The Korean Wave 2006 - Korean Cultural Service

The New York Times, monday, january 2, 2006
a1&7
China’s Youth
Look To seoul
for Inspiration
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
140
141
BEIJIING
At Korea City, on the top floor of the Xidan
Shopping Center, a warren of tiny shops sell hiphop
clothes, movies, music, cosmetics and other
offerings in the South Korean style.
To young Chinese shoppers, it seemed not to matter
that some of the products, like New York Yankees caps
or Japan’s Astro Boy dolls, clearly have little to do with
South Korea. Or that most items originated, in fact, in
Chinese factories.
“We know that the products at Korea City are made in
China,” said Wang Ying, 28, who works for the local
branch of an American company. “But to many young
people, ‘Korea’ stands for fashionable or stylish. So they
copy the Korean style.”
From clothes to hairstyle, music to television dramas,
South Korea has been defining the tastes of many Chinese
and other Asians for the past half decade. As part of what
the Chinese call the Korean Wave of pop culture, a television
drama about a royal cook, “The Jewel in the Palace,” is
garnering record ratings throughout Asia, and Rain, a 23-
year-old singer from Seoul, drew more than 40,000 fans to
a sold-out concert at a sports stadium here in October.