The returning of Hallyu in China: transnational reception of the Korean drama My Love from the Star
Abstract
My Love from the Star, the hit Korean drama has led to the revival of the Hallyu boom in China in 2013. After conducting a textual analysis of 100 reviews on Douban, the results of this study indicate that urban middle class audiences in China are attracted by the beauty of the actors and the conservative romantic storyline, and admire individual pursuits of free love and career success depicted in the drama. However, they are dissatisfied with the stereotypical gender relations and criticize the drama’s aim of securing the submission of women to male domination. The results illustrate that cultural proximity is not only related to the audiences’ cultural background, but also determined by the social class and lived experiences. As the major consumers of Hallyu 2.0 have switched to the open-minded young generation, the production of Korean dramas which maintains the traditional patriarchal ideologies is facing challenges ahead.
Get full access to this article
View all access and purchase options for this article.
References
Ahn J (2014) The new Korean Wave in China: Chinese users’ use of Korean popular culture via the Internet. International Journal of Contents 10(3): 47–54.
Ainslie MJ (2016) Korean overseas investment and soft power: hallyu in Laos. Korea Journal 56(3): 5–32.
Athique A (2014) Transnational audiences: geocultural approaches. Continuum 28(1): 4–17.
Buckley C (1999) How a revolution becomes a dinner party: stratification, mobility and the new rich in urban China. In: Pinches M (ed.) Culture and Privilege in Capitalist Asia. London: Routledge, pp. 209–230.
Chadha K, Kavoori A (2015) The new normal: from media imperialism to market liberalization–Asia’s shifting television landscapes. Media, Culture & Society 37(3): 479–492.
Chen L (2017) The emergence of the anti-Hallyu movement in China. Media, Culture & Society 39(3): 374–390.
China Daily (2017) Douban lays groundwork for overseas listing. Available at: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2017-08/07/content_30360867.htm (accessed 11 April 2019).
Cho JH (2009) Neoliberal governmentality at work: post IMF Korean society and the construction of neoliberal women. Korea Journal 49(3): 15–43.
Choi JB (2015) Hallyu versus Hallyu-hwa cultural phenomenon versus institutional campaign. In: Lee S, Nornes AM (eds) Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the Age of Social Media. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, pp. 31–52.
Chow R (1991) Woman and Chinese Modernity: The Politics of Reading between West and East. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Chua BH (2004) Conceptualizing and East Asian popular culture. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 5(2): 200–221.
Deppman H (2017) Confucian heroes in popular Asian dramas in the age of capitalism. In: Iwabuchi K, Tsai E, Berry C (eds) Routledge Handbook of East Asian Popular Culture. New York: Routledge, pp. 102–114.
Douban (2016) Douban analysis report. Available at: https://www.douban.com/note/538429107/ (accessed 10 October 2018).
Fung A, Ma E (2000) Formal vs. informal uses of television and sex-role stereotyping in Hong Kong. Sex Roles 42(1/2): 57–81.
Fung A, Ma E (2002) Satellite modernity: four modes of televisual imagination in the disjunctive socio-mediascape of Guangzhou. In: Donald SH, Keane M, Yin H (eds) Media in China: Consumption, Content and Crisis. London: Routledge, pp. 80–90.
Georgiou M (2012) Watching soap opera in the diaspora: cultural proximity or critical proximity? Ethnic and Racial Studies 35(5): 868–887.
Gramsci A (1971) Selections from the Prison Notebooks. New York: International Publishers.
Hall S (1980) Encoding/Decoding. In: Hall S, Hobson D, Lowe A, et al. (eds) Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies. London: Hutchinson, pp. 128–138.
Hanaki T, Singhal A, Han MW, et al. (2007) Hanryu sweeps East Asia: how winter Sonata is gripping Japan. International Communication Gazette 69(3): 281–294.
Hu K (2017) Between informal and formal cultural economy: Chinese subtitle groups and flexible accumulation in the age of online viewing. In: Iwabuchi K, Tsai E, Berry C (eds) Routledge Handbook of East Asian Popular Culture. New York: Routledge, pp. 45–54.
Hwang YM, Epstein M (2016) The Korean Wave: A Sourcebook. Seongnam: The Academy of Korean Studies Press.
iQiyi (2013) High demand for online streaming of My Love from the Star among audiences. Available at: http://www.iqiyi.com/common/20140106/b503a9216bd0b710.html (accessed 10 April 2018).
Iwabuchi K (2002) Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Iwabuchi K (2007) Contra-flows or the cultural logic of uneven globalization? Japanese media in the global agora. In: Thussu D (ed.) Media on the Move: Global Flow and Contra Flow. London: Routledge, pp. 61–75.
Jeong JS, Lee SH, Lee SG (2017) When Indonesians routinely consume Korean pop culture: revisiting Jakartan fans of the Korean drama Dae Jang Geum. International Journal of Communication 11: 2288–2307.
Jiang Q, Leung L (2012) Lifestyles, gratifications sought, and narrative appeal: American and Korean TV drama viewing among internet users in urban China. International Communication Gazette 74(2): 159–180.
Jin DY (2016) New Korean Wave. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Jin DY (2018) An analysis of the Korean Wave as transnational popular culture: North American youth engage through social media as TV becomes obsolete. International Journal of Communication 12: 404–422.
Jin DY, Yoon T (2017) The Korean Wave: retrospect and prospect introduction. International Journal of Communication 11: 2241–2249.
Joo J (2011) Transnationalization of Korean popular culture and the rise of ‘pop nationalism’ in Korea. Journal of Popular Culture 44(3): 489–504.
Jung EY (2009) Transnational Korea: a critical assessment of the Korean Wave in Asia and the United States. Southeast Review of Asian Studies 31: 69–80.
Jung S (2011) Korean Masculinities and Transcultural Consumption: Yonsama, Rain, Oldboy, K-pop Idols. Hong Kong, China: Hong Kong University Press.
Keane M (2005) Television drama in China: remaking the market. Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy 115(1): 82–93.
Kim J (2014) East Asian television drama: A story of booms, fevers, and waves. In: Kim J (ed.) Reading Asian Television Drama: Crossing Borders and Breaking Boundaries. London: I.b. Tauris, pp. 1–24.
Kim Y (2007) The rising East Asian ‘Wave’: Korean media go global. In: Thussu D (ed.) Media on the Move: Global Flow and Contra Flow. London: Routledge, pp. 121–135.
Kim Y (2010) Female individualization? Transnational mobility and media consumption of Asian women. Media, Culture & Society 32(1): 25–43.
Kim Y (2013) Korean media in a digital cosmopolitan world. In: Kim Y (ed.) The Korean Wave: Korean Media Go Global. New York: Routledge, pp. 1–27.
Kim Y (2017) The Korean Wave: Korean popular culture in a digital cosmopolitan world. In: Kim Y (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Korean Culture and Society. New York: Routledge, pp. 269–282.
Kuwahara Y (2014) Introduction. In: Kuwahara Y (ed.) The Korean Wave: Korean Popular Culture in Global Context. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–9.
La Pastina AC, Straubhaar JD (2005) Multiple proximities between television genres and audiences: the schism between Telenovelas’ global distribution and local consumption. Gazette 67(3): 271–288.
Lee C (2016) ‘Descendants of the Sun’: more fantasy than reality. Available at: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20160408000920&ACE_SEARCH=1 (accessed 10 April 2019).
Lee H (2018) A ‘real’ fantasy: hybridity, Korean drama, and pop cosmopolitans. Media, Culture & Society 40(3): 365–380.
Lee S (2012) The structure of the appeal of Korean Wave texts. Korea Observer 43(3): 447–469.
Lewis T, Martin F, Sun W (2016) Telemodernities: Television and Transforming Lives in Asia. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Liebes T, Katz E (1990) The Export of Meaning: Cross-cultural Readings of Dallas. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lin A, Tong A (2008) Re-imagining a cosmopolitan ‘Asian us’: Korean media flows and imaginaries of Asian modern femininities. In: Chua BH, Iwabuchi K (eds) East Asian Pop Culture. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp. 91–125.
Lin L (2014) Korean TV show sparks chicken and beer craze in China. The Wall Street Journal. Available at: https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/02/26/korean-tv-show-sparks-chicken-and-beer-craze-in-china/ (accessed 16 May 2018).
Livingstone S (2004) The challenge of changing audiences: or, what is the audience researcher to do in the age of the Internet? European Journal of Communication 19(1): 75–86.
Nye J, Kim Y (2013) Soft power and the Korean wave. In: Kim Y (ed.) The Korean Wave: Korean Media Go Global. New York: Routledge, pp. 31–42.
Ock H (2014) ‘My Love from the Star’ wins top prize at Seoul Drama Awards. The Korea Herald. Available at: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140904001191(accessed 16 May 2018)
Oh I (2009) Hallyu: the rise of transnational cultural consumers in China and Japan. Korea Observer 40(3): 425–459.
Park JH, Lee YS, Seo H (2019) The rise and fall of Korean drama export to China: the history of state regulation of Korean dramas in China. International Communication Gazette 81(2): 139–157.
Ryoo W (2009) Globalization, or the logic of cultural hybridization: the case of the Korean wave. Asian Journal of Communication 19(2): 137–151.
Schiller H (1976) Communication and Cultural Domination. White Plains, NY: International Arts and Sciences Press.
Schneider F (2012) Visual Political Communication in Popular Chinese Television Series. Leiden: Brill.
Schrøder KC (2019) Audience reception research in a post-broadcasting digital age. Television & New Media 20(2): 155–169.
Shen Y (2011) China in the ‘post-patriarchal era’: changes in the power relationships in urban households and an analysis of the course of gender inequality in society. Chinese Sociology & Anthropology 43(4): 5–23.
Shim D (2006) Hybridity and the rise of Korean popular culture in Asia. Media, Culture & Society 8(1): 25–44.
Sina (2016) My Love from the Star broadcast on Anhui TV. Available at: http://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2016-01-29/doc-ifxnzanh0336765.shtml (accessed 17 May 2018).
Sinclair J, Jacka E, Cunningham S (1996) New Patterns in Global Television: Peripheral Vision. New York: Oxford University Press.
Soh K, Yecies B (2017) Korean–Chinese film remakes in a new age of cultural globalisation: Miss Granny (2014) and 20 once again (2015) along the digital road. Global Media and China 2(1): 74–89.
Straubhaar JD (1991) Beyond media imperialism: asymmetrical interdependence and cultural proximity. Critical Studies in Mass Communication 8(1): 39–59.
Straubhaar JD (2003) Choosing national TV: cultural capital, language, and cultural proximity in Brazil. In Elasmar MG (ed.) The Impact of International Television: A Paradigm Shift. Mahwah: Erlbaum, pp. 77–110.
Straubhaar JD (2007) World Television: From Global to Local. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Thussu D (2007) Mapping global media flow and contra-flow. In Thussu D (ed.) Media on the Move: Global Flow and Contra Flow. London: Routledge, pp. 10–29.
Tunstall J (1977) The Media Are American: Anglo-american Media in the World. London: Constable.
Wan W (2014) Chinese Officials Debate why China can’t make a Soap Opera as good as South Korea’s. The Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-officials-debate-why-china-cant-make-a-soap-opera-as-good-as-south-koreas/2014/03/07/94b86678-a5f3-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html?utm_term=.a2da9cec77f2 (accessed 16 June 2019).
Won Y (2015) Hallyu: numerous discourses, one perspective. Asian Journal of Journalism and Media Studies 2015: 1–26.
Xu JH (2007) Brand-new lifestyle: consumer-oriented programmes on Chinese television. Media, Culture & Society 29(3): 363–376.
Yan Y (2003) Private Life Under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949–1999. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Yan Y (2009) The Individualization of Chinese Society. Oxford: Berg.
Yang C (2017) Television and Dating in Contemporary China. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
Yang J (2012) The Korean wave (Hallyu) in East Asia: a comparison of Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese audiences who watch Korean TV dramas. Development and Society 41(1): 103–147.
Yecies B, Yang J, Shim A, et al. (2016) The Douban online social media barometer and the Chinese reception of Korean popular culture flows. Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies 13(1): 114–138.
Ytre-Arne B, Das R (2019) An agenda in the interest of audiences: facing the challenges of intrusive media technologies. Television & New Media 20(2): 184–198.
Zhang L (2010) In Search of Paradise: Middle-class Living in a Chinese Metropolis. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Zhang M (2012) A Chinese beauty story: How college women in China negotiate beauty, body image, and mass media. Chinese Journal of Communication 5(4): 437–454.
Zhang ZT, Sun BL (2014) New Korean drama, new audience and new dissemination: analyzing the new Korean Wave. TV Research 9: 76–78.
Zhao Z (2017) The image of females in Korean dramas: a case study of Descendants of the Sun. Press Outpost 7: 86–87.
Cite article
Cite article
Cite article
OR
Download to reference manager
If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice
Information, rights and permissions
Information
Published In
Article first published online: October 17, 2019
Issue published: May 2020
Keywords
Authors
Metrics and citations
Metrics
Journals metrics
This article was published in Media International Australia.
VIEW ALL JOURNAL METRICSArticle usage*
Total views and downloads: 2121
*Article usage tracking started in December 2016
Articles citing this one
Receive email alerts when this article is cited
Web of Science: 7 view articles Opens in new tab
Crossref: 5
-
The Netflix effect: exploring the nexus of content exposure, destinati...
-
Walled cosmopolitanization: how China’s Great Firewall mediates young ...
-
See You in 100+ Years or So: Immortality and the Afterlife in K-Dramas
-
Analysis of the Mediating Effect of Social Presence and Social Capital...
-
Transcultural taste and neoliberal patriotic subject: A study of Chine...
Figures and tables
Figures & Media
Tables
View Options
Get access
Access options
If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:
loading institutional access options
Alternatively, view purchase options below:
Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.
Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.
