Many romantic TV series from South Korean are very popular in China. In those dramas, men always do full-time job and can decide all the important things in the family, but women often do not have jobs and rely on men’s income to survive. This meets traditional gender role in East Asian society that man’s role is leader with masculine characteristics and independent thinking, and women act like caring person in families with mild temper and strong maternal instincts.
Those dramas often show men’s images as strong, tall and powerful. Women’s images are represented as soft, weak and helpless. Woman lived a very bad life, then, she met a strong man who fell in love with her. Finally, she was rescued from bad life by that powerful man. I can see many dramas that show this plot model, like Models, Tomato and The Heirs.
Those dramas often laugh at those women who have good performance in their working places, in order to strengthen gender role in people’s minds. For example, in popular TV Series Star in My Heart, female leader in fashion design industry is described so mean and cold blood. And she is viewed by others as a loser among women, because of her struggle between family life and her excellent job performance.
Pop dance from South Korean is also popular among teenagers in China. Traditional dances in Asian society are soft and slow, and dancers try to imitate crane that represent elegant style and gentleman’s value in Confucianism. Popular dance from South Korean totally break those rules. Dancers can move their bodies very quickly and freely with rhythmic pop music. Teenagers view it as an effective way to rebel tradition and old social order.
Chinese people also like South Korean Cuisine. Those TV series always show how beautiful girls make delicious food, like Kimchi, Korean rice cake and roasted pork. South Korean food contains a lot of chili, which is similar to Chinese food. So Chinese people can accept their taste easily.
popular culture 