China's love affair with South Korean popular culture seems to have fallen on tough times. Due to the planned deployment of a missile defense system, unofficial rumors say the Chinese authorities are going to clamp down on K-pop and K-dramas. While some fans have decided to stand with the rumored government stance and boycott Korean culture, many hardcore supporters have chosen to stick with their beloved idols.
Earlier this August, South Korean media first reported that China would ban K-pop and K-dramas in order to put pressure on the South Korean government in retaliation for the deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in the country.
The rumored ban aroused intensive discussion on Chinese social media. "When it comes to the country, there is no idol" soon became a hot hashtag on Sina Weibo.
This controversy has driven some fans of Korean pop culture, known as Hallyu, to stop following their idols online with Weibo user Azhun-yeon writing "I'm a super crazy fan, I love K-pop stars, but I love my country more than anything."
A fan of G-Dragon (a member of South Korean boyband Big Bang) decided not to go ahead with her plan to see the band in concert, explaining "I can't imagine if one day a bomb lands on my country, and I might have paid for it."
The rumors about the ban were first reported by The Seoul Economic Daily on August 4, which reported that China is going to restrict imports of Korean entertainment, but these claims have not yet been officially confirmed or even responded to by the Chinese authorities.
The rumors said that from September 1 onwards K-pop concerts were going to be cancelled, Korean dramas would be scrubbed from schedules and South Korean stars would be banned from Chinese chat shows.
The China News Service news agency reported that these rumors are "unsubstantial" and that "There's no change to the airing of KBS TV drama Uncontrollably Fond on Chinese Internet behemoth Youku." However, public appearances from some of the show's stars have been indefinitely postponed.
The South China Morning Post quoted two insider sources at a Guangdong TV station who said they had received orders from the national media watchdog saying that new approvals for programs featuring South Korean pop stars would not be granted in the near future.
K-pop Krazy
The popularity of South Korean pop culture in China in past decades has sprung in part from the relative friendliness of ties between the two nations since they established diplomatic relations in 1992, with South Korea acting as a diplomatic partner to China in Sino-US talks and the Six Party Talks on North Korean denuclearization.
However, the deployment of THAAD has angered China and damaged ties.
China and Russia have both criticized the deployment, claiming it will affect the strategic balance in the region and hamper their nuclear deterrents.
Hallyu is a huge phenomenon in China with 17.6 million people counting themselves as Hallyu fans in 2015.
Cultural exports earned South Korea 37.71 trillion Korean won ($34 billion), which accounted for 2.54 percent of its GDP in 2014, according to an April yicai.com report. The report also said that China is the biggest market for South Korean media products, making up over 40 percent of the overseas market for South Korean movies and TV shows.
Korean pop music is also a major money-spinner in China. Big Bang played 15 major concerts in China last year, with fans paying up to 580 yuan for seats so far from the stage that they can only see the band on the LED screens set up in the venue. VIP tickets can go for as much as around 1,900 yuan, some 500 yuan more than the average student pays for their yearly rent on campus.
Having grown up with Hallyu, most young fans do not see it as a foreign culture and are unlikely to turn against it because the government has decided to punish South Korea for its defense decisions.
