The word ‘Single’s Tax’ (单身税) has become a hot topic on Chinese social media over the past few months. Now that the National People’s Congress Standing Committee will soon draft amendments to the Individual Income Tax Law, the term has been banned on Weibo.

Over the past few months, various Chinese blog reports have been headlining that “‘Single’s Tax’ Really Arrived” (“单身税”真的来了”), with some saying: “The state is officially pressure [us] to get married now” (link, link, most recent link).

‘Single’s Tax’ first became a topic of discussion on Chinese social media in 2017, when netizens started to ridicule a proposed personal income tax plan (个税法), of which the so-called ‘Single’s Tax’ is part of.

A year later, it now seems the so-called ‘Single’s Tax’ is becoming reality, as a draft amendment to the income tax law is expected to be considered at the fifth meeting of the 13th National People’s Congress Standing Committee, which is held from August 27 to 30.

If the law, as expected, will be accepted, it will take effect on January 1st of 2019.

Although the new policy has been dubbed ‘Single’s Tax’ by netizens, it actually is not an added tax imposed on singles of marriageable age. Instead, it means that unmarried individuals will not receive the same certain benefits (优惠政策) as those who are married with children.

Those who are married, have children, and those who are taking care of seniors, will all be able to get tax deductions.

Because those who are unmarried and without children will pay relatively more taxes, these parts of the personal income tax have been nicknamed ‘single’s tax’ (单身税) and ‘no children’s tax’ (不孕不育税).

For many on social media, though, they see the amendment as nothing more than a punishment for being single, saying the proposed tax change only adds to their worries: “It’s already hard enough for me to find a boyfriend/girlfriend, and now I also have to pay taxes for being single?!”

At South China News, author Xu Ziwen (徐子雯) writes: “It’s obvious that the goal of this ‘Single’s Tax’ is very straightforward; it is to settle the problem of China’s dropping birthrates and ageing society, and to encourage people to get married and have babies.”

Over the past few years, various proposals and ideas discussed in the media to encourage Chinese young people to get married younger and have (second) children have sparked controversy on social media.

This time, among heated discussions, the term ‘Single’s Tax’ has become non-searchable on Weibo. The ban was likely implemented because the heightened interested in the topic, and the spread of misinformation and rumors on what the proposed new tax laws actually entail.

But talks continue anyway, with people using different characters or ways of writing the term to circumvent censorship.

“No results” for “single’s tax” on Weibo.

“Let’s get married quickly, so we don’t have to pay so much taxes,” some Weibo netizens sarcastically say.

“If these taxes are really changed to boost marriage rates, then that is just plain stupid,” one commenter says: “Young people today already are poor enough. With more taxes to pay, they’ll only get more poor. Their life will be harder, and they won’t date like that, let alone get married.”

But there are also people who think the new special tax deductions are not unreasonable at all. “It has nothing to do with being single or having no kids,” one netizen (@葛麦斯) says, mentioning that the high costs for children’s education will now be able to be (partly) deducted from taxes.

“Why would the fact that the costs of a child’s education can be deducted for a couple that is married with children mean that there’s a ‘single’s tax’ now?”, another person says: “You’re unmarried. You have no kids. Your personal income is not spent on the education of your children,” another person writes.

The controversy surrounding the upcoming tax changes has also generated some new memes, such as the one pictured below saying: “You don’t even really love me, you just wanna be with me for tax purposes.”

By Manya Koetse
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The 20-year-old Xiao Zhao, who went missing after she arranged a ride through Didi, China’s popular Uber-like car-hailing app, has been found raped and murdered. Police have since arrested the suspect, the 27-year-old driver.

A 20-year-old woman from Wenzhou, Zhejiang, went missing on August 24 after taking a Didi taxi from Yueqing (乐清) to Yongjia (永嘉) county at one o’clock in the afternoon to attend a birthday party.

Her parents contacted the police when they could not reach their daughter Xiao Zhao after 14:00, which is when she had sent a message to a friend that she was in trouble.

“Help me,” Xiao Zhao cried for help through message before her phone lost contact.

Although her friend (@Super_4ong) immediately tried to contact Didi after Xiao Zhao had cried out for help, she was allegedly told to wait and no immediate action was taken.

Hours later, in the early morning on Saturday, August 25, police arrested the suspect responsible for the woman’s disappearance, the 27-year-old driver from Sichuan.

Yueqing authorities reported that the body of Xiao Zhao was discovered in a mountainous area nearby, after the driver told police he had killed her and had thrown her body off a cliff. Local police report on their official Weibo account that the driver had also admitted to raping the woman.

It now appears that the driver had been reported by another female passenger earlier this week for indecent behavior. She came forward through WeChat today, claiming the same driver had harassed her around the same place where the murder took place. She was able to get away, and says she later contacted Didi to have his license removed but that Didi had not taken action yet.

Didi Chuxing (滴滴顺风车) is China’s biggest ride-sharing company. Like Uber, it allows customers to arrange a taxi via the app or Wechat programme. Didi has around 450 million users in more than 400 cities across China.

The case is seemingly similar to another shocking Didi murder that occurred earlier this year. In May of this year, the murder of a 21-year-old flight attendant raised concerns among Chinese regarding the safety of car-hailing app Didi.

The 21-year-old Lucky Air flight attendant Li Mingzhu (李明珠) was killed in the early morning of May 6th after she had arranged a ride through Didi, and was on her way home from Zhengzhou Airport in Henan province. A friend of Li had received messages from her while she was on her way home, saying that her driver was “acting strange” and was telling her that he was “tempted to kiss her.”

Unable to contact their daughter later that day, Li’s family reported her missing on the afternoon of May 7. Her body was discovered by local police the following day. Police confirmed that the woman was killed by the driver with a weapon. The body of the driver was later retrieved from a river nearby.

At the time, Didi Chuxing issued an apology for Li’s death, and said they had “incumbent responsibility.” They also promised to improve their safety measures for passengers, but apparently have not succeeded in doing so; before yesterday’s brutal killing, at least ten other Didi incidents also occurred since May, including the rape of a young female passenger on May 15 in Nantong (Jiangsu), the rape of an intoxicated woman in Foshan (Guangdong) who took a Didi taxi after going for a night out on May 13, and the sexual assault of another woman in Huai’an (Jiangsu).

Today, the company again issued a statement on Chinese social media, in which they said they were “filled with grief” over Friday’s violent crime, and that they are deeply sorry: “We fell short of your expectations,” they wrote. The statement received over 200,000 comments today.

The Didi murder is a major topic of discussion on Chinese social media today, with the hashtag “Wenzhou woman murdered when taking Didi” (#温州女孩乘滴滴遇害#) having been viewed more than 16 million times on Weibo at time of writing. Another similar hashtag (#女孩乘滴滴顺风车遇害#) was viewed more than 430 million times. Five of the top 10 ‘hot search’ list topics relate to the murder.

Five out of ten trending topics on Weibo relate to the Didi incident.

One commenter (@Babylily杨杨莉莉) wrote: “As someone of the same age as she was, and me using Didi all the time, I’m just happy nothing has happened to me before. But I hope Didi can undertake action so that all women can safely use their services.”

“I’m too afraid to ride with Didi now,” others said. Amid safety concerns, some netizens now say they want Didi to incorporate an alarm button into its app, so that users can send for help immediately the moment they are being harrassed by their driver.

Others encourage women to quickly change settings in their app to allow the option to automatically share one’s ride with friends, so they can exactly follow the location of the car.

There are also many people who simply do not want to use Didi’s services anymore; they are posting screenshots of them deleting the Didi app from their phones.

UPDATE: More details emerge.

By Manya Koetse, and Miranda Barnes
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The so-called ‘human flesh search engine‘ really is no child’s play; once unaccepted behavior is captured on camera and goes viral, a person’s reputation could be wrecked for life.

Is this an issue of ‘what goes around comes around,’ or is the punishment of public punishment too harsh?

In this week’s column for our friends at the Beijinger, What’s on Weibo discusses this and more, summarizing the three biggest topics that Beijingers have been talking about this week.

Read the column here.

By Manya Koetse
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A day after the brutal killing of a female passenger using one of Didi’s car-hailing services made headlines in China, more details emerge about the circumstances of the homicide.

One of the most shocking details reported in Chinese media today is that the driver, the suspected murderer of the 20-year-old female, made her transfer an amount of 9000 yuan (±$1320) to his account before taking her life.

The driver reportedly had to drive to an area with better phone reception in order for the online transaction to succeed. Once the victim, a woman by the name of Xiao Zhao (小赵), had succeeded in transferring the money to his account via WeChat wallet, he raped her, stabbed her to death, and rolled her body off a cliff.

The incident took place during a so-called ‘Didi Shunfengche‘ (乘顺风车) ride, a car-pooling service from Chinese Uber-like company Didi Kuaidi, which was first introduced in 2015.

Chinese online news outlet The Paper reports that instead of choosing the highway – which would have taken around 40 minutes to her final destination -, the driver had taken a desolate mountainous route during the ride. At some point during this ride, he tied the hands and feet of Xiao Zhao so she couldn’t move, and taped off her mouth.

Timeline:

August 24:

±13:00: The 20-year-old Zhao from Wenzhou arranges a Didi ‘carpool’ ride from Hongqiao Town to Yongjia to attend a birthday party.

14:09: Xiao Zhao sends a WeChat message to a friend, saying. “I’m scared, the driver has taken a mountain road, there’s no one here.”

14:14: Xiao Zhao sends her last words to her friends via Wechat, writing “Help” (救命) and “Save me” (抢救).

“Help me,” Xiao Zhao cried for help through message before her phone lost contact.

15:42: After Xiao Zhao’s friend has contacted the Didi help desk seven times within the time frame of an hour, she is told to “please wait patiently.”

16:22: The friend informs Yongjia police of the situation.

17:35: The family members also report the case to the Yueqing police.

17:42: Xiao Zhao’s friend asks Didi customer service for the details of the driver, but is denied this information.

18:13: Didi provides police with the vehicle and driver information.

August 25:

4:00: The criminal suspect, the Didi driver, is arrested by local police, and admits to raping and killing the female passenger.

±6:00: Police and rescue workers find the victim’s body in a mountainous area near the road.

For the past two days, this case has been one of the main trending topics on Chinese social media, with many condemning the company for failing to protect (female) passengers against such dangers.

The inadequate response of customer service has been a major topic of discussion; they did not only fail to respond to this case in time, but earlier this week, another woman claimed she was harassed by the same driver, and customer service also did not take action against him.

It now appears that Didi has been outsourcing its customer service, resulting in service workers not having the authority nor ability to see into more detailed information about Didi’s registered drivers and ride information.

For now, Didi has taken down its entire ‘shunfengche‘ carpooling service nationwide. The service is different from its regular Didi service in that it allows car owners to drive people to their destination while they are going there themselves (much like hitchhiking), making some money by sharing the ride.

Meanwhile, many Chinese news media outlets report more background details on the suspect. The 27-year-old Sichuan native was a high-school dropout and a ‘left-behind child’ (留守儿童) – meaning his parents are migrant workers who had to leave their child in their more rural hometown while going out to work in the city.

This is the second murder of a female passenger using Didi’s services within four months time. For more informarion on this case, please check our report here.

By Manya Koetse, and Miranda Barnes
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The story of a young girl who went missing and was found hours later, her appearance changed and seemingly subdued, has, once again, turned public attention to the problem of child trafficking in China.

On Saturday, August 25, grandmother Wang took her 5-year-old granddaughter to a nearby playground at around two o’clock in the afternoon in Xuanwei, a county-level city in the northeast of Yunnan Province. Within just thirty minutes, the calm afternoon turned into a nightmare as the little girl went missing in the blink of an eye.

A close family member told Chinese media outlet Sina News that another woman, who also had a little girl with her, was also at present at the playground. Because the two little girls were playing together, the grandmother was less vigilant, knowing that the other woman was also there.

When the little girl was gone without a trace, the grandmother immediately notified police. The worried family also spread the message about their missing child via Wechat, which soon went viral on chat groups all across town and nearby cities.

Photo of the little girl, spread on social media.

With the help of police and watchful citizens, it later became clear that the little girl was spotted nearby the playground at 14:41, leaving the area in a white mini-van together with a middle-aged woman and another child. Just fifteen minutes later, they would depart Xuanwei by train, getting off at the Qujing station, some 60 miles away, at around 16:30.

After receiving various calls from people who had spotted the girl, local police were able to catch the woman and find the child at midnight, in a hotel nearby the Qujing station. When the police caught the woman, it turned out she had already purchased train tickets to leave to Chongqing, a city 500 miles northeast of Qujing.

Upon receiving the news that his daughter was spotted in Qujing, the child’s father rushed to the city and was reunited with his daughter at the hotel.

Father and daughter reunited.

The woman was arrested on the spot and taken away by police. The other young girl allegedly is the woman’s own granddaughter and was used as a ‘decoy’ to kidnap the 5-year-old.

The suspected abductor is taken away by police in the early morning of August 26.

Just within nine hours after her disappearance, the girl had undergone a big transformation; her clothes were changed, her hair had been shaven off, and she seemed unusually quiet. She will reportedly get a medical check-up to check for traces of drugs or medication.

The father turned to social media to thank everyone for their help in rescuing his daughter from the hand of a “child trafficker.”

The woman is held in custody while police further investigate this case. According to a close family member source, quoted by Sina News, the suspect’s family originally is from Xuanwei, but she moved to Chongqing with her husband after getting married.

Mother and daughter together at the police station.

Child trafficking is a serious problem in China, where many children are trafficked every year. As Simon Denyer described in Washington Post last year, there are no reliable figures for how many children exactly go missing in China annually, with academic estimates going from 20,000 up to 200,000. Official statistics, however, have previously stated (2011) there are fewer than 10,000 kids abducted every year; in 2016, according to China’s Children’s Development Report (中国儿童发展纲要), there were just 618 cases nationwide.

Studies suggest that children trafficking in China is mainly done for domestic illegal adoption, altough children also also kidnapped to be sold in to the criminal market (Shen 2016, 66-67).

In 2014, when there was also heightened media attention for the problem of child trafficking in China, one state media report (CCTV) suggested that the market price for a boy was about 100k RMB (±$14.685) and 40-50k RMB (±$7000) for a girl.

On social media, netizens now warn parents that even women with children might be dangerous, as this story shows, and to keep an eye on children at all times.

Also read: “China’s Stolen Children – Why Babies Are Booming Business”

By Manya Koetse, with contributions by Miranda Barnes
Follow @whatsonweibo

Shen, Anqi. 2016. “Female Perpetrators in Internal Child Trafficking in China: An Empirical Study.” Journal of Human Trafficking 2:1, 63-77, DOI: 10.1080/23322705.2016.1136537

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Family planning policies are no longer included in a draft of the Civil Code, which is considered for review at the fifth meeting of the 13th National People’s Congress Standing Committee this week. The draft also introduces a ‘cool-off’ period of a month after filing for divorce.

The Procuratorial Daily (检察日报 Jiǎnchá Rìbào), a news platform run by China’s highest prosecuting office, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, published a post on its official Weibo account today regarding a draft of divisions of the Civil Code (民法典 mínfǎdiǎn).

The draft will be considered when China’s top legislature convenes its bi-monthly session at the fifth meeting of the 13th National People’s Congress Standing Committee, which is held from 27-30 August this week.

The Procuratorial Daily, that attended the meeting while posting about it on Weibo, wrote that regarding marriage & family, there are “five big changes”(五大变化) in the Code.

Posted by jianri ribao today.

1. If a person is seriously ill, they should inform their partner about their condition; if they fail to do so, the marriage can be revoked if the partner requests it.

2. If any documents used to register a marriage are forged or fabricated, the marriage is invalid.

3. There will be a ‘cool-off’ period (“冷静期”) of a month after a couple has filed for divorce; within this month, either party can choose to revoke their divorce.

4. A clause has been added that further increases the provisions on monetary compensations after divorce (“离婚损害赔偿”); the no-fault party in a divorce can demand compensation if the other is to blame for the divorce (i.e. in case of bigamy, domestic violence, abandoning family members, etc.)

5. There is no content relating to “Family Planning policies” included in the draft (“不再保留计划生育的有关内容”).

Weibo post by Jianri Ribao introducing the “five big changes.”

Family planning has been incorporated into the Chinese Constitution since 1978.

In 2017, China’s new Civil Code already made headlines in China, saying the finalization of the Code would “represents a new stage of maturity in which social and economic rights and obligations come together.”

The completed comprehensive Civil Code will be promulgated in 2020, and will include specific chapters on contracts, property rights, marriage, etc.

This week, there are six drafts of series of Civil Code that are submitted for preliminary review. Besides those on marriage and family, there are also those on property rights, business contracts, tort liability, etc.

News about the ‘five big changes’ is making its rounds on Wechat and Weibo today. “They want us to have more babies and less divorces,” some respond.

“First we had to pay a fine for having more babies, now we are being rewarded?”, others wonder.

Earlier this month, several foreign media already suggested that a big change in China’s family-planning policy might be in the works, after the national post service unveiled a government-issued postage stamp of smiling pig parents with three little piglets (in honor of the lunar Year of the Pig).

By Manya Koetse and Miranda Barnes
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On August 27, the leaked invitation for the wedding between Chinese actress Zhang Xinyu (张馨予 aka Viann Zhang) and husband-to-be He Ji (何捷), an anti-terrorism officer, went viral on Chinese social media.

Actress and model Zhang Xinyu is popular on Weibo, where she has over 20 million followers on her account.

The invitation shows a dreamy picture of the handsome couple; Zhang, dressed in a romantic white wedding dress with a traditional veil, and He in his official uniform. A spotlessly white dog is also in the picture.

Sina Entertainment reports that the wedding takes place at The Peninsula on Monday (August 27), a top-notch hotel/restaurant at The Bund in Shanghai. The luxurious restaurant has prices starting at 14888 yuan per ten-person table (±$2100), going up to 25888 yuan (±$3800).

According to the hotel’s website, The Peninsula has banquet seating for up to 430 guests, which means that the banquet could cost the couple $163,400.

The couple’s wedding was announced earlier this month. On Zhang’s Weibo account, the post announcing the wedding received nearly 250,000 shares and half a million comments.

The announcement even made headlines in Chinese state tabloid Global Times, which said that the wedding between the Chinese actress and the officer was a sign of the “rising social status of soldiers.”

He Jie is an officer in the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force. He first met Zhang on a reality show on Hunan TV, which aired in November 2017. Zhang is known for her roles in, amongst others, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate or comedy film I Love Hong Kong 2012.

At time of writing, the first wedding shots and video taking at The Peninsula are already leaking on Weibo while the party is still in full swing.

“Congratulations to the newly-weds!”, many netizens say.

By Manya Koetse
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The brutal murder of a young female passenger by her Didi ride-haling driver has been the major topic of serious discussions on Chinese social media this week. But in some Didi driver groups, it’s been a source of crude banter. Authorities now make it clear that making nasty comments about this case could result in jail time.

The murder of the 20-year-old Xiao Zhao by the driver of a Didi ‘shunfengche‘(顺风车) carpooling-like ride last Friday in Yueqing, has sparked debates and concerns on the safety of female passengers using this hugely popular service in China.

On Monday, Shenzhen police (@深圳网警) warned social media users that making crude remarks about cases such as this is illegal.

A man nicknamed ‘Shenzhen Without Car’ (‘深圳-没车’), who was part of a QQ chat group for Didi drivers in Shenzhen, had suggested that the victim ‘deserved’ to be raped, claiming that ‘if you don’t rape a woman looking that flirtatious, who else you gonna rape?’, also adding: ‘Seven years is just seven years [in prison],* when I come out I’d still go and rape.’ These messages were sent out to more than a 1200 people. *(The prison sentence for rape depends on the circumstances of the crime, and can vary from 3 years to 10 years in prison.)

QQ is a popular instant messaging software service by Tencent QQ (腾讯QQ).

After receiving online reports, Shenzhen police traced the QQ user down and arrested him the city’s Bao’an district. The man, a 22-year-old by the name of Zhang, is accused of disseminating insults, resulting in a “harmful influence on society.”

The police warns on Weibo: “Citizens need to bear the responsibility for the statements they make online.”

They also added: “Those who are making statements online that are dishonoring to others and are disruptive to the social order will inevitably be punished by law.”

The post by the police has since been shared nearly 35,000 times on Weibo within 24 hours, with many netizens being supportive of the Shenzhen police and condemning the man’s statements.

This might be a case of ‘killing the chicken to scare the monkeys’ (杀鸡儆猴), as dozens of Didi driver chat groups have been exposed these days for making crude remarks on the rape and murder in Yueqing.

“If I were him, I wouldn’t have killed her after raping her. Just 3 to 5 years [in prison] is worth it,” are examples of the kinds of comments within Didi driver groups that have been exposed online recently.

On Sunday, police also “intervened” when the comments about the case in a Wuhan-based chat group turned cruel.

“If these groups become places for scum and gangsters to come together, then Didi must close them,” some say.

“If they’re [talking] like this, then what more disasters can we expect for female passengers?”, others wonder.

Currently, Didi has suspended its carpooling services. The company has apologized for what has happened, but is under fire; among dozens of other incidents, the Yueqing killing was the second murder of a female passenger using a Didi service this year.

By Manya Koetse
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What started with an argument in a swimming pool on Monday, resulted in a suicide on Saturday. The trending story of a young female doctor from Deyang shows just how devastating it can be to suddenly be in the eye of a social media storm.

 
– Miranda Barnes contributed to this report.
 

A 35-year-old female pediatrician from Deyang city, Sichuan, has committed suicide by taking 500 sleeping pills when the stress she faced, after getting caught up in an internet witch hunt, became too much for her.

The story, that has gone viral on Chinese social media, starts on August 20. The woman, named An Yingyan (安颖彦), was swimming at a local swimming pool with her husband that evening when she collided with a boy, as the pool’s surveillance cameras also show.

What happened next is unclear – and also varies depending on different social media accounts and news reports. According to those on An Yingyan’s side, the boy, a 13-year-old who was there with his friend, actually harassed the woman and touched her bathing suit. When An demanded an apology from the boy, he refused, spitting her in the face and further insulting her instead.

According to those on the side of the boy, however, An and the 13-year-old only briefly touched when colliding, causing An to become angry with the boy. He responded to her by pulling a face.

Surveillance cameras do show what happened next, namely that the woman’s husband intervened by jumping over, pushing the head of the boy underwater and smacking him.

Lifeguards at the swimming pool told Sina News that they soon spotted the altercation and intervened. Both the boys and the couple left the pool and went into the dressing rooms to change.

An Yingyan’s husband and friends, speaking to Chinese reporters, later claim that An was beaten by the 13-year-old’s mother and two other females inside the female dressing room that evening.

An’s husband shows a photo of the bruises his wife suffered from the alleged attack in the dressing room (via Netease report).

Both parties reported the incident to local police, who tried to settle the conflict between the two families. As a result, the husband apologized to the 13-year-old for his agressive behavior.

 
Getting Social Media Involved: The Online Witch Hunt
 

But the incident was far from over.

The following day, on August 21, the boy’s family -who apparently found out where the doctor worked – came over to Dr. An’s hospital, demanding her to be discharged and telling about her alleged misdemeanor.

The story, including surveillance footage from the pool, was also posted on social media by a social media user (@鸣Mmmm) – suspected to be the boy’s mother, Mrs. Chang – writing: “Quickly come and look, a minor was publicly beaten by an employee of the Water Resources Bureau*, pushing the baby child down, wanting to kill him. Just because the child was not careful while swimming and bumped into his wife. He even immediately apologized!” [*An’s husband].

An Yingyan requested an absence from work on Tuesday (21st), and stayed home the rest of the week. The incident had made her nervous, her husband told reporters, and at home she could also accompany her little daughter, who was just about to attend school for the first time.

But the social media storm got worse. Within three days after the incident occurred, the name, telephone number, work address, function, photos, and all other private information of An Yingyan and her husband had leaked online via WeChat and Weibo, going viral across their town and local chat groups: they had become the target of an online witch hunt, or a so-called ‘human flesh search engine.’

“Human Flesh Search Engine” (Rénròu sōusuǒ yǐnqíng 人肉搜索引擎) is the Chinese term for the phenomenon of netizens distributing the personal information of individuals they feel ‘deserve’ public interest or scorn. Targets are often individuals who have disrupted public order in some way and have angered netizens for their behavior and actions. (Read more here).

 
The Tables are Turning
 

On Saturday, August 25, only five days after the swimming pool conflict took place, An Yingyan sat in her car and took 500 sleeping pills. When she was found, she was immediately rushed to the hospital, where she passed away.

Her husband told reporters this week that his wife had become overwhelmed by the online manhunt and media attention, and the impact it made on her life and family. She would sit in her car and cry for hours.

A trending online video of KNEWS (blurred) shows how doctors are trying to resuscitate the woman, her husband crying by her side.

The story of An Yingyan has now received overwhelming attention on Chinese social media. The hashtag “Dr. An from Deyang” (#德阳安医生#) received 31 million views on Wednesday, the hashtag on her suicide (#德阳女医生自杀#) getting over 3 million views, a news report by Netease was read nearly 160,000 times within hours after posting.

Some well-known social media accounts have now apologized for forwarding the story, expressing their sympathies towards Dr. An and her family. Many posts about the incident have since been deleted. One prominent account forwarding the story is titled ‘Deyang Expose King’ (@德阳爆料王), and many commenters especially blame this account for forwarding “false information.”

“The internet has made this excellent pediatrician kill herself,” some say. “You all have blood on your hands,” a popular Weibo post said (@夏天的风Tl): “You can delete your posts all you want, but you know your crime.”

Public sentiment has seemingly drastically turned around. Although many people criticized the doctor and her husband after the video and story were first posted online, they are now turning against the Chang mother and her family, blaming Mrs. Chang for misguiding public opinion to use it as a weapon against Dr. An.

“She’s a beast!”, some say: “No wonder the 13-year-old behaves like an animal, having been raised by one.”

Some netizens even call for another ‘human flesh search,’ this time targeting the Chang family.

Although a suicide triggered by an online witch hunt is at the center of this story, most netizens seemingly do not care about starting another one.

By Manya Koetse, contributions from Miranda Barnes
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Strong rumors about an alleged arrest of Fan Bingbing, one of China’s most famous actresses, are making their way around Chinese social media today. Fan Bingbing has been at the centre of a tax evasion scandal for the past months.

The Chinese actress Fan Bingbing (范冰冰) has been arrested, sources on Weibo claim.

Rumors about Fan’s arrest come from Huang Yiqing (黄毅清), the ex-husband of famous Chinese actress Huang Yi (黄奕). On August 31, Huang Yiqing posted on his Weibo account (@AndyHYQ) (3.3 million followers):

“Some breaking news – I just spoke to a friend whose wife works at the Wuxi prosecutor’s office, who has confirmed that Fan Bingbing has indeed been arrested.”

Wuxi, in Jiangsu province, is where Fan’s studio is based.

Since 2013, it is illegal to spread rumors on Chinese social media; people spreading ‘malicious’ messages that are forwarded more than 500 times could potentially face legal punishment.

Huang later added:

“You should know, I’m not just posting fabricated stuff on Weibo for sensationalism to attract attention. I wouldn’t do anything that low.(..) Things I post I know are from a trustworthy source.”

Huang Yiqing was the second husband of Huang Yi. He is a businessman and chairman of the Super Sports Car Club in Shanghai.

Famous Weibo blogging account ‘Labi Xiaoqiu’ (@辣笔小球), run by journalist Qiu Ziming (仇子明), also wrote about Fan Bingbing today, suggesting that the actress has already been “taken away” in July, and further adding that she has since also separated from her partner Li Chen (李晨).

 
Fan Bingbing’s Tax Evasion Scandal
 

Fan Bingbing, the highest-paid actress in China, found herself at the center of a social media storm in late May of this year. The actress allegedly received a total payment of 60 million yuan ($9.3 million) for just four days work on the film Cell Phone 2, of which she would have only declared 10 million ($1.56 million) to authorities.

As reported by Radii, the tax scandal first came to light when Chinese TV host Cui Yongyuan (崔永元) leaked two different contracts on social media; the one that allegedly showed that the actress was paid a total of 10 million RMB for her work, with another showing a payment of 50 million RMB for the exact same work.

These types of contracts are called yin-yang contracts (阴阳合同), an illegal practice to avoid paying taxes.

Cui Yongyuan and Fan Bingbing.

Cui later apologized for his posts, Shanghaiist writes, suddenly claiming that Fan actually had nothing to do with the two contracts.

But tax investigations into the matter had already started.

Throughout summer, international media wrote about the ‘disappearance’ of Fan Bingbing, who was not spotted in public since July 1st. Some sources claimed the actress was banned from acting for three years.

In late July, reports came out saying that Fan was banned from traveling abroad amid the tax evasion investigation.

From Fan’s Weibo account, image promoting Fan Bingbing beauty brand.

Fan Bingbing has starred in many famous films, such as I Am Not Madame Bovary (2016) or X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). She also starred in the 2014 highly successful drama series The Empress of China.

Fan is among the top popular celebrities on Weibo; she has more than 62 million fans on her Weibo account, but has not posted anything since early June.

No official media have yet confirmed whether or not Fan Bingbing has indeed been arrested. There are conflicting articles going around, however, posted by other Chinese-language media, suggesting that Fan was in the middle of the process of getting an American visa approved.

“According to @AndyHYQ, Fan is already detained. According to outside media, she already had her American visa. What’s the deal?”, some netizens wonder.

“We already haven’t seen her for 91 days,” others say: “Where is she?”

By Manya Koetse and Miranda Barnes
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Last week one rude passenger became a big trending topic when the man refused to give up the seat he took from another passenger on the G334 express train to Beijing.

The man, who was dubbed “High-Speed Train Tyrant” (gāotiě bà zuò nán 高铁霸座男 ) by Chinese media, has since been blacklisted for the misdemeanor, and even apologized in a public video – but now he is back again with even more bizarre behavior that made netizens connect the “Train Tyrant” to the ex-con “Brother Long” in the Kunshan case.

For this story, and more, please see What’s on Weibo’s latest feature in The Beijinger.

Link.

By Manya Koetse
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Some Chinese social media users claim Tiger Balm (or ‘Essential Balm’) is a “cure-all” product (包治百病) – why this century-old product is still popular today: the how-to-use tips from Weibo users.

What is simply known as ‘Tiger Balm’ in most Western countries, is also known as Fēng yóu jīng (风油精, lit. ‘wind oil’) or Qīng liáng yóu (清凉油, lit. ‘cool oil’) in China, usually translated as ‘Essential Balm.’

The translation ‘essential’ is quite literal in the sense that the balm is in fact essential to many Chinese households; virtually all pharmacies, supermarkets, airports shops and convenience stores in the PRC will sell it.

The over-the-counter balm (or oil) is a product that often pops up on Chinese social media. A recent video on streaming platform Billibilli calls it a “cure-all” product (包治百病), while netizens on Weibo share tips on how they use the balm on a daily basis.

Qingliangyou and fengyoujing; the essential oils/balms, via Billibilli.

The Tiger Balm brand name in Chinese is Hǔbiao Wànjīnyóu (虎標萬金油), which literally means ‘tiger-marked jack of all trades.’

All of these balms or oils are practically the same kind of ‘heat rubs,’ topical preparations for application to the skin, mainly made from menthol, camphor, clove oil, mint oil, and cajuput/eucalyptus oil.

The Chinese fengyoujing is an oily liquid that comes in a small bottle (10ml), while both the Tiger Balm brand and so-called ‘Essential Balm’ (various brands) come as balsam in a small tin. Because the first-mentioned is more easily applied as liquid, its effects are somewhat stronger than the balm.

A Tiger Balm History

The original Tiger Balm was developed in Birma in the 1870s, by the Fujian-born herbalist Aw Chu Kin (Hu Ziqin 胡子钦). Different to what the name suggests, Tiger Balm does not contain any ingredients related to the tiger, but was named after Aw’s son, whose name literally meant ‘Gentle Tiger’ (Aw Boonhaw or Hu Wenhu 胡文虎).

He was the son who later inherited the recipe of the balm, and turned Tiger Balm into a household name together with his brother (Hu Wenbao 胡文豹).

Aw Chu Kin was born in a small village. His father was also a herbalist, but the family was very poor. In search for a better live, the young Aw later moved to Birma (Myanmar), where he set up his own apothecary in Yangon in 1870 under the name of ‘Eng Aun Tong’ (永安堂药行).

Aw had three sons and a daughter. When he passed away in 1908, he left his company to the two sons who had helped him with his business. They later moved to Singapore, where they continued their father’s business and officially launched Tiger Balm as a brand in 1925, based on their father’s recipes.

The brothers used a remarkable promotion method for their balm; from 1926 on, they drove a vehicle that had a big tiger head on its front (see image). The horn of the car sounded like a tiger roar – a good way to attract the attention of people and to give them some free samples of their balm.

How to Use Tiger Balm: General Uses

The century-old product is still wildly popular today, with various companies now producing (nearly) identical products.

Note: not recommended to use for pregnant women, children under the age of 3, avoid contact with eyes, keep out of reach of children, and do not apply to injured skin or burns. If you’re in doubt about tiger balm usages and/or allergies, consult a doctor before using.

Among the main purposes of Tiger Balm and Qing Liang You is that it can be used as an anti-itching remedy for mosquito bites and insect stings.

For those with rheumatic pains, tiger balm can be also used as a painkiller by applying it in the lower back area, legs, and directly on sore muscles and bones.

Tiger Balm is also said to be helpful against a cold and have a stuffed nose, by putting some balm right underneath and around the nostrils to let the nose clear up.

To prevent dizziness and carsickness, the balm can be used to slightly moisten the lips or temples to prevent nausea.

Social Media Tips

On Weibo, dozens of people share their use of Tiger Balm and the likes on their accounts every day – especially during the hot summer.

* Some Chinese students simply recommend keeping a small tin of balm nearby for those late study hours; they claim sniffing the balm awakens the mind.

* “I apply some balm before I take a shower,” one commenter says: “Now my whole body feels cool as a breeze.” By applying some balm to parts of the body, the skin gets cooled – a comfortable feeling in times of hot weather or fever.

* Social media user Xixi (@西西咕噜咕噜) uses Tiger Balm in hot summer days. Opening up the lid of the balm a few times a day in front of the van spreads its cooling breeze throughout the room: “I’m crazy about this fragrance.” (Tip! Mosquitos and other insects dislike this smell; this method is also effective as a repellent.)

* “I’ve been suffering from a head-ache for days,” a Weibo user named ‘I’ve been studying for hours today’ (@今儿学了几个小时) says: “Rubbing some qingliangyou on my temples really helps.” Tiger balm is often promoted as a remedy against headache, by rubbing some tiger balm on the forehead or temples (mind your eyes).

* “After cutting red peppers, you can smear some Tiger Balm on your fingers,” another Weibo user (@萍了早煤) writes: “also use some plain vinegar to wash it off. It helps.”

* “You can use Tiger Balm / Qing Liang You to improve blood circulation and decrease swellings,” one Guangdong micro-blogger writes. It is indeed said that one of the active ingredients, camphor, dilates the blood vessels and brings blood closer to the skin’s surface; increasing circulation and warmth.

* Another popular Weibo account (@好运逗比) recommends rubbing some drops of the fengyoujing (the liquid rub) to the soles of the feet before wearing shoes to prevent smelly feet at the end of the day.

* There are also Weibo accounts recommending Tiger Balm / Qing Liang You as the must-bring item on travels to prevent mosquito bites, car or sea sickness, and for treatment of headaches.

* There are also some people who say they use Tiger Balm on their face as a way to treat acne/pimples, but we’d highly recommend consulting with a doctor before doing so, as the balm is not recommended to be used on irritable skin.

Still not had enough tips? You can check out one of What’s on Weibo’s earliest articles, titled ‘20 Ways to Use Tiger Balm,’ for more tips on how to use this ‘jack for all trades’ balm.

By Manya Koetse
Follow @whatsonweibo

Where to Buy

Tiger Balm is practically available everywhere. Check your local pharmacy or convenience store. The brand also has an online shop where their products can be purchased. For small cases of essential balm to carry with you at all times check here.

The Temple of Heaven balm can be purchased at Beijing airport and many other places, but online it is purchasable here.

The classic oil, which is somewhat stronger, is available here.

Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us.

©2018 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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Jiang Pingting became an overnight celebrity when dozens of her glamorous private photos went viral on Weibo, with strong rumors suggesting she was the woman accusing Chinese billionaire businessman Richard Liu of rape. She has now come forward denying these claims.

Ever since news has come out on the brief arrest of JD.com CEO Richard Liu (刘强东) in Minneapolis last weekend, the mug shot and arrest of the Chinese tech mogul have been a major topic of discussion on Chinese social media.

Liu was arrested on August 31st in connection to a suspected rape, after he had dinner with a group of people at a Japanese restaurant during his business trip in the USA.

Photos of the night show that a woman is seated next to Liu, with Chinese netizens and media alleging that this woman is the Chinese exchange student who accused Liu of assaulting her after the banquet.

Footage show Liu and a female sitting next to him on the night of his brief arrest.

Although Liu was released without charges the next day (status: “released pending complaint”) with JD.com officially stating that all accusations were “false,” the case continued to ignite rumors. Many netizens sided with Liu and claimed that he had been “trapped.”

One particularly strong rumor concerned the identity of the female student accusing Liu, with dozens of photos of a young, curvy woman going viral in connection to this case.

One person spreading photos of the supposed accuser is the internet celebrity Luo Yufeng (@罗玉凤), better known as Sister Feng, who has a fanbase of more than 9 million Weibo users.

“Many private photos have been exposed of the woman involved in the Richard Liu case,” she posted: “She has a big bosom and she looks hot.”

The many photos making their rounds on Chinese social media for the past days show the woman going out for dinners, relaxing on the beach, or posing while golfing.

The photos soon became popular on Weibo, with people comparing the woman with Richard Liu’s wife Zhang Zetian (章泽天).

Left: Liu’s wife Zhang and right the woman who allegedly accused Liu.

Rather than discussing the alleged rape case, many netizens seemed more concerned with the appearance and life-style of the woman, and how her body shape compares to Liu’s wife.

The female, a yoga fanatic named Jiang Pingting (蒋娉婷), became an overnight celebrity.

But now, days after her name and photos were first connected to the case, she has issued a statement on her Weibo account saying:

“I am Jiang Pinting! The fact that several large media websites, without verifying, have distributed my personal details and photos assuming I am the female involved in the Richard Liu Minneapolis arrest case, has greatly impacted my reputation and has invaded on my personality rights.”

She further states that her personal life has been turned upside down by the incident.

Since 2010, Jiang writes, she has been residing in Singapore and only recently returned to mainland China. Jiang states:

“I do not know Richard Liu at all. We have never met. I’ve not even been to the US recently. This incident has absolutely no connection to me.”

It is not clear why Jiang was brought in connection with the case in the first place.

Some people are critical as to why Jiang only responded to the rumors days after they first went viral. “You first waited to become famous before refuting the rumors,” one person wrote.

“I still think you’re hot,” some among thousands of commenters wrote.

By Manya Koetse
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Those in Beijing will have noticed the blue skies this week. Weibo user Yang Dong (@背包摄影杨东) captured a beautiful time-lapse of the sunset at Beijing’s Tiananmen this week (see embedded tweet below).

Time-lapse of last night's sunset at Beijing's #Tiananmen, by Yang Dong (@背包摄影杨东) pic.twitter.com/TMHoEssJVT

— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) 7 september 2018

The blue skies were no coincidence – they occurred in the week of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), an important summit that welcomed over fifty African leaders in Beijing.

Although the summit was a major topic this week, the brief arrest of Chinese billionaire Richard Liu and the new details that emerged about the case this week attracted more attention on Chinese social media.

For all this and more, check our our latest weekly trending section for the Beijinger.

Link.

By Manya Koetse
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A violent incident that happened in Hangzhou last week has attracted nationwide attention in China, after news came out that Weibo celebrity and fashion blogger Saya had attacked a pregnant woman due to an argument over her unleashed dog.

It was the number one trending topic on Sina Weibo on Monday, September 10; Weibo celebrity Saya attacking a pregnant woman during a confrontation over her dog, that was not leashed.

The incident came to light when a pregnant woman nicknamed Ci Ytt (@刺Ytt) took her story to social media.

On September 10, the story attracted nationwide attention when Chinese billionaire and famous social media persona Wang Sicong (@王思聪), who has more than 27 millions fans on Weibo, condemned internet star Saya on his social media account.

According to Ci Ytt’s post, the incident happened in Hangzhou on September 7 in front of a local hotel. The woman, 32+ weeks pregnant, was walking her leashed dog together with her husband when an unleashed bulldog suddenly charged towards her.

Protecting his wife, the husband reportedly kicked the dog, which led to an altercation with the bulldog’s owner. The pregnant woman later identified the dog’s owner as the popular Weib celebrity Saya (@Saya一).

The confrontation turned violent, with Saya and her mother, who was also there, attacking the couple. In doing so, they allegedly grabbed the pregnant woman by the hair and violently pushed her in the stomach.

Neighborhood guards soon stepped in to stop the confrontation and the pregnant woman was rushed to the hospital, where she was told she might go into preterm labor.

The woman after being rushed to hospital.

According to Sina News, local police confirmed that they were alerted by witnesses of the confrontation on September 7th, and soon arrived at the scene where a physical altercation was indeed taking place.

Short videos circulating on Weibo show Saya’s mother taken away by police. It is unclear if the case is currently still under investigation.

‘Ci Ytt’ wrote on September 9th that she was still losing blood and continued to be at high risk for premature delivery.

By September 10, the woman’s post had been shared more than 100,000 times on Weibo, receiving thousands of comments from netizens who are angry with Saya for letting her dog walk around with no leash and for attacking a pregnant woman like that.

The post by Wang Sicong condemning the case also received over 34,000 comments and 17,000 shares.

Saya, real name Chen Qing (陈清), is an online influencer and fashion entrepreneur, who runs her own Taobao shop. She has over 3,3 million Weibo fans, and is known as a fashion and beauty blogger.

One of Saya’s fashion photos.

The incident has triggered collective anger, with many people calling Saya “shameless.” Many people are especially upset that an ‘online celebrity’ (网红), known for her grace and beauty, could behave like this.

Some memes going around show the head of Saya photoshopped on the body of a dog or gorilla.

Cartoonist Yapi (@Y雅痞P) made a cartoon depicting the case.

“How can such a person be famous?”, some write. “You are a shame to Hangzhou,” others say.

Saya has not responded to the incident on her social media yet.

“People like this need to learn to abide with the law and social morals!”, one netizen writes.

By Manya Koetse and Miranda Barnes
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A brutal case of pet killing has shocked Chinese social media users this week. On September 6, a man from the Shapingba district of Chongqing threw his golden retriever and a pregnant cat from the 21st floor of an apartment building. Both animals died.

Various Chinese media report that the man supposedly committed the cruel act after learning his wife was pregnant and not wanting her to keep pets in the house while expecting. After an argument with his wife, he allegedly threw the pets out of the window.

Shocked neighbors told reporters that the incident occurred around five o’clock on Thursday, when they heard a loud thump and found the animals on the pavement.

Some neighbours recognized the animals, as their own dog would play with the golden retriever. They called the pet owner, who said he no longer wanted anything to do with the dog and the cat. The neighbors, some crying, later gave the dog and cat a respectful burial.

On Weibo, the hashtag “Man Throws Dog and Cat from 21st Floor” (#男子21楼扔下一猫一狗#) was viewed almost three million times.

Animal cruelty often becomes a topic of debate on Weibo. One of the biggest social media trending cases of animal abuse of the past years is that of the dog Lion, who went missing in December of 2017 and was found by a woman named He Hengli who then blackmailed the dog’s owner over its release.

When the ‘hostage negotiations’ reached a deadlock, the dog’s owner finally went to He’s apartment to fetch her dog together with police offers and reporters. While they knocked the door, Lion was thrown to his death from He’s sixth story apartment.

The story of ‘Lion,’ who was killed by the person who held him ‘hostage’, went viral on Weibo in January 2018.

As in many cases in which animal cruelty has been exposed on social media, Lion’s killer became a target of the so-called ‘human flesh search engine,’ with people leaking her personal information online and threatening her at her workplace and home.

Such cases have previously even led to mob justice, with people dragging abusers out of their homes and beating them.

People often resort to this kind of ‘jungle justice’ because China currently has no laws preventing animal abuse. The voices calling for legal protection of animals in China have gotten louder over the past years.

“I just cannot understand these kinds of people’s way of thinking,” one commenter said: “They now throw a dog, what will they throw next time?”

“[If you no longer want your pets], you could just give them away, instead of cruelly throwing them to their death. Also – if someone would’ve walked there, they might have died, too,” others wrote.

Some write: “If someone mistreats an animal it’s a clear sign they’re abnormal maniacs,” with many others worrying about the future child of the pet killer: “He’s surely not fit to be a father.”

By Manya Koetse
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A communist scarf with print ads from a local Wanda branch has gone viral on Chinese social media this weekend. “It’s all about the money,” some netizens write.

A locally issued red scarf, worn by the ‘Young Pioneers of China’ to symbolize loyalty to communism, became the topic of great online controversy this weekend.

The red scarfs worn by students in Heze (菏泽), Shandong, came with print advertising for Wanda, a Chinese multinational private real estate developer.

Photos of the print ad red scarfs, promoting a local branch of the Wanda branch, went viral on September 29. The scarfs were worn by third-grade students of the Danyanglu primary school.

The scarfs were reportedly handed out to the students in light of a road safety campaign on September 25. The school board allegedly did not notice the advertisement.

The ‘Young Pioneers’ (中国少年先锋队) are a youth organization for children from the ages of six to fourteen in China run by the Communist Youth League.

“Isn’t this considered blasphemy to the martyrs of the revolution?”, one popular comment said. Other commenters compared the scandal to being similar to if ads would be printed on the Chinese flag.

“What kind of example are we for the next generation?”, others wondered: “Everything is about money, money, money!”

“How could you place your advertisements on a red scarf?!”, others asked, writing: “We might as well put billboards on Tiananmen now.”

“If you put advertisement on a red scarf, there’s something wrong with your IQ,” others wrote: “They need to be fired as soon as possible.”

But there were also other voices on Chinese social media, writing: “Why shouldn’t we be able to print advertisement on red scarfs? They are a tool for brainwashing, they don’t have any meaning anymore. Print all you want.”

According to the Chinese English-language media outlet ECNS (the English portal of China News Service), the school’s headmaster was punished for the controversy on Saturday, receiving “serious warnings” from the Party committee of Heze.

Also on Saturday, Chinese online news outlet The Paper reported that the Chinese Wanda Group responded to the issue by sacking the CEO of the local Wanda branch. The person in charge allegedly did not receive any permissions to issue the red scarfs with the Wanda advertisement.

By Saturday night (China time), the hashtag “Advertisement on Red Neckscarf” (#红领巾上印广告#) had received more than 37 million views on Weibo.

By Manya Koetse
With contributions by Miranda Barnes
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A video in which a female CCTV reporter is seen screaming and lashing out at a pro-Hong Kong democracy event during the annual Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, has triggered controversy on social media. A spokesperson of the Chinese embassy has since condemned the UK Conservative Party for its “interference in Hong Kong’s internal affairs.”

Video footage of a CCTV reporter shouting and refusing to leave during a Birmingham conference on Hong Kong is making its rounds on Twitter and Weibo today (For the 2.00 minute Weibo video check here).

The incident occurred on Sunday, September 30, during a Hong Kong-focused event of the annual Conservative Party Conference. The fringe event was themed around “the erosion of freedom, the rule of law and autonomy in Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reports that Enoch Lieu, a Hong Kong-born British graduate from Keele University, was slapped in the face twice by the female reporter while volunteering at the event in Birmingham.

On his Twitter account, Lieu (@enochcafe) writes that the event was focused on “China’s continued suppression of Hong Kong, human rights, and China’s breach of the Joint-Deceleration,” and that the female journalist shouted from her seat, accusing people in the panel of “trying to separate China,” saying they were “puppets” and “fake Chinese.”

Lieu says the woman had a press pass, and that he later learned she works for the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

When Lieu, as he writes, told the woman she was no longer welcome at the conference and tried to escort her out, she allegedly turned violent and slapped Lieu in the face. When other people intervened and tried to get her to leave, she allegedly continued shouting and slapped Lieu again.

The woman was eventually removed by police, HKFP reports.

“I love my country, and this CCTV journalist is great.”

On Weibo, one post that included the video of the incident was reposted more than 500 times at time of writing (and is quickly attracting more attention).

Blogger ‘HuanYa SYHP’ (@寰亚SYHP) writes: “This CCTV reporter is great! At a conference on Hong Kong issues held by the Conservative Party in Birmingham, she slapped a ‘Hong Kong independence poison fans’ (港毒分子). At the conference hall, she criticized ‘HK independence poison fans’ saying: you are traitors, you are anti-Chinese. You want to separate Hong Kong from China, you are not Chinese, you are traitors.”

The online slang term ‘Gǎng dú fēnzǐ’ (‘港毒分子’) literally means ‘Hong Kong-poison-members’ (or ‘[harmful] political elements’) and is a derogatory term for those supporting Hong Kong independence. The characters for ‘Hong Kong poison’ (港毒 gǎngdú) have exactly the same pronunciation as those for ‘Hong Kong independence’ (港独 gǎngdú).

“Let’s organize an event in Beijing to discuss Birmingham independence, too,” some commenters jokingly say.

Author Xicheng Jiezi (@西城誡子), who has more than 800,000 fans on Weibo, wrote about the incident: “I love my country, and this CCTV journalist is great.”

Although the journalist is praised by some on Weibo, there are also commenters that call her behaviour “shameless.”

“The job of a journalist should be to do unbiased reporting of the news, and pay attention to their neutrality,” an anonymous commenter wrote: “But this reporter deliberately put herself in the middle of the news, she is not a genuine journalist.”

“Puzzling that the Chinese journalist should encounter obstruction in such a way.”

On Monday, October 1st, CGTN (formerly CCTV International) published a response to the issue from a Chinese embassy’s spokesperson, who was quoted as saying that “In a country that boasts freedom of speech, it is puzzling that the Chinese journalist should encounter obstruction in such a way,” and that “The Human Rights Committee of UK Conservative Party should stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs.”

The spokesperson further said that the organizer of the fringe event should apologize to the Chinese journalist.

Financial Times correspondent Ben Bland posted a response to the Chinese embassy’s statement by human rights activist Benedict Rogers, who helped organise the Birmingham event, on Twitter (@benjaminbland):

State media outlet China Radio International published another article today that discloses the name of the reporter as the Europe correspondent Kong Linlin (孔琳琳). It further states that a CCTV spokesperson condemned the behavior of the people at the event towards their correspondent as “inacceptable.” Just as the Chinese embassy, they demand an apology from the UK Conservative Party.

Kong Linlin describes herself as a Chinese TV journalist mainly focused on “Brexit UK” on her Twitter account. On Weibo, she has more than 60,000 followers on her account.

It is not the first time Kong’s name comes up in an online controversy. In 2016, she accused a BBC correspondent John Sudworth of creating “fake news” and spreading “hate propaganda for BBC” on Twitter, as the blog China Change reported at the time.

By Manya Koetse
Follow @whatsonweibo

Editor’s Note: for those interested in how Chinese foreign correspondents work we recommend this thoroughly researched and nuanced book by Pal Nyiri: Reporting for China – How Chinese Correspondents Work with the World.

Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us.

©2018 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com

The post CCTV Reporter Taken Away by Police after Screaming & Slapping at UK Conference on Hong Kong Autonomy appeared first on What's on Weibo.

First published October 9th 2018

A new global research report by IKEA has found that, increasingly, the feeling of home is no longer restricted to the four walls of residential buildings. In China, the study finds, approximately one-third of people in cities feel more ‘at home’ at other places than the space they live in. How can we translate these findings into present-day China? An overview by What’s on Weibo editor Manya Koetse.

According to a global research report released by IKEA Group this week, traditional ideas of where people “feel at home” are drastically changing. The annual study on international living trends found that 35% of people feel more at home elsewhere than the place where they live, with a staggering 29% of people not feeling at home where they live at all.

The findings show remarkable changes associated with “feeling at home” compared to earlier annual reports, indicating that demographic, technological, and cultural forces are rapidly transforming conceptions of “home” in various places across the world.

China is part of this trend. The report, undertaken by London-based agency C Space, is based on studies that were conducted from March to August of 2018. Besides China, a large-scale survey was undertaken in 21 other countries among 22,854 respondents (11,325 from urban areas), and qualitative research was conducted in China, US, Germany, Denmark, Italy, and the UK.

The results of the study might resonate with what many experience in Europe and the US, but also with the societal changes they have seen in China over the past decade – although the reasons for these developments are different between these places.

These are transformations that do not only become clear from the trends on Chinese social media, but, for me personally, also from the lives of friends and social circles in Beijing and Shanghai, and the rapid pace in which I have seen them moving from residence to residence, from neighborhood to neighborhood, and sometimes even from city to city, often with seemingly little emotional attachment to the houses where they have lived for years as urban dwellers. Where is that place called ‘home’?

Going “Home” in China

“‘Home’ is much more than the place where people sleep at night: it is there where the (grand)mother cooks.”

Every year at the time of China’s Spring Festival, there is one hashtag that always goes trending on Chinese social media platform Weibo: “Return Home”, #回家, Huíjiā.

For many people, the Spring Festival is the only time of the year they can return to their hometowns to celebrate the new year with their family and friends. As many now know, the travel season leading up to the Festival, the chūnyùn (春运), is the biggest annual mass migration of the world. Many of China’s urban areas become deserted as people return to their native provinces to be ‘home.’

Image via China news

The word for ‘home’ in Chinese, ‘家’ jiā, means both ‘home’ and ‘family.’ The character has a history of some 3000 years; first depicting a house with a pig inside, as this article explains, and then evolving into the character it is today (see image below). In its earliest meanings, the ‘home’ was simply there where pigs were raised and where family activities took place; there where the family house was situated.

Via zhihu.com

This duality in the concept of jiā still plays an important role in how the meaning of ‘home’ is understood in China today. In a small-scale survey that was done for the dissertation research of Wei Zhao (2015), for example, participants had various answers to the simple question of “what is jiā?”, some describing it as a space or place, some seeing it as an abstract concept (representing, amongst others, ‘harmony’), with others understanding it as the (extended) family itself (Zhao 2015, 125).

A simple search for the words ‘going home’ (回家) on Chinese social media today comes up with dozens of photos of mostly food, with Weibo users describing ‘home’ as that place where they eat the traditional home cooking from their family, also suggesting that ‘home’ is much more than the place where people sleep at night: it is there where the (grand)mother cooks, it is there where the land is, it is there where the family residence might have been situated for decades.

According to Wei Zhao’s research, people from Yanxia, a town in the Zhejiang region of China, often associate ‘home’ with the various forms of land, both in the present and past, that is tied to where their families live or lived. It is a “place-bound relationship,” Zhao writes (2015, 123), “enriched with social meanings,” where the land incorporates those places that “support various kinds of daily activities, help construct social relations, and sustain cultural performances.”

Many people who have moved from outside their family homes or villages to far away places or cities are no longer physically connected with this concept of ‘home’, drastically impacting how people experience “feelings of home” and how it relates to the places where they actually reside.

Unhomeliness and the City

“36% of Chinese renters get a sense of “belonging” from other spaces outside their residential home.”

Due to many different factors, including the privatization of farmland, surplus of rural labor, and increased labor demands in the city, China is currently seeing the largest rural-to-urban migration in human history.

Rural residents who have lived in the same homes for decades are being relocated to new settlements, old houses are being demolished, and China’s so-called ‘ghost cities‘ are rapidly coming to life.

For the first time in Chinese history, more people are living in China’s cities than they do in the countryside. In 2020, it is expected that 60 percent of the Chinese population will be permanent urban residents (Xinhua 2018).

A significant percentage of China’s population is what is called a “floating population,” China’s internal migratory population; those who are living as temporary residents or ‘migrant workers’ in the cities (without changes in their ‘hukou‘ or household registration). According to data provided by Chinese state media, that number of people is expected to hit 291 million in 2020 (Xinhua 2015).

As described by Yang et al (2014) in their article in Transforming Chinese Cities, there is a gap in living conditions between household residents and the ‘floating’ population, with the latter holding an 11,4 square meter size residence per capita, compared to 27.1 square meter per capita for the household population. Besides size, the ‘floating’ population also has less access to the more basic necessities in a home such as a kitchen (more than 45% has no kitchen) or flushing toilet (nearly 75% have to do without) (Yang et al 2014, 71).

In cities such as Beijing, underground nuclear bunkers from the Cold War era still serve as a residence to many urban dwellers. According to some sources, there are still one million people living in this underground world in Beijing alone, often dealing with poor air circulation and tiny living spaces with no daylight.

Via http://projects.aljazeera.com/2015/01/underground-beijing/.

Although the nuclear bunkers are an extreme example, the living conditions of many people in Chinese cities, whether they are migrant workers, students, or those who have restricted access to urban housing, are far from ideal; think of overcrowdedness and a lack of what many would consider basic conditions for comfortable housing.

So, without even considering the idea that the perfect concept of “home” might always be a place outside of one’s (urban) residence, it perhaps does not come as a surprise that many people do not always feel at home at all in their own house.

In China, the IKEA-commissioned study* found that 32% of those surveyed felt more at home outside their residential home, and that 36% of Chinese renters get a sense of “belonging” from other spaces than where they actually live (in other physical and/or virtual environments).* Since 89% of those surveyed lives in an urban location, these sentiments are especially telling about experiences of ‘home’ in the city.

A Sense of Belonging

“I felt that my house was the place I rented, but it was not my ‘home’.”

When residences are experienced as “unhomely,” it could mean many things. There might be a lack of comfort, a lacking sense of community, a feeling of security/privacy that is not there, or a missing feeling of ‘rootedness’ in the place where one lives.

The findings of IKEA’s study in China perhaps makes more sense when one considers the study’s results that found that 62% of those surveyed believe that community is an extension of the residential home. This strengthens the idea that ‘home’ is not the four walls one lives in, but an emotional landscape that is influenced by all kinds of factors.

An interesting 2013 study by scholar Xiaobo Su argues that ideas of ‘home’ are made through social and emotional relationships, and that ‘houses’ in China are often perceived as exchangeable commodities to which one does not necessarily have these emotional connections, whereas ‘home’ is a sphere where one feels free and at ease.

People, therefore, go looking for that ‘experience of home’ through other ways; it might be through friends and social events, through (digital) communities, or through tourism: traveling to those places where people do get that sense of home. Su (2013) suggests that Chinese domestic tourists consume the idea of ‘home’ by visiting (heritage) tourist sites that embody that image for them.

Earlier this year, the huge success of the mobile ‘Travelling Frog’ game in China became a media hype. The game revolves around the travels of a little frog who lives in a stone cave and goes on frequent trips. Although perhaps far-fetched, some Chinese media tied the success of this game to a need for belonging and family, saying that higher house prices, intensive jobs, and the collapse of the pyramid family structure had led to a decline in young people starting their own family and homes; and started looking to these type of games or digital communities to fill the gap. “Has your frog returned home yet?” even became somewhat of a common question among young people in January of 2018.

The Traveling Frog at home.

Besides the rise of various online communities, the rapid digitalization of China has also made it easier for families and friends to stay in touch through social media and messaging apps. This also brought about that physical proximity to relatives has become less of a priority now than in earlier (nondigital) times (Tao et al 2014, 197).

A China Merchants Bank commercial that went viral in late 2017 titled ‘The world is no bigger than a fried tomato omelette’ (“世界再大，大不过一盘番茄炒蛋”) shows how a mother helps her son to cook a home-made dish via mobile video while he is studying abroad. The viral campaign hit home for many exchange students.

Despite the fact that the dwellings of many people in present-day China lack space, privacy, or comfort, it does not necessarily mean that those living in these houses are dissatisfied. An interesting study by Li Tao et al (2014) on residential satisfaction of migrant workers in China found that kinship, family, friendship, and mobility, all play a significant role in how people feel about how they live. Additionally, instead of a focus on the sizes of their houses or the privacy they have, there is also a heightened focus on the low costs and transportation convenience of where one lives.

The fact that ‘home’ is an ever-changing and hot topic also becomes evident from the many posts on Chinese social media dedicated to this issue. As said, food is a recurring topic in these posts. On October 9, one Weibo netizen named Zhang Xizi (@张西子) wrote:

“What do you think is ‘home’? For me, at one time, I felt that my house was the place I rented, but it was not my ‘home’. If I was hungry, I would just order something, and I hardly touched my stove at all. But then I started feeling that although I rent my home, it is still my life. Home should be a place with character. And then I started to enjoy cooking, especially when other people enjoy the food with me, is when I feel happy. So feel welcome to come to my home.”

Another Weibo user nicknamed ‘I love rabbits’ (@我爱兔子) writes:

“What is home? It’s a person’s most private space. What is happiness? It is the warmth one feels with every dish at the dining table after returning home.”

A person named Sofo concludes: “What home is? If the people I love are there, then even a tent on the beach could be my home.”

Interested to read more relating to this topic?
* Viral Merchants Bank Commercial Hits Close to Home for Chinese Students Abroad
* Chinese Ghost Cities Coming to Life
* Chinese Media Ascribe ‘Traveling Frog’ Game Hype to China’s Low Birth Rates
* “I Am Fan Yusu” – Beijing Migrant Worker’s Writing Takes Chinese Internet by Storm

Find the IKEA Life at Home report here.

By Manya Koetse
Follow @whatsonweibo

* Note that not all of the market specific results have been publicly issued by IKEA. What’s on Weibo author has access to the market-specific results. Please email us if you have further questions about this data and the report’s findings or contact IKEA.
* The report says that “36% of renters look to other physical spaces or even virtual environments for a sense of belonging”; for Chinese home-owners, this is 22%.

References

IKEA. 2018. Beyond Four Walls: Life at Home Report 2018. October. https://lifeathome.ikea.com/home/ [9.10.18].

Su, Xiaobo. 2014. “Tourism, Modernity and the Consumption of Home in China.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 39(1): 50-61.

Tao, Li, Francis K.W. Wong, Eddie C.M. Hui. 2014. “Residential Satisfaction of Migrant Workers in China: A Case Study of Shenzhen.” Habitat International 42:193–202

Xinhua. 2015. “China’s floating population to hit 291 million in 2020: report.” China Daily, Nov 12. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2015-11/12/content_22438127.htm [9.10.18].

Xinhua. 2018. “Urbanization rate of China’s agricultural province exceeds 50 pct.” Xinhua, March 5. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/05/c_137017957.htm [9.10.18].

Yang, Shangguan, Chunlan Wang and Mark Y. Wang.2014.”Synergistic Evolution of Shanghai Urban Economic Development Transition and Social Spatial Structure.” In Transforming Chinese Cities, Mark Y. Wang, Pookong Kee, and Jia Gao (eds). London: Routledge.

Zhao, Wei. 2015. “Home Beyond the House: The Meaning of Home for People Living in Yanxia Village, Zhejiang Province, China.” Dissertation / Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture, Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us.

©2018 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com

The post Beyond Four Walls: ‘Home’ and ‘Unhomeliness’ in a Rapidly Transforming China appeared first on What's on Weibo.

K-Pop (Korean pop music) is one of South Korea’s most successful export products today. With bands such as BTS that are dubbed the ‘biggest boy band on the planet’, it is obvious that the locally produced K-Pop has become a globally well-liked phenomenon. Although its popularity is obvious, the reasons why K-Pop became so big, from China to the US and beyond, are less evident.

On coming Saturday, October 13, the South-Korean boy band BTS will perform in an Amsterdam area in front of thousands of fans who have been looking forward to this event for months. Ticket sales for the first concert of the 7-member boy group in the Netherlands were sold out within minutes, despite their relatively high prices, with people paying up to €250 ($290) in the official sales, or even €400 ($460) and more for a single ticket in the unofficial online sales afterward.

It is not just the success of the BTS European tour that is making headlines; the record-breaking views on YouTube on their videos – the latest being the song ‘Idol’, that had more than 200 million views in little over a month – is also attracting the attention of the media.

And BTS is not alone. Other Korean pop (K-Pop) groups such as EXO, BIGBANG, TWICE, Shinee, or Got7, have also broken records when it comes to online video views or Spotify plays.

Although the English-language media attention for the K-pop phenomenon is more recent, the Korean entertainment industry has since long been extremely popular in China and on Chinese social media. In this overview, What’s on Weibo explores the K-Pop popularity (focusing on its idol boy and girl groups), its short history, and success formula.

BTS and More: An Army of Fans

The pop group BTS (방탄소년단), also known as the Bangtan Boys (防弹少年团, lit: ‘Bulletproof Boyscouts’), is an award-winning seven-member South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit Entertainment that debuted in the summer of 2013. They are currently hyped as the “biggest boy band on the planet.”

Initial auditions for the band were held in 2010, followed by roughly three years during which the band was formed and prepared for their major debut, that was promoted on social media months before their actual launch in June of 2013.

The band consists of multi-talented young men. Singer-songwriter Kim Seokjin (Jin) (1992) was studying film at Konkuk University when he was invited to audition by Big Hit; rapper Min Yoongi (Suga) (1993) was an underground rapper before he was signed; dancer and rapper Jung Hoseok (J-Hope) (1994) was part of a dance team in his pre-BTS life.

Lead rapper Kim Namjoon (RM) (aka Rap Monster, 1994) was already active in the music scene as rapper and producer; dancer and vocalist Park Jimin (Jimin) (1995) was a top student as Busan School of Arts before joining; vocalist Kim Taehyung (V) (1995) is known to have one of the most expressing voices of the group; and main vocalist Jeon Jungguk (Jungkook) (1997) was only 12 years old when he auditioned for BTS, followed by three years of intense training.

BTS, formerly ‘Behind The Scenes’, is known for its strong social media presence, which helps to spread its music and connect to its fans, who call themselves an ‘ARMY’ (also stands for Adorable Representative Master of ceremonies for Youth). The band has more than 16 million followers on Twitter, 3.3 million fans on Weibo, 12 million subscribers on Youtube, and nearly 8 million followers on Facebook.

Although BTS is the band that is currently dominating the headlines, there are many more K-Pop bands that are extremely popular on Weibo and beyond. The nine-member South Korean–Chinese boy band EXO, for example, has dozens of fanclubs on Chinese social media. Band member Oh Se-hun alone already has almost 9,5 million fans on his Weibo page. BIGBANG has more than 7 million Weibo fans, the eight-member girl band Girl’s Generation (少女时代) is on the rise with 1,5 million Weibo followers, Super Junior over a million, and the list goes on.

CREATING SUCCESS

A Short History of K-Pop: Finding a Sublime Entertainment Formula

Besides media attention, there has been ample scholarly attention for the Korean pop culture phenomenon over the past decade. The year 2012 especially marked a special moment in the history of K-Pop, when the song ‘Gangnam Style’ by Korean rapper Psy broke all YouTube records and became a global hit.

But before K-Pop became a global force to reckon with – that seemingly rose out of nowhere -, it had already made its first international successes in neighboring countries China and Japan since the early 2000s.

In China, the success of Korean popular culture is defined as Hallyu (韩流)*, the ‘Korean Wave’ since 1997 (Yang 2012, 105). Hallyu encompasses far more than idol bands; it includes the boom of South-Korean dramas, films, celebrity idols, and entertainment programs. In 2002, for example, the South-Korean soap opera ‘Winter Sonata’ became a hit in both China and Japan.

The former Exo (formation has now altered): a Chinese-South Korean band formed by SM Entertainment in 2011, consisting of twelve members separated into two subgroups, EXO-K and EXO-M, performing music in Korean and Mandarin.

The early 2000s mark the ‘first Korean wave’ in China, that mainly revolved around TV dramas produced in South Korea and were liked by females above the age of 30. It was followed by the second wave from the mid-2000s to 2010, when the K-Pop music genre popularized in China.

The third period, after 2010, marks the moment when K-Pop was further incorporated into mainstream Chinese popular culture, with a ubiquity of K-Pop idols in everyday Chinese pop culture, and the launch of Chinese versions of Korean entertainment programs (Ahn 2014, 47). It was also in this ‘third wave’ that you saw the debut of pop groups such as EXO. Formed in 2012, that band incorporates both Korean and Chinese members, performing in both languages.

Although K-Pop from South Korea became somewhat less visible in the PRC during the past few years, mainly because the industry suffered from various politically-motivated bans on Hallyu in China, the genre’s influence on China’s mainstream pop culture is evident, with some Chinese groups, for example, also being modeled after K-Pop bands.

Entertainment Powerhouses

Many studies explain the foreign success of Korean popular culture in Asia, mainly China and Japan, through “cultural proximity,” saying that the success of K-Pop especially occurred in China and Japan because they have, for example, linguistic similarities and corresponding Confucian values (Ahn 2014, 47; Messerlin & Shin 2017, 412).

But the more recent global wave of K-Pop shows that cultural proximity is not the sole answer to the genre’s success. Besides, there is actually nothing traditionally “Korean” about K-Pop, which only emerged in the 1990s (Shin & Kim 2013, 256).

The genre’s success mainly lies in the big players that brought forth the first Korean pop idol groups and have excelled (and still do) in selecting the right entertainment “products” to invest in, with a strong focus on both on the production side and the market demand side.

SM Entertainment, JYP, and YG Entertainment are the first major and leading entertainment houses of the 1990s. Big Hit Entertainment, home to BTS, followed later; founder Bang Si-Hyuk (1972) used to collaborate with JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-Young (1971) before going his own way in 2005.

-SM Entertainment, founded 1988 by musician and TV host Lee Soo Man (1952)
-YG Entertainment, founded in 1996 by musician Yang Hyun-Suk (1970)
-JYP Entertainment, founded in 1997 by musician and producer Park Jin-Young (1971)
-Big Hit Entertainment, founded in 2005 by producer/songwriter Bang Si-hyuk (1972)

What characterizes these entertainment houses is that they are/were small in terms of revenue and employees (very different from big labels such as Sony or Universal), and play multiple roles as intermediate between musicians and consumers, as well as producers.

Different from many international big players in the entertainment world, K-Pop entertainment companies integrate processes of artist selection, songwriting, management, signing advertisement deals, etc. in-house rather than leaving these processes to various parties outside their own studio (Shin & Kim 2013, 260). Significant about the founders of these entertainment powerhouses is that they all had ample experience in the music industry themselves before starting their studios.

Lee Soo Man, image via AllKpop.com

The story of SM Entertainment, which was founded by musician and TV host Lee Soo Man in 1988, is crucial in understanding the beginning of the K-Pop industry. Lee was inspired by the transforming American music market after spending time there in the 1980s, and decided to replicate US entertainment in a new way. In his first studio he brought together the right equipment, the right expertise, and the right talent all in one place to kick-start his business (Shin & Kim 2013, 263).

Although the first acts that came from SM’s studio were no instant success, Lee was determined in learning through trial and error until he found the right beat and image that struck a chord with young consumers. In doing so, he adopted a strategy in which teenagers were surveyed on what they wanted, and in which he focused on scouting new talent from all over the country to give them intensive training in dancing, singing, and acting at the SM Studio (Shin & Kin 2013, 264).

The band H.O.T. stood at the beginning of the K-Pop genre. (Image by Soompi).

In 1996, eight years after Lee Soo Man started his entertainment company, and going through years of changing, refining, and improving his strategies, the first success was there. The boy band H.O.T., consisting of five hand-picked members who each had their own strength, debuted in 1996 and became the first major success in the short history of K-Pop.

Companies that followed after SM’s initial successes further experimented in adopting new strategies and trying out new styles of music, but stayed true to the idea of in-house training of young, new artists, rather than selecting renowned artists with defined styles (Shin & Kim 2013, 264). With frequently held auditions and training programmes that can last for years, some trainees start as young as 5 or 6 so that they are fully equipped for the entertainment industry by the time they reach adolescence (ibid., 265).

More than being teachers, producers, songwriters, marketers, etc., these entertainment houses are also trend watchers; training their talents in various areas now in order to be able to place them in the right setting and format in the future, corresponding with (global) market demands.

Companies such as SM place an emphasis on the export of music, and focus on appealing to global audiences, making use of hundreds of composers and experts from around the world in doing so. In producing and performing the K-pop girl band Girl’s Generation’s song ‘Genie’, for example, SM Entertainment used a Japanese choreographer, a Norwegian songwriter, and Korean lyricist (Shim 2016, 38).

SHAPING SUCCESS

The Popularisation of K-Pop: A Digital Strategy

Although a main cause of K-Pop’s initial success lies in the (training) strategies adopted by the aforementioned entertainment houses, there are also other major factors that have contributed to its global influence.

The Korean government contributed to the initial success of K-Pop by developing a world-leading internet infrastructure (although the goal of developing that infrastructure, obviously, was not to promote K-Pop), which helped the rapid rise of the genre through online strategies.

According to some studies (e.g. Messerlin & Shin 2017, 422-425), Korean entertainment companies have been the first in the world when it comes to realizing the potential of the internet for the distribution and marketing of their performances; they were already long awake to its possibilities and were acting upon them, while many big players in Europe and America were still focusing on traditional album formats.

What also helped the spread of K-Pop at the time were the relatively friendly and equally balanced Korean policies on issues such as copyright, that were (and are) less protective and restrictive compared to America or the EU (Messerlin & Shin 2017, 421).

The first success (1997-2007) of K-Pop and other Korean popular culture products in China, Japan, and other countries within Asia, have also been called the first major Korean Wave, whereas the current period (2008-present), represents the ‘New Korean Wave,’ that is defined by the role that is played by new media technology and social media as a platform for K-Pop to reach every corner of the world (Jin 2016).

Online strategies were particularly relevant in the context of the (early) K-Pop industry because 1) it was dominated by relatively small businesses that did not have the means to invest in other major publishing platforms than that of efficient online distribution and 2) they did not have costly plants where they could produce CDs, DVDs, or vinyl. Having the high-tech Korean electronical market on their side, online strategies were thus a natural and cost-efficient solution to give publicity to their performances (Messerlin & Shin 2017, 426). More so than focusing on traditional album releases, the release of digital singles that come with visually attractive online videos, for example, is one important K-Pop production characteristic.

Probably the best example showing that this strategy works is the global success of ‘Gangnam Style’ that was made possible through YouTube. By now, six years after its release, the world-famous song by Psy, who was signed by YG Entertainment, has over 3,2 billion plays on YouTube.

The revenue of concert tickets for K-pop performances, its merchandise industry, the digital singles, advertisement income, the many brands wanting to associate themselves with the star industry that K-pop has generated, etc., makes K-Pop production a money-making machine that shows that the model that focuses on traditional (CD) album formats and promotional single releases has become outdated.

CONTINUING SUCCESS

Marketing more than a Band: Active Fans and Interesting Characters

While South-Korea’s innovative music enterprises were crucial for the international launch of K-pop, its worldwide fanbase has now also become a motor driving its continuing success.

Different from the initial spread of K-Pop in China or other Asian countries – where K-Pop has become common in everyday pop culture -, is that many consumers of the genre in the US, Europe, or elsewhere, fully depend on the internet and social media to access K-Pop, as it is not a genre that is prevalent in the mainstream popular culture of their own countries.

The fact that fans of K-Pop in these regions have to actively seek for the latest information and releases of their favorite groups, also means that they have become participatory and engaged consumers in the spread of K-Pop – almost turning them into the ‘soldiers’ of fandoms such as the BTS ‘army’. They have become part of enormous (online) subcultures in various countries across Europe and America.

More than just listening and watching K-pop, these fans become members of the ‘culture’ by translating material, circulating it to friends, or integrating it on their own social media channels (Jin & Yoon 2016, 1285).

TWICE

What further strengthens this fandom is that the successful K-Pop bands are anything but one-dimensional. More than just building on their synced choreography, flawless singing, fashionable looks, and visually attractive videos, the band members of groups such as BTS, EXO, or TWICE, have their own identities, voices, and goals that go beyond music; their various characters and roles within the group resonate with their different fans.

The fact that many K-Pop groups and members also have an androgynous and gender-bender appearance also makes them more interesting to many fans, with many K-pop boys being ‘pretty and cute’ and girls having a ‘strong and handsome’ look, breaking through typical male and female stereotypes.

Amber from F(x) has an androgynous look.

Heechul from boy band Super Junior.

Furthermore, more than pop bands, these K-Pop groups have virtually become ‘platforms’ with their own streaming channels, websites, television shows, merchandise shops, lively online communities, stories, and so on.

In their recent appearance on the US Tonight Show by Jimmy Fallon, BTS frontman RM explained the group’s mission in perfect English, saying: “It is about speaking yourself, instead of letting other people speaking for you. Cause in order to truly know ourselves, it is important to firstly know who I am, where I’m from, what my name is, and what my voice is.”

Many find their voice in K-Pop. And that is a sound, from a local Korean product to a global force, we can expect to grow much louder in the future.

By Manya Koetse
Follow @whatsonweibo

* For clarity: note that due to scope this article focuses on the development of the K-pop phenomenon, and does not explore the anti-Hallyu or anti-Korean wave movement in China, and the previous bans on Hallyu in the PRC.

References

Ahn, Jungah. 2014. “The New Korean Wave in China: Chinese Uders’ Use of Korean Popular Culture via the Internet.” International Journal of Contents, 10 (3): 47-54.

Jin, Dal Yong. 2016. New Korean Wave: Transnational Culture in the Age of Social Media. University of Illinois.

Jin, Dal Yong, and Kyong Yoon.2016. “The Social Mediascape of Transnational Korean Pop Culture: Hallyu 2.0 as Spreadable Media Practice.” New Media & Society 18 (7): 1277-1292.

Messerlin, Patrick A. and Wonkyu Shin. 2017. “The Success of K-Pop: How Big and Why So Fast?” Asian Journal of Social Science 45: 409-439.

Shim, Doobo. 2016. “Hybridity, Korean Wave, and Asian media.” Routledge Handbook of East Asian Popular Culture,Koichi Iwabuchi, Eva Tsai, Chris Berry (eds), Chapter 3. London: Routledge.

Shin, Solee I. and Lanu Kim. “Organizing K-Pop: Emergence and Market Making of Large Korean Entertainment Houses, 1980-2010.” East Asia 30: 255-272.

Yang, Jonghoe. 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.

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