As one of the coolest and most low key Korean stars, it’s rare for So Ji Sub to be holding wide spread fan meetings across Asia but that’s what’s coming in March as he celebrates his 20th anniversary since debut. So Ji Sub’s fan meeting will take him from Japan to Taiwan to Hong Kong and end in Seoul, but the latest hiccup is yet another China “talk to the hand” move. So Ji Sub’s stop in Guangzhou China in April is likely to be canceled because his agency still has not received permission for him to hold the event and repeated requests keep getting delayed. China’s unofficial but clearly pervasive Hallyu ban is how headed into it’s 7th month and still causing headaches for both sides, the Korean stars who can’t do events there and the Chinese fans wanting to consume their favorite Korean entertainment.
In addition to So Ji Sub’s face palm by the Chinese government, the beef over THAAD has reportedly led to the closures of dozens of Lotte Duty Free Stores in China and Chinese airports. The Lotte conglomerate donated land to the South Korean government to be used to build the THAAD system on so China is purposely targeting Lotte even more harshly.
Wow! SJS has been in the industry for 20 years! Amazing!!! Congrats to him. Hope to see more of his works! He has brought some very memorable roles. MISA is my project for him.
So expected of China to use her economic powers to exert political pressure especially on her smaller neighbours.
What’s the Koreans reaction so far to China’s tantrums? They are also a nationalistic bunch…
The anti-Korea fever is huge currently in China. If you check the atmosphere concerning the THAAD and Lotte issues on Weibo you can see that many Chinese citizens are really turned off by Korea. There is this speech by Lotte’s CEO (?) going viral on Weibo, adding more fuel to the fire. Also, C-netizens are widely spreading screencaps of comments by K-netizens (most likely on Nate) that they captured down and translated in Chinese, full of curses and bad language towards the Chinese people calling them uncivilized lowly dogs/pigs and stuff. So it’s easy to imagine how huge the anti-Korea fever is in China now. Regardless of whether the measurements by the authorities are official or not, I think Chinese people are actually not in the mood anymore for anything related to Korea. And from this point of view, I think it’s the personal choice of the consumer. They can decide themselves whether they are interested in Chinese, Japanese dramas or Korean dramas, in C-pop or K-pop, in Western or Korean cosmetics etc. This will directly affect supply and demand.
The only Korean celebrity that is still considered “likeable” and not minded in China now is probably Kim Jae-dong. Apparently, he appeared on CCTV yesterday because he protested against THAAD lol.
Exactly.
Have read quite a number of posts from c-netz who are also k-drama fans.. most got turned off by Koreans over the THAAD issue plus like you said, what those k-nets wrote. They have no problems with the actors but they can give up watching those k-dramas without a problem. Their love for their country is bigger than the lover over k-dramas.
Plus, I don’t see how one can call China throwing their ‘tantrum’ lol. It isn’t China who started the issue here and as consumers, they have the right not to buy what Korea are sellings. It is actually looks the way around. People are throwing ‘tantrum’ because the impact of China banning anything related to Korea.
^exactly. With the political atmosphere between China and South Korea I’m not surprised by this. Just as there is an anti-Korea fever in China, there’s a huge anti-China sentiment in South Korea as well. There are tons of videos on Chinese sites (can’t find any on American sites typical) showing K-netizens throwing obvious shade towards the Chinese. This dual bias between the two countries have been shimmering underneath the surface for a while now, this new policy by China just brought it out to the surface. I wouldn’t go so far to call it a tantrum more of a bomb that finally defused.
good for china korean been staling their mony to much.
Fans of Korean Music, Korean Drama can always fly to Korea to watch them. China’s consumer has a lot of money to spend. Surprised to see fans of Korean entertainment being so defensive of why Korean stars are being banned in China, when you don’t see Korea as a country exactly welcoming Chinese entertainers into their own industry. Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of Korean Entertainment, but these political issues doesn’t bother me as much, especially when you are talking about starts going to a different country. Well, at least at this day and age, there is the internet, and shows can be streamed. Unless, China censored that too. I like both China and Korean entertainment, so luckily I am in U.S. and can stream it on the internet and appreciate both cultures.
If anyone wants to earn foreign money, you’d better get on their good side. No point bickering and complaining because no one owes anyone anything…
Preach. Exactly.
Good for China. Korea needs to learn respect others. Sometimes I think Korea is too snooby. I really don’t like their discrimination towards certain countries such as south east asian or african. Not that their country is big tho. I like korean dramas and some of their music but comments that I read in some articles really got my nerve.
Africa is not a country!!!
This is also a form a ignorance/snobby attitude.
Winnie clearly said “countries such as south east asiaN or africaN” meaning countries in Africa or South East Asia. Not referring to Africa as a country.
I think you misunderstood her/his sentences XD
(Ahem) respect? I think China needs to learn that word first. It’s greed over territories has got a lot of Asian countries and its citizens a bad rep. And those tourists? Talk about respect…
Territories are a different matter. There are historical claims on those areas and going back some 30-40 years most of the now disputed areas were recognized as Chinese territory on the maps of countries now disputing them.
Pesky tourist are annoying, but not so much about respect as a matter of class.
Two different issues here. Business decision should be separated from citizens respect. China does not want to do business with South Korea… simple concept! The South Koreans want to earn Chinese money, what’s with what respect?!
@Jayne Of course China can ban whoever she wants. On the flip side, her big bully methods against her smaller neighbours, and I’m not only referring to korea here, turns others off. Nationalism works both ways.
Well, what you wrote about being a bully to their smaller neighbours seems doesn’t related to why they banned K-ent over THAAD here. This topic is about China-Korea over THAAD and I’m voicing my opinion over that issue. I dislike how they are doing with South China Sea.. but that is totally another matter.
Though I can see the concern over South-China sea, I can absolutely see why China must do it, and why I to a certain extent support it. To all you people complaining about it, as a country it a vital and strategic move to save your own ass should a war break out. And I’m telling you it’s very likely for a war to break out, we have then same/similar catalyst that started WWI and WWII; stagnant economy, inflation, uneven distribution of wealth, and finally one nation with unparalleled military power and spending, even in economic decline.
US’s overseas bases has China strangled, and US’ economy isn’t picking up, common people are unhappy, and if we look at US’ military history, it’s not too far-fetched to think one day it may declare war on China. If China wants US to double think the option on war, it NEEDS a strong military, capable arsenals.
Not only China, I want to see Russia, or any other country (with the exception of ISIS) to be able to have a military that can evenly match the US, that way it’s safer for everyone, because everyone of those powerful nations will think twice before resorting to war, since the likelihood of them winning an easy, decisive war will be way diminished.
Please people, I live on a small island in the middle of the pacific, global warming already has my @ss on a tight spot, the way I see it, US is more of a threat than China in every term, because they got the best and absolutely unparalleled military force in the world and their recent history proves, they’re willing to use it and screw up other countries for its resources or whatever else their corporate overlords wants.
I see China as more of a paper tiger, that’s more likely to buy you out economically than say, with actual bombs.
I’m commenting on China’s reaction to THAAD in relation to the bigger picture on how she has been behaving. She has the right to express her displeasure by flexing her economic muscles so too others who are against her behaviour. Of course as the bigger and richer country, she carries the louder voice.
It’s strange that you would be blaming China for being a bully in this situation. THAAD is a marked provocation and pretty much every country in the world would object to their neighbor installing such a system. Furthermore, I’ve seen many comments blaming China’s bad taste for the decrease in quality of Korean dramas so shouldn’t Koreans be happier now? It’s strange how people turn their noses up in contempt at Chinese money, yet are salty when China exercises their right to spend their money somewhere else.
And I’m sure China’s neighbours like how she is propping up the nuclear-armed nutcase in the neighbourhood…
If the nutcase you’re referring to is North Korea, then all I have to say is that the nuclear threat North Korea poses is decidedly smaller than that of the United States. Of course the neighboring Asian countries should be upset that China is supporting North Korea, but everyone should also be upset at South Korea enabling western hegemony in Asia. It’s a little juvenile to reduce international relations to a case of “but they did it too” in order to detract from the conversation at hand. No one is saying that China never did anything wrong in the history of mankind, but rather that in this situation, it’s unreasonable to be upset over this when most Koreans didn’t even want China involved in the Korean entertainment industry.
China, Japan, Korea have too much political and historical baggage to be friends. they have shared cultural roots, but the rivalry to be #1 is one of the roots of the problem.
It’s a matter of resources for all countries, especially China. Expanding populations, limited economic increases, potential loss of much needed revenue from sales to foreign markets-all this fuels antagonistic behavior. And many countries are ethnocentric whether they want to admit it or not.tack on centuries of “wrongs” from both sides and it’s a situation where all parties are quickly angered. China has been collecting all the finite resources that it can from many countries-land, mineral rights etc. and its power is already impacting smaller countries. Watch it carefully.
And now back to our favorite topics-it’s a darn shame that So Ji Sub’s fans can’t see him!
Congrats, handsome! Don’t look old enough to be in the business that long. Extremely talented young man! He was meant for that business no matter what. Hope you enjoyed your tour! Who cares about the country of China, I only care about the people, fans, that they are disenfranchising!
He needs to take care always!