-pophas even gained more attention abroad than in Korea spreading across the globe in its own way. All these visible changes have led to classifying this newly transformed Hallyu as Neo-Korean Wave.

A distinguishing factor of K-pop that has attracted scholarly attention is the emergence of fan-community or fandom and the K-pop culture they generate. It is indisputable that flourishing and durability of the K-pop industry have become significantly dependent on the fans - its key audience and the main active consumers of K-pop and K-pop related products.

According to the survey, the majority of the respondents (47.3%) said they sometimes participate in the fan activities connected to K-pop, with 18.2% stating they do it very often. Moreover, when asked whether they buy any K-pop related products, 41.8% answered that they buy such products often, followed by 30.9% who buy them from time to timeSee Appendix 2, questions 15 and 16 of the poll..

However, K-pop fandom is not only that. Instead of being just consumers who do not have any other power than buying final products, fans have become pioneers and explorers increasing cultural coverage and depth of K-pop products. “Their `cultural brickwork' brace global K-pop strongholds, as their labor of love furnishes the productive core with distributive momenta” Choi Jung Bong, Maliangkay Roald. (Eds.). K-pop: the International Rise of the Korean Music Industry. - New York: Routledge, 2015. P. 10.. In reality, the formation and functioning of fandom are rather autonomous from the music and entertainment industry, and fan activities are not always related to music. They can range from idols' birthday celebrations to charity projects in the name of Korean singers. In other words, “K-pop fandom is as much about fans themselves as about K-pop”Ibidem. which deepens and complicates the essence of pop culture created by fan-communities.

A deeper understanding of fandom culture is crucial for studying the perception of K-pop in different countries. The effect of the Korean Wave is different for people in various geographical locations and is determined by the cultural context a fandom is put in. For example, for China, the factor of cultural affinity or cultural proximity with Korea, which I already mentioned earlier, is of great importance.

4. The Hybrid Nature of Korean Popular Culture

Another important thing worth mentioning is that at the basis of Korean Wave there lays a mixture of Eastern and Western cultures. While Korean dramas during the first wave served as so-called filters for the Western values, in the new era of Hallyu 2.0, Korean pop culture, particularly K-pop music has incorporated some Western elements but still stayed faithful to Korean values.Thus, Korea borrowed the best features from the Western pop culture and recreated it according to the local taste producing the advanced culture of its own. This ability of Korean popular culture to skillfully combine Western and Eastern values in order to create its own quality has also appealed to the Chinese audience.

Such blending goes back to the Ancient times when Korea absorbed different cultures and teachings as such Buddhism, Confucianism along with other various Chinese traditions. During Japanese colonial times, the country inevitably fell under the influence of Japanese popular music. When the Korean and then the Vietnamese war broke out, soldiers of allied forces brought modern popular culture to Korea from the US and other countries.After the devastation of the civil war that had destroyed most of the economy and social infrastructure, Korea needed to start from scratch in almost everything, including the cultural sector. With the democratization at the end of the 1980s the regulations on the import of foreign culture were relaxed, and the Koreansgot flooded by the imported music like American folk,British rock,ballads, French chanson, Italian canzone, Japanese Enka, Latina, etc. Local musicians readily imitated melodies and styles to catch up with the tendency of the overwhelming popularity of contemporary foreign music in Korea. Starting from the 1990s, however, the things started to change. Foreign pop music gave way to Korean songs that began to play on the radio all day long. Moreover, the quality and diversity in genres of the local pop music greatly increasedThe Korean Wave: A New Pop Culture Phenomenon. Op. cit. P. 18-19..

The first K-pop group was a three-people boy band called Seo Taeji and Boys, they are considered to start the K-pop movement in Seoul in 1992Kim Harry, 2016..They had a unique style of “mixing traditional Korean folk music with hip-hop and electronica” that had never been seen before. The band was a huge success and is believed to pave the way for many other stars who were not afraid “to challenge conventional musical styles”Ibidem.. It is interesting to mention that one of the former members of the group Seo Taeji and Boys, Yang Hyun Suk, founded a major recording company YG Entertainmentwhich is now one of the top 3 Korean companies in this sphere.

As it is already said, K-pop is more than just music, it is a culture comprising many aspects and activities by fandoms on the one side and companies and the artists on the other side. It is unique in its sense. It reflects the ultra-capitalistic and nationalist way of thinking and aspect of Korean identity provoked by the years of state propaganda and fast economic growth. K-pop has become a giant industry driven by profit and success.It has become multi-cultural and global on the one hand, but reflected some deeper issues in Korean society, on the other hand. The Idol culture has in a way affected cultural identity and mindset of South Korean people shifting it more to conformism making the country become more culturally homogeneous. This is reflected in the perception of a person's appearance and behavior in a society where everybody is constantly being put under the social pressure of public opinion. The similar pretty looks of the idols and their modest personalities are praised and widely advertised making Korean people want to look and behave in the same way. Thus, musically not being authentic Korean, K-pop is more of a reflection of modern trends and a mixture of different genres. However, the socio-cultural aspect of K-pop reflects the complicated situation and homogeneous nature of Korean society. Using Korean language and mixing Korean and Western styles, K-pop has become a musical phenomenon introducing South Korean culture to the world. The K-pop industry has absorbed and represented people's desire for progress during Korea's economic development during the course of the 20^th century.

Thus, Korean pop culture is not simply Korean, it is “the product of adoption and adaptation, the result of communication among several cultures”The Korean Wave: A New Pop Culture Phenomenon. Op. cit. P. 99.. As cultural exchange in the modern world is no longer a one-way flow, Korean pop culture attracts people by mixing Western modernity with Asian sentimentality. This is exactly the mixture that lays on the basis ofthe Korean Wave. On the path of discovering its own cultural identity, Korea has created “a byproduct of clashing and communication among several different cultures”Ibid. P. 15..

The best illustration of this is the Hallyu cultural products and Hallyu stars. Although they behave modestly, they are full of confidence acquired during the long-term of hard work and training. Their songs are written by the best composers of Europe and America, their dance routines are choreographed by the worldwide best choreographers, their music videos are made by the best production teams in the industry. They combine old and new, thus entertaining and inspiring countless numbers of fans around the world.While maintainingtrue Korean and Asian values, K-pop culture has a universal appeal due to the easy-to-follow melodies, catchy riffs, dance moves, and plotlinesIbid. P. 97..

Conclusion of Chapter II

In this chapter, I defined the term “Korean Wave” or Hallyu and looked at the development of this phenomenon first in a global context and then with the focus on China where the wave started in 1997 with the broadcast of the Korean TV drama “What is Love”.The term “Korean Wave”, coined by the Chinese press, was initially mostlyaimed at describing the spreading of Korean TV dramas and pop music at the end of the 20^th century along with the following effects they provoked (passionate fandom culture, the craze for Korean food, clothing, Korean language, Korean cosmetics and makeup, electronics, tourism, etc.).In my analysis, I specifically focused on TV dramas and K-pop as the two major leading forces of Hallyu in China.

Replacing trendy and pricy Japanese urban dramas, Korean TV dramas quickly became a hit at the end of the 1990s. Among the main reasons of their popularity in China are cultural proximity due to the common historical heritage of Korea and China, the fact that Korean cultural products provide alternatives for Western and Japanese culture and can satisfy the spiritual and ethical needs of Chinese people, good production quality, and positive depiction of China and Chinese people. The economic liberalization and privatization of media enterprises that swept across Asia (including China) also contributed to the rise of Hallyu in this country because broadcasting corporations relied on Korean TV dramas as a cheap and quality alternative for American, European and Japanese products.

TV drama fever gave way to the spreading of Korean pop music that in the Internet era became a primary agent of Neo-Korean wave or Hallyu 2.0 not only in China but all across the globe starting the K-pop craze in the countries of Europe, America, and even the Middle East.China, in particular, plays a very important role in the rise of Hallyu as Korean pop culture may be said to be grafted onto the historically well-established core of the Chinese pop culture that initially helped Korean TV dramas spread and circulate around the ethnic Chinese communities in different parts of the world. Moreover, currently China is also closely related to K-pop industry as a big number of Korean idol groups have Chinese members, sub-units oriented onto the Chinese market or even co-managed by both Chinese and Korean companies.

Chapter III. Governmental Policies and Limitations for Hallyu in China

1. Korean Governmental Policiesin Promoting Hallyu

Well-made and packaged, Korean cultural products sell very well as a global standard across the world. Moreover, Korean pop culture has become an integral part of the country's national image and brand along with Korean electronics or cars. This did not happen overnight, it is the result of long-term hard work, planning and investment The Korean Wave: A New Pop Culture Phenomenon. Op. cit. P. 96.. It is not a secret that the expansion of Korean popular culture became the result of the South Korean government's evident policy of promoting the country's pop culture as one of the export industries.According to the statistical figures, from 12.7 million USD in 1999, the total South Korean cultural export value rose to approximately 1.5 billion USD in 2007 Shim Doobo, Heryanto Ariel, Siriyuvasak Ubonrat. Pop culture formations across East Asia. - Seoul: Jimoondang, 2010. P. 124. and almost 3 billion in 2009 Farra Lara. Korean Wave of Pop Culture Sweeps across Asia // CNN, Dec 31, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2019 from http://articles.cnn.com/2010-12-31/world/korea.entertainment_1_korean-wave-exports-content?_s=PM:WORLD (the largest share belonged to Korean dramas). According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in 2016, the exports of South Korean cultural content rose 6.1 percent from the year 2015 and was worth 6.008 billion USDWoo Jaeyeon. Exports of Korean cultural content in 2016 surpasses US$6 bln for 1st time//Yonhap News Agency, June 1, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2019 from https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20180601004100315. Significantly, due to the great popularity of Korean TV shows, entertainment programs, and pop music, the annual growth rate of content export has been maintained at 6-7% since 2012.

The high quality of South Korean productions is to a great extent due to the protectionist policies of the local government in order to support domestic industry. The Korean government has cut foreign shows allowed to broadcast on national TV down to 20%, which led to the increasing demand of domestically produced dramas and the high competition between the three biggest broadcasting corporations, namely KBS, SBS, and MBC. Thus, there emerged popular productions of very good qualityKim Ji-Eun. Op. cit. P. 8.. During the first years of Hallyu, Korean government used pop culture export as a new economic initiative and a way to cope with the 7% decline of GDP after the Asian Financial crisis.

In 1999, during the presidency of Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003) who called himself “The President of Culture”, a “Basic Law for the Cultural Industry Promotion”was introduced in South KoreaKim Ji-Eun. Op. cit. P. 9.. Under his leadership the country's government actively promoted domestic cultural industry, cultural sector budget rose from 0.6% to 1.15% of the total annual state budget ShimDoobo. Hybridity and the Rise of Korean Popular Culture in Asia // Media, Culture & Society, January, 2006. - ¹28(1). P. 35.. Under these circumstances, Korean cultural products started to expand to a larger market and attract foreign customers. For instance, with financial and political support of the government Busan International Film Festival became one of the biggest global film festivals and the most important market for Asian films in general.To account for the global success of K-pop, one should not forget to mention the “not so invisible hand” of the South Korean government that makes “the happy marriage between K-pop and other media/cultural industries” possible and stable. Moreover, K-pop is overall not just a cultural product but is considered to be “South Korea's greatest export” MahrKrista. South Korea's Greatest Export: How K-pop's Rocking the World // TIME, March 7, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2019 from http://world.time.com/2012/03/07/south-koreas-greatest-export-how-k-pops-rocking-the-world/.

South Korean government regard Korean Wave as an instrument of soft powerwhich is able to promote Korean image abroad. For the country like South Korea that lacks hard power, the development of soft power can become a very important part of its political and economic agenda. Among other measures for the support of domestic cultural industry, the government tried to create a favorable environment for private entrepreneurs in the cultural industry. Within this framework “The Hallyu Policy Consultation Committee” was created. It consisted exclusively of academics and independent experts who were to inform the authorities about the progress and fieldproblems of cultural industry South Korean Government Working for the Suitability and Expansion of the Korean Wave. Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Republic of Korea). Retrieved April 3, 2019 from http://www.mct.go.kr/web/notifyCourt/press/mctPressView.jsp?pSeq=6651. The companies and organizations that promote Korean culture abroad also received millions of dollars of government subsidies and grants. This strategy really seemed to pay off not only from the economic but also from the image point of view.A 2010 BBC poll showed that the perception and image of South Korea had improved significantly in China and other countries where Hallyu had great influence. Out of the 27 countries surveyed, China came up the most favorable to South Korea Global Views of United States Improve While Other Countries Declined. BBC World Service Poll, April 18, 2010. P. 20. Retrieved April 3, 2019 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/160410bbcwspoll.pdf.According to my survey, 52.7% of the respondents stated that Korean TV dramas and popular music are more likely to form their positive and favorable image of South Korea with 12,7% answering “definitely yes”See Appendix 2, question 21 of the poll..

Moreover, Hallyu stars and so-called idols are believed to be much more influential abroad than any politicians Lee Geun. A Soft Power Approach to the “Korean Wave” // The Review of Korean Studies, Vol 12, June, 2009. - ¹2. P. 135.. They are not expected to directly represent Korean political leaders' opinion or impose Korean national interests on other countries. Instead, they can promote more universal values through other non-political activities, like charity and social mobilization of their fan communities overseas. In September 2018, superstar K-pop group BTS spoke at United Nations promoting the importance of self-actualization and finding one's own voice for the young generationKelleyCaitlin. BTS Deliver Speech At United Nations Urging Young People To “Find Your Voice” // Forbes, September 25, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2019 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/caitlinkelley/2018/09/25/bts-deliver-speech-at-united-nations-urging-young-people-to-find-your-voice/#14a11e037142. Hallyu stars can also create social pressure or support governments of the countries where the influence of Korean Wave is strong. For example, after the 2008 devastating earthquake in China's Sichuan province more than 30 Korean stars together released an album dedicated to the victims of the cataclysm, some donated thousands of dollars. After another earthquake in Japan in 2011, numerous Hallyu stars combined donated almost 5 million USD Kim Ji-Eun. Op. cit. P. 12.. However, if the government tries to manipulate Hallyu stars and use their influence for its own purposes, it can create a completely opposite and negative effectLee Geun. Op. cit. P. 129..

Korean authorities have implemented various cultural policies in order to promote the Korean Wave across the world, many of them involve the showcase of K-pop stars and actors in numerous local and international festivals, exhibitions and official events Duong Nguyen Hoai Phuong. Korean Wave as Cultural Imperialism. Leiden University. MA Thesis Asian Studies, 2016. P. 13. Retrieved March 10, 2019 from https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/37300/Phuong_thesis_1.docx.pdf. For example, during the official state visit of the former South Korean president Park Geun Hye to China in June 2013, there was organizeda special Korea-China Friendship Concert.She attended the concert and personally greeted such Korean famous idol groupsas Girls' Generation and Super Junior. A more recent example is Korea-France Friendship Concert in Paris held on October 14^th, 2018 where the famous group BTS performed before French and Korean officials including the incumbent South Korean president Moon Jae-in Herman Tamar. BTS Performs at Korea-France Friendship Concert in Paris with South Korean President in Attendance// Billboard, October 10, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2019 from https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/bts/8479832/bts-president-moon-jae-in-paris.

Significantly, Moon Jae-in's governmental Hallyu-related policy is focusing more on moving from the direct support of Hallyu as export content to the indirect support, such as “localization of Hallyu content through the advancement of business desk operation for overseas expansion, support for reproducing quality content in each region in cooperation with global online distribution platforms such as Netflix, and building the foundation and environment for export through discovering new markets”Kim Hui-jeong. Zoom 1. Hallyu Policy based on Interactive Culture Exchange. Hallyu Now. Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) // Global Hallyu Issue Magazine, vol.21, 2017. - ¹11+12. P.6. Retrieved February 10, 2019 from

http://eng.kofice.or.kr/z99_include/filedown1.asp?filename=Hallyu%20Now%2011_12%20vol%2021.pdf.According to the “Five-Year Plan for National Administration” announced by Moon Jae-in and his government on July 19^th, the promotion of Hallyu is one of the Korean national tasks within the framework of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism's Cultural State Strategy that is aimed at “the establishment of a fair cultural industry ecosystem and the worldwide spread of Hallyu (National Task No. 69)”.In this regard, the government's goal isa total of 6% increase of Hallyu export for which it will “expand the cultural content export market as well as related industries through interactive cultural exchange and implementing the `good Hallyu' (culturally balanced)” Kim Hui-jeong. Op. cit. P. 4..

2. China's Governmental Policies and Limitations for Hallyu

Although since the start of Deng Xiaoping's reforms in the 1980s, China has been rapidly opening up to the outer world, the official government, however, has taken a more conservative position towards the inflow of foreign cultures than to foreign technology and capital. China's government was greatly concerned with the curiosity and increasing public demand for foreign cultural products, so it figured out key principles of “letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend, weeding through the old to bring forth the new, making the past serve the present and foreign things serve China!”Liu Bai. Cultural Policy in the People's Republic of China: Letting a hundred flowers blossom. UNESCO, 1983. P. 18. These principles were to indicate how to understand and control all aspects of national and foreign culture,art, cultural heritage, science, and technology. The government especially stressed the point of foreign things serving China, which meant that China should absorb foreign culture only to the extent it satisfied the real needs of its people and did not interfere with the country's socialist structure and ideology.Over the past decade, Chinese government has proved its willingness to strengthen and protect the ideological system of Socialism. For instance, after coming to power the Chinese president Hu Jintao clarified that the Communist Party of China would never allow any actions against China's socialist structure foundation. Moreover, in August 2001, the official Communist Party's newspaper People's Daily (Renmin RibaoÈËÃñÈÕ±¨) published the editorial stressing that a “considerable level of ideological confusion and delinquent behaviors”was widely spread in the cultural market Tidy up the Cultural Market, Promote the Advanced Culture // The People's Daily (Editorial), August 17, 2001. Quoted in Kim Ji-Eun. Op. cit. P. 14..Such statements might be understood as warning against materialistic and pleasure-oriented culture from abroad, including South Korea. Thus, the first limitation of Korean Wave in China is the collision between foreign (mostly Westernized) culture and China's socialist ideology and structure.

2.1 Anti-Hallyu Movement in China

Besides all kinds of support from Korean government, from the economical point of view, Hallyu was not entirely a well-planned project. Instead, it was rather a response to the demand from the Chinese market which at that time was in the form of transition, and Chinese media companies badly needed to survive the competition Soo Hyun Jang. Op. cit. P. 104..So they turned to Korean cultural products which positive effects stood out at first. Later, however, they turned out to be “a double-bladed knife to the Chinese cultural industries”, whose interests were different from the interests of Korean production companiesIbidem.. Thus, no wonder that some people who were a part of China's TV drama industry grew antagonistic towards Korean Wave in the 2000s as the competition from Korean TV series kept them from producing and broadcasting domestic shows.So the first reports of anti-Korean sentiments mainly represented the voices of China's entertainment industry when some Chinese producers and stars expressed their concern about such a rapid spread of Korean Wave. For instance, in 2005, the People's Daily reported the words of a chairman of Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV Liu Chang-le who said that Hallyu's rise to poweris humiliating to the Chinese peoplebecause the Confucian culture it presents to the world is in fact China's“own cultural heritage”Kang Nae-Young. Study on China's Anti-Korean Wave: Based on the Analysis of Dramas and Movies // The China Study, Vol 48, Mar 2008. P. 464..

After “Jewel in the Palace”was broadcast in China in 2005, different people began to talk about limiting the import of Korean TV dramas in order to protect domestic drama industry. There was a widely known issue when a famous Chinese drama producer Guoli Zhang harshly criticized the drama “Jewel in the Palace” accusing it of cultural stealing by presenting as Korean what was actually Chinese cultural heritage (for example, traditional medicine like acupuncture)Soo Hyun Jang. Op. cit. P. 108..This soon led to the flow of patriotic feedback on the Internet. Another example is a Korean historical drama “Queen Seondeok” (¼±´ö¿©¿Õ, 2009) that was criticized by the Chinese people for copying Chinese traditional costumes.Public opinion took the side of the Chinese production companies, critics complained that Korean dramas get special treatment on the Chinese market. “It is more than just a Korean soap opera. It hurts our culture dignity”Wan W. Op. cit., Wang Qishan, head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of China's Communist Party said about “Jewel in the Palace”. Many critics regarded the popularity of the Korean TV shows and dramas as a “heavy blow” to China'scultural confidence.

Finally, the government responded to this sentiment by reducing the number of hours per day and setting stricter screening standards for the foreign drama series. As I already mentioned earlier, it was in 2006 that the government cut foreign imported content on TV.As a result, the percentage of foreign dramas on public TV decreased from 17.1% to 11.1% in 2009 Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange (KOFICE), 2010. Overseas Hallyu Trends in 2010 (2010 Haeoe Hallyu Donghyang), Seoul: KOFICE. P. 18.. According to the People's Daily later statement, this CCTV's measure was in fact aimed at decreasing the number of Korean TV dramas imported to ChinaKorean Media Reflects on the Korean Wave: The Korean Wave is too Weak to Endure Troubles. Op. cit. . Chinese authorities also implemented the policy which promoted greater diversification in cultural imports. This led to more content coming from the USA and Japan as alternatives and strong competitors for Korean dramas on theChinese market. Evidently, through such policies China's government expressed its discontent with Hallyu's influence over the Chinese population.

Anti-Hallyu Movement in China has always been driven by the nationalistic and conservative sentiment. However, considering all the above, it is clear that like Hallyu itself is not a well-planned project of conquering China, anti-Hallyu movement in Chinais also not a well-planned measure to prevent Korean popular culture from reaching the Chinese consumers. Instead, it is rather a wide range of various critical statements about Korean pop culture in the media or on the Internet.It also significantly reflects the relationship between the two countries at a certain period of timeSoo Hyun Jang. Op. cit. P. 107..

So the negative sentiment towards the Korean Wave in China is to a large extent linked to the Chinese government's negative response to this phenomenon and viewing it as a threat to the stability of China's socialist regimeKim Ji-Eun. Op. cit. P. 2..This is represented not only in politics but in economic and cultural aspects, as well.

As for K-pop, there are voices that say it will not last long in China if things do not change both within the industry and between China and Korea. According to a famous Chinese producer Billy Koh, politics plays a big role in suppressing the Korean Wave in China, preventing K-pop from settling down on the Chinese market. However, there is a bigger problem with the industry itself. During his lecture titled “K-Pop From The Perspective Of China After Limitations On Korea” on 2018 Seoul International Music Fair he said that someday the political tensions will be resolved, but there are deeper problems with the music itself Chinese Producer Claims BTS Isn't Popular In China And K-Pop Will “Self-Destruct”// Koreaboo, September 14, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2019 from https://www.koreaboo.com/news/chinese-producer-bts-unpopular-china-kpop-self-destruct/. Koh is convinced that K-pop will soon “self-destruct” in China if the Korean idol-production system continues to be so profit-oriented and create artists with similar face and sound.

In 2007 editorial of Shenzhen-based newspaper Jing Bao, there were also mentioned several reasons for the anti-Hallyu sentiment in China. Among them was the lack of morality among the representatives of the Korean entertainment business and their profit-oriented behavior that provoke a negative reaction among the Chinese populationKang Nae-Young. Op. cit. P. 468.. It is true that Korean entertainment companies have been widely criticized because of their factory-like system of training new artists and their “slave labor” contracts resulting in many stars working almost 24/7, fainting on stage or going to the hospital for injections. This has been considered the opposite side of the shine and glory of Korean pop culture. However, recently, there also have been issues of Hallyu stars themselves showing immoral behavior and provoking negative sentiments towards the whole industry not only in China but in other countries as well. A great digital sex-related scandal is shaking the Korean entertainment industry nowadays as many famous Korean singers and actors have been accused ofspreading sex videos of women without their consent. According to the Police, they all were a part of a group chat where members could share this explicit content. The videos were then streamed as paid content for the online viewers Kwon Jake, Jeong Sophie, Griffiths James. K-Pop in Crisis: Scandal Threatens to End the 'Korean Wave' and Exposes Culture of Toxic Masculinity // CNN, March 22, 2019. Retrieved March 22, 2019 from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/21/asia/kpop-korea-sex-scandal-intl/index.html.Singer and showman Jung Joon-young, a member of a famous Korean pop-rock CNBLUE Lee Jong-hyun, Yong Jun-hyung from Highlight, Choi Jong-hoon from FT Island, and Seungri from BigBang have all been proven involved in the scandalCNBLUE Member Lee Jong-hyun Admits to Involvement in Sex Scandal// Yonhap News Agency, March 15, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2019 from ttps://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20190315006400315?section=culture/entertainment. Besides, Seungri is also accused of involvement in prostitution businessoffering sexual services to foreign investors at one of the Seoul nightclubs, sexual violence and illegal drug use. Although some entertainment companies have already terminated their contracts with these artists for their involvement in the scandal and promised to cooperate with the authorities on this issue YG Entertainment chief vows full cooperation with investigations // Yonhap News Agency, March 22, 2019. Retrieved Aprill 10, 2019 from https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20190322003951325?section=culture/entertainment, some of the companies and even police officers reportedly have intervened in investigation in order to shield the stars from prosecution. The scandalnot only raised some social issues in Korea like gender quality and mistreatment of women but also provoked criticism of Korean entertainment industry training and contract systems. As it was mentioned already, future stars start training at a very young age and are strictly controlled by their companies. They can be almost isolated from society for years in order to focus on their careers and self-improvement.The companies control every aspect of the artists' lives and even sometimes prohibiting them from dating. When artists become famous, such transition from isolation to fame may become fertile soil for the growing sense of impunity and misbehavior Kwon Jake, Jeong Sophie, Griffiths James. Op.cit..