In recent years, members of Korean idol groups have often been criticized. The reason for the scandal is often the misappropriation of Chinese culture into Korean culture. This behavior naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the majority of netizens, and also made Chinese fans who chase Korean actors or Korean idols always worry.
Recently, another Korean idol group has made waves for appropriating Chinese culture. It is the Korean female singing group ive. The group was launched by a well-known Korean brokerage company in December 2021. The members of the group include captain An Yoo Jin, and five members Kim Qiu, Zhang Yuanying, Kim Ji Wan, Naoi Rei and Lee Hyun Seo. The first single album released by
ive after its official debut broke the record for the highest debut album of a Korean girl group. In February of the following year, it already won thirteen championships in various music programs with its debut single. It can be said that this girl group has been gaining momentum since their debut and their popularity remains high.
Although ive debuted less than three years ago, they are already a popular girl group that is popular all over the country. During this time, they are working hard to prepare a new comeback album, and will release their first title song at the end of this month, and will also announce their comeback MV later. After the release of
ive's comeback music video, it attracted the attention of many netizens at home and abroad, and was on the hot search list of a Chinese social platform. However, the reason why it is on the hot search list is not because of the novelty of the MV and the sound of the song, but because the MV is full of Chinese cultural elements.
First of all, there is the auspicious cloud pattern that always appears as the background in this MV. Chinese netizens expressed their cordiality when they saw the auspicious cloud pattern. In Chinese costume dramas, actors often have auspicious cloud patterns on their costumes. This auspicious cloud pattern can be said to be a completely Chinese style. How come it appears in the MV of a Korean idol group?
Secondly, there is the opium tobacco stick that ive female team leader An Youzhen is holding in the MV. Opium pipes often appear in domestic dramas set in the late Qing Dynasty or the early Republic of China. In the classic film "Rouge Button", there is a scene where Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui smoke opium together using opium pipes.
After that, the banana fans in the hands of the members caught my eye. Among traditional Chinese culture and daily necessities, the banana fan was once an indispensable item for Chinese people to enjoy the coolness. When it comes to the banana fan, many people will think of the plot of Sun Wukong adjusting the banana fan three times in "Journey to the West", one of the four famous classics.
In addition to auspicious cloud patterns, opium tobacco poles and banana fans, there are also Chinese embroidered shoes and copper coin patterns. These are all representative elements of Chinese style, and the copper coin pattern is a traditional Chinese pattern. Like the auspicious cloud pattern, it is a representative element of traditional Chinese culture that has gone through a long time and has a long history.
If these Chinese style elements are not obvious, then you can look at the obvious Chinese elements, that is, the Chinese knot with the word "China" in its name. The Chinese knot can be said to be the Chinese element that appears most often in ive's comeback MV. The members wear Chinese knots on their heads as decoration.
Various elements that symbolize Chinese style appear one by one in the latest MV of the Korean female singing group, which is really unreasonable. As the discussion increased and the popularity grew, ive's latest MV was pushed to the forefront of public opinion, and netizens also revealed more shocking news.
If it were just a reference, netizens wouldn’t be so angry. Some netizens revealed that when ive was promoting the latest music video, it claimed that it was a music video that showed the unique beauty of Korea. The propaganda is to show the unique beauty of Korea, but in fact, it is Chinese style everywhere. Isn’t this forcibly substituting the concept of Chinese style and calling it Korean elements?
Whether in written interviews in magazines or in videos promoting their latest MV, the ive girl group has emphasized more than once that their comeback MV is made in Korean style. They repeatedly emphasized the Korean style before the MV was officially released, but after the MV was released, it was all Chinese elements. This kind of "cut first and show later" behavior made the Chinese netizens who are now trying to argue get half the result with half the effort.
This act of overt robbery naturally aroused strong dissatisfaction among netizens. Some netizens even revealed that Hong Kong was listed as a separate country in the personal endorsement promotional video of ive female team leader An Youzhen. This behavior is unforgivable, and now that it has been exposed, it has greatly damaged the image of the ive girl group.
In addition, Ahn Yoo-jin once called the Spring Festival an annual national festival in South Korea. The Spring Festival is the Chinese New Year, this is an indisputable fact. Now it seems that the members of this girl group have many flaws and should be avoided. The controversy caused by
ive's latest music video has intensified, but the members of the ive girl group and the agency to which the team belongs have remained silent. However, Korean TV stations reported the incident and gave a response.
Korean TV stations defined ive's MV as a "Korean-style" MV, and responded to the controversy that "ive's MV has a Chinese style" and "ive's latest MV steals culture", claiming that it is "far-fetched" and uses "excessive claims." Five words to define the doubts of Chinese netizens.
South Korean TV stations turned a blind eye to all the evidence presented by Chinese netizens, and played ive's latest music video with certainty, with the accompanying text saying, "From the stage to the costumes, Korean traditions are everywhere." This shameless response really opened the eyes of Chinese netizens, who called Korean TV stations shameless.
Korean netizens even praised ive’s MV on Korean social platforms as “too Korean” and repeatedly emphasized that “this is ours”. It’s time to ridicule Chinese netizens, “It’s starting again, they don’t have culture.” Even South Korea Netizens shamelessly asked, "Why do China and Japan want to steal our culture?" Korean netizens really demonstrated for themselves what it means to use strong words to make excuses.
As we all know, another name for South Korea in the minds of Chinese netizens is "stealing the country." The reason for this nickname is that South Korea is always committed to forcibly turning cultures that do not belong to its own country into its own, while Chinese culture is often South Korea stole it. Unexpectedly, now even Korean idol groups have learned this trick.
Faced with South Korea's repeated "stealing of culture" behavior and the "shameless" response from Korean TV stations, Chinese netizens also fought back mercilessly. Some netizens bluntly said that South Korea has low self-esteem about its own culture and would steal whatever good things they see; some netizens ironically regarded stealing culture as a traditional Korean performance, and some netizens called Koreans disgusting.
While despising Korean idol groups for their behavior of "stealing" Chinese traditional culture, I also hope that the public can keep their eyes open and not ignore their unattractive behavior just because they appreciate the members of idol groups. Chase stars rationally and don’t be blinded.
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