The “kimchi debate” between China and South Korea, which has just recently cooled down, has recently reignited after Chinese netizens demanded an apology from a South Korean netizen for his comments in favor of Korean pork and kimchi. The incident highlights the years of cultural strife and nationalistic sentiments between China and South Korea.
Forced to apologize, Korean netizen has a hard Time being a man inside and out
Recently, Hamzy, a South Korean webcam star with 5.3 million followers, was called “insulting” by some Chinese netizens for liking a message that “those Chinese guys are now saying that pork with vegetables is their traditional Culture“.
Chinese netizens also accused her of repeatedly liking messages that “disrespect Chinese Food culture” and demanded that she apologize to China for her “inappropriate behavior”.
Hamzy apologized on Weibo on the night of January 16, saying that she really respects Chinese food culture. Hamzy’s apology caused discontent among her Korean fans, who criticized her for “abandoning her country for money”.
Afterwards, Hamzy explained to her Korean fans in a YouTube live broadcast that it was because Chinese fans kept scolding her, so her agency asked her to apologize. She, of course, believes that the meat wrapped in vegetables and kimchi is Korean culture, and felt speechless about the dispute. This explanation was then screenshotted by Chinese netizens and put on Weibo, adding fuel to the fire.
The Chinese netizens are still complaining that she is not kneeling properly, and Hamzy’s Chinese agency announced her termination of contract on January 17.
Hamzy wrote a long note on her YouTube channel on the 19th, after explaining the causes and consequences of the controversy, saying that if Chinese people felt betrayed and angry because they misunderstood that she had agreed to demeaning messages about Chinese people, then she should apologize, no matter what the reason was that it happened on her channel, which is also a moral and etiquette to those who love and support her.
She also stressed that if she has to say “kimchi is Chinese” just to be active in China, then she will not be active in China. Similarly, Chinese people do not need to say that Chinese food is Korean food just to be active in Korea, which some Chinese netizens will understand.
Currently, Hamzy’s fan base on Chinese platforms has dropped wildly, however, her YouTube followers have rapidly increased to 5.38 million.
The continuation of the “kimchi dispute”
The dispute is a continuation of last year’s “kimchi dispute” between China and South Korea, in which the Chinese market regulator reported on November 26, 2020, that “from now on, Chinese kimchi will have more say in the international market”. The report said, “From now on, Chinese kimchi will have more say in the international market.
The report said that the international standard for the kimchi industry, which was developed by China and led by Meishan City of Sichuan, the “hometown of Chinese kimchi”, has been voted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) after 3.5 years to form an international standard for kimchi (salted and fermented vegetables) specifications and test methods.
The report said that the successful launch of the international standard will greatly enhance the status and influence of Chinese kimchi in the international market, and will further expand the international popularity of “Dongpo kimchi”, and will play a huge role in promoting the development of China’s kimchi industry in the direction of better and stronger.
Ring time to follow and stir
The Global Times, a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party‘s mouthpiece People’s Daily, which has always stirred up nationalist sentiment, relayed the news with the headline “China takes lead in setting international standards for kimchi industry, Korean media explodes: shame on kimchi sovereign state”, saying that the standard meant that China’s kimchi industry “has become the industry benchmark in the international kimchi market” and that the technical standards of the kimchi industry were recognized by the world.
The ring also said with contempt, it is worth mentioning that the experts involved in the development of international standards for the kimchi industry, there are no experts from South Korea, which has always been the “kimchi sovereign state”. In fact, as early as 2017, South Korea’s kimchi trade deficit reached a record $47.28 million (about 300 million yuan), and the amount of kimchi imports reached more than 10 times the amount of exports. Imports account for about 35% of South Korea’s kimchi consumption, and 99% of these imported kimchi are produced in China.
Huan added that South Korea’s so-called “kimchi sovereign state” status has long “existed in name only”.
China and South Korea kimchi are not related to each other
Although the ISO list clearly stated that “this document does not apply to Korean kimchi,” the statements made by Huan Shi and other media seemed to intentionally blur the distinction between Chinese kimchi and Korean kimchi, which sparked discontent among Koreans and triggered a social media war of words between Chinese and Korean netizens over kimchi standards.
Some South Korean netizens called the Chinese claim nonsense and “a real thief who stole our culture. Chinese netizens said “South Korea loves to improve other people’s things and claim them as their own”.
According to Yonhap News Agency on November 29 last year, Chinese and South Korean netizens about the “kimchi controversy” prompted South Korean officials to take a stand, saying that the kimchi of Sichuan, China (Paocai) has nothing to do with Kimchi (Korean kimchi).
The Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Industry and Food insists that the “international standard” of Chinese kimchi does not mean that it is the international standard of Kimchi (Korean kimchi), because as early as 2001, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) International Food Standards Committee has developed Kimchi international standards. The Chinese standard only covers Sichuan salted fermented vegetables, and the ISO document confirms that it does not apply to Korean kimchi (kimchi). It is inappropriate to report on Korean kimchi without distinguishing it from Sichuan kimchi.
Korean professor advertises Kimchi
In addition, a well-known Korean university professor has intervened in a different way in the “kimchi debate” between China and South Korea. According to Hong Kong‘s Apple Daily, Seo Chang-deok, a professor at Korea Honest Women’s University, published an ad promoting Korean kimchi in the U.S. and international editions of the New York Times on Jan. 18 with the headline “Korea’s Kimchi, It’s for Everyone. It’s for Everyone,” introducing the culture of kimchi, which was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013, and the fact that kimchi has been Korea’s most iconic dietary and fermented food for thousands of years.
The professor said in an interview that this was done to tell the world that Kimchi (Korean kimchi) is Korean. Seo also said that instead of responding to China’s baseless “kimchi project,” the world should get more accurate information. He also uploaded the ad to Instagram, Facebook and other social media sites to promote it. Seo said that in the future, he will also produce videos promoting kimchi culture and history in Korean, English and Chinese.
Professor: It’s a small thing
Professor Hwang Jae-ho, director of the Center for Global Security Cooperation at Korea University of Foreign Studies, told VOA that for him and most Koreans, the “kimchi controversy” is not an important issue and will not affect relations between China and South Korea.
He said, “This is not that important topic, some netizens say there is something, most people now …… this we have not talked about this what kimchi thing. Once or twice I saw it written in the newspaper, but now there is no this between Korea and China, this is a what strikes what the cultural or social issues of the relationship between the two countries, are not.”
Scholars: nationalist sentiment manifested
Rong Jian, a well-known independent scholar in China, told Voice of America that the “kimchi dispute” between China and South Korea reflects the nationalist sentiment of many Internet users, which has become more pronounced in recent years as China’s power has grown stronger.
He said: “These years nationalism is very arrogant, right? As the country has become stronger and richer, this cultural nationalism has become even more fully developed. It reflects some of our cultural problems, some deep-seated problems, and is a cultural phenomenon in the process of the proliferation of our nationalism. It is certainly more extreme for China. From the point of view of China and South Korea, from my personal observation, both sides have this kind of nationalistic tension, this kind of confrontational emotion.”
Chinese and Korean netizens have often accused and attacked each other for cultural plagiarism on the Internet over the past years, interspersed with many rumors and nationalistic sentiments.
Rong Jian said the rise in nationalist sentiment in China in recent years has been largely instigated by the Global Times, a subsidiary of the People’s Daily, and that if Chinese officials do not curb this proliferation of nationalist sentiment, it could seriously impact China’s openness to the outside world and its image.
This newspaper can be considered a stronghold or a birthplace of Chinese nationalism,” he said. A lot of nationalist sentiment is expressed by the people and this newspaper has a lot to do with it. So, this phenomenon will definitely increase in the future. If China’s official and official media are not controlled, this kind of absurd nationalist farce will continue to be staged, which is very detrimental to China’s opening up to the outside world and building a positive cultural image.”
Zhou Xiaozheng: The Farce of Narrow Nationalism
Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociologist and former professor at the National People’s Congress who lives in the United States, said the so-called “kimchi controversy” is actually a farce with one-sided and narrow nationalist sentiments.
Zhou Xiaozheng also criticized the Global Times for promoting nationalist sentiments, acting like a “shit-stirring stick”, stirring up right and wrong, often to extremes, and in this case, over-interpreting the formulation of international standards for kimchi in Sichuan.
Cultural disputes between China and South Korea continue
China and South Korea have traditionally had complex historical ties, and there are many similarities between the traditional material culture of the two countries; for more than 10 years, South Korea has been active in the declaration of cultural heritage, with the ritual Music of the Imperial Palace, the Gangneung Dragon Boat Festival, and the Korean “tug of war” being selected as World Intangible Cultural Heritage.
As early as November 2005, in South Korea’s “Gangneung Dragon Boat Festival” was designated by UNESCO as the oral and intangible heritage of humanity, South Korea will be “Dragon Boat Festival” inscription of rumors spread in China. Although by the official, including many later debunked rumors, but there are many people believe that South Korea stole the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival.
In fact, the Gangneung Dragon Boat Festival is a witchcraft ritual that is unique to farmers in the Gangneung area of Korea during the Dragon Boat Festival time, and does not refer specifically to a festival that has almost nothing to do with the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. Many customs of the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival cannot be found in the Gangneung Dragon Boat Festival, and the rituals, performances, and amusements in the Dragon Boat Festival have a strong Korean folklore character.
Since then, the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival was successfully inscribed on the Representative List of the World Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009, becoming the first Chinese festival to be inscribed on the World Heritage List.
And just a few weeks before the “kimchi controversy”, Chinese and Korean netizens also staged a “Hanbok Hanbok controversy” last year.
Cartoon blogger @old tweeted a set of “ancient style mashups” on Nov. 1, prompting Korean netizens to criticize the plagiarism, saying the style was not “ancient style mashups” but “Chinese and Korean style mashups” because “the hats and costumes in the picture are all Korean.
The actor Xu Kai of the new Chinese drama “Shangri-La” took a selfie of himself in a big hat and hanbok in the drama on the 4th, which led to Korean netizens saying that he was “wearing Korean clothes”, while Chinese netizens retorted that “Korean clothes originated from hanbok”.
Subsequently, Yu Zheng, the scriptwriter and producer of the show, took to the field to rebuke Korean netizens for being “uncultured”, saying that Korea was a vassal state of China during the Ming Dynasty, and that the costumes were based on the Ming Dynasty, triggering an escalation of the battle between Chinese and Korean netizens.
The South Korean netizens scolded back, “Show all the evidence of Ming Dynasty costumes, have you ever worn official hats?” The Chinese government also said, “You have no culture when you say that Korean costume is Chinese costume”.
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