The returning of Hallyu in China: transnational reception of the Korean drama My Love from the Star

Abstract

My Love from the Star, the hit Korean drama has led to the revival of the Hallyu boom in China in 2013. After conducting a textual analysis of 100 reviews on Douban, the results of this study indicate that urban middle class audiences in China are attracted by the beauty of the actors and the conservative romantic storyline, and admire individual pursuits of free love and career success depicted in the drama. However, they are dissatisfied with the stereotypical gender relations and criticize the drama’s aim of securing the submission of women to male domination. The results illustrate that cultural proximity is not only related to the audiences’ cultural background, but also determined by the social class and lived experiences. As the major consumers of Hallyu 2.0 have switched to the open-minded young generation, the production of Korean dramas which maintains the traditional patriarchal ideologies is facing challenges ahead.

Keywords

Chinese audience cultural proximity Korean wave television drama transnational reception

Introduction

In recent decades, new centers of media and cultural production have emerged in the developing world and started to challenge the established scenarios of media imperialism. South Korea (Korea hereafter) is a new exporter of entertainment products including film, television drama, popular music, and online games in Asia (Thussu, 2007). In the early 21st century, Korean television dramas such as Autumn in My Heart, Winter Sonata, Jewel in the Palace, and Full House became extremely popular in China. The term, ‘Korean Wave’ or ‘Hallyu’, has been used to describe this fad that sweeps across the country (Hanaki et al., 2007).

The following years witnessed the popularity and the resentment of Hallyu in China. Meanwhile, the Korean drama industry has gone through steady changes. Aired in December 2013, My Love from the Star, which features the story of an alien who landed on Earth 400 years ago in the Joseon dynasty and then fell in love with a top actress in the modern era, achieved an average viewership of 25% in Korea (Ock, 2014). Besides the high viewership ratings in Korea, My Love from the Star became one of the most viewed dramas on the Internet in China. On Chinese streaming platform iQiyi alone, it was streamed more than 14.5 billion times during the drama’s initial run, breaking the rating record of all Korean dramas (Lin, 2014). My Love from the Star aroused heated discussions on Chinese media coverage and social media sites. Fried chicken and beer, the favorite snack of the female protagonist in the drama, became a trend in China. Even the Chinese government officials were aware of the craze the drama has created in China and discussed the Korean Wave splash in the National People’s Congress in 2014 (Wan, 2014). The phenomenal success of My Love from the Star leads to a new Hallyu boom. By analyzing the reviews on Douban.com , a major media review site in China, this study examines Chinese audiences’ reception of the drama and centers on the leading research question: To what extent do Chinese audiences like the drama My Love from the Star?

Inter-Asian media flows and the rising of Korean popular culture

In the 1960s and 1970s, the rest of the world heavily depended on media products from the United States and other major Western countries. This uneven, one-way flow was identified by scholars and aroused various debates over media imperialism (Schiller, 1976; Tunstall, 1977). The embedded ideologies and values in the media products may lead to cultural hegemony and threat to local culture and identity of receiving countries (Chadha and Kavoori, 2015; Gramsci, 1971). Thanks to the rapid technological development and opening up of economies since the 1990s, the media market in East Asia has rapidly expanded (Iwabuchi, 2007; Sinclair et al., 1996). Close partnerships among the Asian countries have been formed and regionalized media flows are visible (Chua, 2004). Japan is one of the first major players in the inter-Asian flow. Japanese popular culture such as television dramas, pop music, and fashion magazines have been widely consumed in Asia (Iwabuchi, 2002). However, anti-Japanese sentiment soon appeared in the region due to Japan’s colonial experience (Jung, 2009). Korea, then, has emerged as a new center for cultural productions. The popularity of Korean pop music, films, online games, and television dramas leads to the rise of a Korean Wave and becomes widespread across Asia (Kim, 2007). Prior to this boom, Korea was a recipient of foreign culture rather than a producer with export capacity (Kim, 2014). Similar to the rest of the world, the influence of American culture has been dominant in the Korean society. Hollywood films and American television dramas presented as examples for the Korean entertainment industry (Kuwahara, 2014). Japan is another major source of Korea’s cultural influence. The Korean television industry retained the elements of the Japanese television series by producing plenty of dramas that depicted the fashionable lifestyles of trendy young urbanities (Kim, 2014). There were numerous similarities between Korean and Japanese dramas in terms of characters, settings, plots, and narratives at an early stage (Kim, 2014). In fact, the popularity of Japanese popular culture paved the way for the introduction of Korean popular culture. As Kim (2014) argued, where there is now a Korean Wave, there was previously a Japanese cultural fever.

Cultural proximity is one of the main reasons for the success of Korean television dramas in East Asia. The argument of cultural proximity claims that audiences prefer television programs tied to local and national cultures (Straubhaar, 1991, 2007). When national programs are not available, the audiences tend to choose television programs close to their own culture (La Pastina and Straubhaar, 2005). Korean television dramas depict life and struggles in a developing and changing society, but yet at the same time the dramas have been produced to appeal to conventional Confucian values. Several studies (Ainslie, 2016; Jeong et al., 2017; Kim, 2017) have demonstrated that when local media productions fail to respond to the changing socio-economic status and desire of the people, the audiences refer to Korean dramas which represent the beautiful urban environment and aestheticized lifestyles of the modern Asia. However, the themes and values of Korean dramas are far more than urbanity and social modernity. The Korean dramas embrace the virtues of Confucian values as well. The stories usually place emphasis on familial relationship, filial piety, and sibling love (Kim, 2017). Meanwhile, the love relations in the dramas are very ‘simple’ and ‘pure’. Instead of intimate shots, the love in the stories is shown in a more tender, significant, and emotional way (Kim, 2017; Lin and Tong, 2008).

As stated, Korean dramas depict modern life against the backdrop of a conventional Confucian values, and in this way they satisfy what scholars (Jin and Yoon, 2017; Shim, 2006) have identified as cultural hybridity. Korean popular culture holds an ‘in-between stance’ which integrates elements of both Western modernity and Asian tradition (Ryoo, 2009). The hybrid nature of Korean dramas perfectly matches the social, economic, and cultural background of the audiences in the region. The consumers of Korean trendy dramas are primarily youth and women of the middle class in urban cities, and their experience in everyday life is locally situated but globally connected (Kim, 2013; Won, 2015). They have grown up much exposed to Western cultures and lifestyles but are still tied to local settings of filial piety, modesty, and domesticity. In this respect, the Korean dramas that feature the stories of city youngsters would resonate with the real-life experiences of their corresponding audiences.

The Korean wave in China

The Korean Wave took root in China in the late 1990s. What is Love All About?, which was broadcast regionally by China Central Television (CCTV) in 1997, became the first hit Korean drama (Shim, 2006). Chinese media used the term ‘Hallyu’ to describe Chinese youth’s sudden craziness for Korean cultural products (Kim, 2013). Since then, a large number of Korean dramas were imported to China. In 2002, 67 Korean dramas were shown across the country, among which, Autumn Tales was broadcast simultaneously on 21 local television channels, and the number of imported Korean dramas reached 107 in 2004, causing Hallyu to pick up speed (Hwang and Epstein, 2016).

Korean dramas attract Chinese buyers for several reasons. As the Chinese government attempted to protect its social ideology and national identity, the lens of Confucianism in the Korean dramas fit into the government’s goal (Hwang and Epstein, 2016). The values delivered by Korean dramas help the Chinese government to maintain its political stability and social unity. In addition to cultural proximity, the cheap price of Korean dramas is an important factor. The quality of Korean programs is almost as good as that of Japanese equivalents, but the cost is far less (Jin, 2016). Therefore, Korean dramas are regarded as a cheap alternative to expensive Japanese productions (Joo, 2011). In addition, Korea has experienced industrialization and urbanization one step ahead of China, and the glamorous cosmopolitan lifestyles presented in the dramas are always welcomed by Chinese fans (Hwang and Epstein, 2016).

Shortly after the Korean Wave reached its peak in China owing to the broadcast of Jewel in the Palace in 2005, anti-Hallyu sentiment began to emerge (Chen, 2017). It is widely believed that the Korean cultural products overwhelm the local market and is constructing a regional hegemony to some extent (Nye and Kim, 2013). The anti-Hallyu arguments called for a check against the reckless spread of Korean pop culture within Chinese society as well. The Chinese government perceived Korean cultural products as a threat, fearing that the Korean Wave was encroaching upon its local culture (Hwang and Epstein, 2016). Consequently, the government strictly regulated every aspect of imported dramas, and the number of import permits issued for Korean dramas dropped sharply since 2006 (Chen, 2017).

Social and digital media contribute to the revival of the popularity of Korean dramas. Jin (2016) argued that the growth of the Korean Wave entered the Hallyu 2.0 (New Korean Wave) era from 2008. The key feature of Hallyu 2.0 is the swift advance of social media which facilitates the access for fans around the world to enjoy K-pop, video games, television programs, and films (Jin and Yoon, 2017). For Chinese audiences, although the government strengthened regulations on the imported dramas broadcast by official television channels, they have alternatives to watch Korean dramas on the Internet. Online streaming video websites such as Youku, Tudou, iQiyi, and Tencent Video have acquired the rights to several Korean dramas and can offer Chinese viewers a simultaneous broadcast with Chinese subtitles (Hu, 2017).

My Love from the Star first became popular in China on the Internet. iQiyi bought exclusive Chinese rights to the drama and it was streamed more than 23 million times within 2 weeks since its premiere in December 2013 (iQiyi, 2013). It was not until 2016, 2 years after the original release on Chinese online platform, that My Love from the Star finally got the permission to be aired on Anhui Television, a regional television station in China (Sina, 2016). Yet, due to the state regulations, the drama has to be re-edited and is only allowed to be broadcast after 10 p.m. in order to avoid prime-time schedules.

Chinese audiences and Korean drama consumption

Audiences play an active role in selecting media inputs and interpreting television programs, challenging the traditional argument of media imperialism. After analyzing the media consumption in Latin America, Straubhaar (1991) found that the audiences are seeking greater cultural relevance or proximity from both national and regional television programs. Hall (1980) argued that the audiences have diversified interpretations of the media content and may decode any given message in a way which complies with or contradicts the producers’ intentions. The processes of interpretation and meaning-making is influenced by the audiences’ ethnic, social, and cultural backgrounds (Athique, 2014; Liebes and Katz, 1990).

Studies (Ahn, 2014; Oh, 2009; Yang, 2012) have shown that urban middle class women are the main audiences of Hallyu products in China. The rapid economic growth and drastic social change during the 1980s and 1990s lead to the rise of a new wealthy class in China’s cities (Buckley, 1999). The ‘new rich’ in urban China have the economic capacity and psychological need to construct and live a middle class lifestyle of economic prosperity, comfort, a keen interest in fashion, and material and spiritual enjoyment (Buckley, 1999; Fung and Ma, 2002; Jiang and Leung, 2012). The emerging urban middle class started to embrace the values of consumerism, individualism, and self-realization (Zhang, 2010). Men aim to make money and possess desirable material goods. For women, there is a growing, intense interest in improving body image and self-confidence. Therefore, media contents, such as Korean dramas, containing images of modern lifestyles, beauty, and success would easily attract middle class audiences (Xu, 2007).

Several empirical studies indicated that Korean dramas model and maintain cosmopolitan city lifestyles to which Chinese audiences aspire and are eager to catch up with. For example, Yang (2012) argued that young urban middle class audiences in China found Korean dramas represent the latest fashion or the most advanced style that they are keen to emulate and consume. Similarly, Lin and Tong (2008) reported that female viewers in Hong Kong generally expressed positive attitudes toward the modern city life, consumption patterns, and individual pursuits of free love portrayed in Korean dramas through in-depth interviews.

Changing media consumption habits in the digital environment

So far, scholars mainly focused on the audience reception of Korean dramas in the Hallyu 1.0 era. Today’s multimedia environment has changed the traditional family television viewing practices. The audiences are becoming fragmented or individualized. They rely on personal computers (PCs) and smartphones to watch television programs, making it a highly personal practice (Jin, 2018; Park et al., 2019). The rapid changes in the media environment also lead to changes in the constitution of Korean drama viewers. As the consumption of Korean television dramas in the new Korean Wave is closely tied to Internet accessibility, the primary audiences tend to be younger and highly educated (Ahn, 2014; Lee, 2012). A recent study showed that 93.23% of the audiences of My Love from the Star are below the age 35 in mainland China. Women still made up the majority (79.48%) and nearly 60% of the audiences earned a bachelor’s degree or higher (Zhang and Sun, 2014).

The fragmentation of audiences brings challenges for the researchers to identify the viewing groups and conduct ethnographic observation (Livingstone, 2004). The emergence of media review websites makes the privatized and interiorized interpretive activities of particular audiences accessible for the media researchers. Unlike traditional living room observation and in-depth interviews, the users start to write these reviews which reflect their real thoughts voluntarily and anonymously and share them on social media websites, building an active online community. Launched in 2005, Douban is the major online platform in China that allows users to rate and comment on media content and help them to create their own communities based on personal interests. By the end of 2016, Douban has 150 million registered users (China Daily, 2017). Due to its influence, both national and international media outlets use Douban as a key barometer for gauging the audience reception of cultural contents in China (Yecies et al., 2016). According to Douban analysis report (Douban, 2016), over 80% of Douban users are from urban areas within mainland China and have higher education or equivalent degree. Over 90% of the users are young people aged between 20 and 39. Users produce individual interpretations of the media content and post their reviews on Douban pages with no word limits. Other users who share common interests can read and respond to the reviews, thus forming a dynamic online audience network.

The new Korean Wave should be understood through both production and reception (Choi, 2015). Current studies of Hallyu 2.0 primarily focus on the changing media consumption habits among youth in the age of social media, little attention has been paid to the reception side. Reception studies remain crucial to explore how the audiences engage with the media texts and make sense of them in the digital age (Schrøder, 2019; Ytre-Arne and Das, 2019). Online media review sites such as Douban offer the audiences new possibilities to interact with television narrative, which becomes a new form of participation in television culture. Taking the case of My Love from the Star, the first and most sensational television drama in the new Korean Wave in China, this study analyzes how the Chinese audiences on Douban like the drama and further discusses how they evaluate the values and ideologies reflected in the drama. Because Douban’s primary users consist of the growing Internet-savvy middle class who have heightened exposure to cultural globalization (Soh and Yecies, 2017), the study of Douban reviews not only reveals the authentic attitudes of Chinese audiences toward My Love from the Star, but also reflects the aspirations and values of certain social class, thus providing a window into the cultural and social changes in China’s urban settings.

Method and data collection

This study conducts a textual analysis of 100 reviews of My Love from the Star written by users on Douban. Douban is chosen as the dataset because it offers a rich and reliable source (Yecies et al., 2016), and the demographic background of Douban users corresponds to that of the consumers of the new Korean Wave.

My Love from the Star received an average rating of 8.3 out of 10 on Douban. It showed that besides the high viewership ratings, the quality of the drama has been widely recognized. By the end of 2017, there are 1045 reviews of My Love from the Star written by Douban users published in total. This study sorted the reviews by popularity and collected the first 100 most popular pieces. These reviews got thousands of likes from other users and may represent the common opinion on My Love from the Star in the Douban community.

All the reviews are written in Chinese language and the lengths vary substantially, from a couple of lines to several 1000 words.¹ This study uses a manual, inductive coding approach to analyze the sampled reviews. After analyzing the data, four major recurring themes are identified.

Findings

Aesthetic qualities

Korean dramas are widely known for their quality (Lee, 2018). ‘Beautiful’ and ‘aesthetic’ are terms that have appeared frequently when the audiences refer to the high quality of Korean dramas. Users on Douban appreciated the visual pleasure brought by My Love from the Star and spoke highly of its aesthetic values. Since the first Korean Wave, producers of Korean dramas have made an effort to pursue visual aesthetics. Good-looking actors and actresses, fashionable clothes and beautiful sceneries are distinctive features of Korean dramas.

Wu diedie commented that ‘the producers of My Love from the Star paid a lot of attention to the costumes and accessories used in the drama. The story spans four hundred years and both traditional hanboks and modern fashions are delicately made’. Moreover, the user was attracted by the beautiful sceneries and felt that ‘each frame of the motion picture is as beautiful as an exquisite poster with sophisticated compositions’. With the headline of ‘Korean dramas fulfill our most primitive pursuit of beauty’, Xiaoxiaoyi’s review indicated that ‘the production team have lost their senses and they did everything they could do to uphold the aesthetic standards. Because they believe nothing else is better than “beauty” that can attract the female audiences’.

The physical beauty of actors and actresses resonates well with the Chinese audiences. As East Asian countries have common beauty standards, Korean celebrities who have delicate face, fair skin, silky hair and long legs become the ideal model for Chinese people (Zhang, 2012). When watching My Love from the Star, the actors and actresses are drawn to the audiences:

The reason why many audiences consume the drama is that they want to look at the pretty faces of the actors. They would get a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction. It is probably the same as the ancient Greeks love to observe the muscles of Discobolus.

Using the metaphor of Myron’s sculpture, Xiaoxiaoyi pointed out the significance of physical beauty in Korean dramas such as My Love from the Star because it brought visual satisfaction to the viewers. Korean dramas directors have strict requirements for the actors’ appearance and body shape. It kept to be one of the biggest strengths of Korean dramas, as Fenglingcao argued.

Romantic relations

My Love from the Star features a romance between an alien and an actress. Do Min-joon, the male character in My Love from the Star, is an alien who lives on Earth for 400 years and now a college Professor of biology. For Douban users, the screenwriter of My Love from the Star ‘created’ an indescribably perfect man that meets all the expectations of a perfect boyfriend. Xue adored his beautiful appearance and intelligence and described him as ‘handsome, knowledgeable and rich’. Similarly, Ji Chengjun articulated that Professor Do possesses all the good qualities and ‘is a man of both wisdom and wealth’.

In line with traditional Confucian values, the depiction of love relationships in My Love from the Star is conservative. Loyalty and chastity are highly valued in the Confucian cultural realm (Chow, 1991; Jung, 2011). In the story, Do Min-joon rescued a teenaged Korean girl 400 years ago when he first arrived on Earth and Cheon Song-yi is believed to be the reincarnation of that girl. Aichimantoude Baobao is impressed by Do’s loyalty to love: ‘Professor Do loves the same girl for four hundred years. His love for Song-yi is consistent’. Qian Banxian described the male protagonist as ‘cute but puritanical . . . He kept his first kiss and virginity for four hundred years until he met Cheon Song-yi’. Many Chinese audiences on Douban agreed that the reserved expression of love is more acceptable than overt scenes of sex or passionate lovemaking in many Western dramas. Liaoliao Weiyang conveyed that

sexual involvement is very limited in My Love from the Star. Usually, the Western love story encourages brave confession of love and features explicit sex lives. My Love from the Star stresses on spiritual love. As an alien, Professor Do even got sick when he kissed. Instead, the couple conquered difficulties, resolved misunderstandings, and experienced the joy of meeting and the sorrow of separation together. This kind of narratives moved the audiences to tears.

The pure and innocent romance illustrated in My Love from the Star enabled the viewers to satisfy vicariously. As one_sunnyday argued, ‘I can feel the sweetness of love when the characters fall in love’.

Femininity and individualism

Cheon Song-yi, the female protagonist in My Love from the Star, became the idol of many female audiences on Douban. Song-yi is a popular actress who experienced ups and downs in her career in the drama but finally achieved success. Women used to be bound to domestic role and are seen as ‘gentle’, ‘shy’, and ‘understanding’ in television (Fung and Ma, 2000). But the image of Song-yi subverted the traditional female role in Korean dramas.

Several Douban users admired Song-yi’s external beauty and suggested that it is an important factor to achieve success. Influenced by individualism and consumerism, young people in China, particularly females, paid more attention to their face and body images, and the number of people who undergo cosmetic surgery has increased (Cho, 2009; Zhang, 2012). It is widely believed that beautiful physical appearance could help them build confidence and recast self-worth (Zhang, 2010). As Feiniao Qianliu stressed, Song-yi’s self-confidence is deeply rooted in her beauty: ‘She is attractive. She has many fans and admirers. It boosts her confidence and allows her to present herself as she is’. In addition to her gorgeous face, Douban users pointed out that Song-yi’s inner beauty is equally significant. ‘She is independent, assertive, frank, and sincere’, as Summer put it.

Viewers also appreciated Song-yi’s attitudes toward love relationship. She is brave and eager to fight for love. In traditional Confucian culture, women have no freedom and autonomy in mate choice and it is uncommon for women to express their emotions to the opposite sex (Chow, 1991; Yan, 2003, 2009). Taking initiative in a relationship and expressing inner feelings and desires explicitly constitute a sign of the development of female individualism (Yan, 2003). Hence, some Douban users were touched by the scene when Song-yi persisted in finding ‘true love’ and defended herself against the fact that Professor Do took her as an alternative for the girl he fell in love with 400 years ago. Summer found Song-yi shows a positive example for girls in the modern society and commented that ‘too many girls lose self-esteem and rationality in love relationships. Song-yi is a strong and self-respecting woman who dares refuse to be an alternative’.

With the proliferation of consumerism and individualism, Korean drama screenwriters no longer portray domestic and submissive female characters. Instead, they started to display women’s ambition and independence. Several Douban users noticed the progressive values appeared in My Love from the Star. Muyan admitted that there is much she can learn from the female protagonist,

Song-yi has both high EQ and IQ. Such a smart and beautiful woman deserves a Prince Charming. The drama delivered the message that if you want to find an outstanding boyfriend like Professor Do, you have to be intelligent, capable and confident at first.

He Jiandan stressed the importance of women’s economic empowerment,

Song-yi is independent. She is born in a family where her parents often quarreled over the financial issues. So she stared to earn her own living at a young age and devotes herself entirely to a career as an actress.

China’s transformation has created new standards for individual success, and new ideals of femininity (Xu, 2007). Summer related Song-yi’s story to her own lived experiences and argued that the expectation of women has changed in the 21st century. As Summer argued, ‘women are request to be as competent as men in the modern society. Women are able to pursue their own careers and are encouraged to express their personal feelings and desires’.

Modernity and traditional Confucian values

The science-fictional elements became the breakthrough in the new Korean Wave. The Chinese audiences also regarded it as the main appeal. Wang Dagen, one Douban user argued that My Love from the Star is the typical example in the new Korean Wave, because a series of soap operas in this period try to explore the romance of outer-space beings with super powers that have lived on Earth for centuries. Ji Chengjun, another Douban user believed that the presence of aliens in Korean dramas expands the possibilities of the story. As Ji Chengjun wrote,

The characters in earlier Korean dramas always suffered from terminal diseases and the dramas would end with the death of the leading character. The alien, however, has the ability to travel through time and space. It causes repeated separations and reunions, which makes the drama more exciting.

However, a few viewers on Douban criticized that the science-fictional elements in My Love from the Star actually serve the patriarchal ideology and enhance the traditional Confucian gender hierarchy. Although My Love from the Star contains innovative elements such as murders, super powers, and time travel, it is in essence a Cinderella fairy tale. Douban users noticed the power imbalance between female and male characters in the relationship. In the story, Song-yi experienced a series of misfortunes and Do Min-joon appeared every time to save her from danger. Do Min-joon became an Asian version of a Marvel superhero and had rescue missions (Deppman, 2017). The drama presents an asymmetrical gender relation whereby the masculine hero is placed in the spotlight and females are often portrayed as characters that need to be protected or rescued. Mimeng felt disappointed that ‘Do Min-joon did nothing else with his extraordinary ability. He just used his powers to protect and please the female protagonist’.

Similar to the earlier generation of Korean dramas, My Love from the Star continues to show explicit gender biases and promote patriarchal values. Do Min-joon offered security and perfection with the aim of male domination in essence. Zhou Chong commented that

male protagonists in Korean dramas are always Prince Charming characters. They are tall, strong, wealthy, and loyal. They protect women, love women, and are worshipped by women. But it engenders the illusion that women can naturally rely on men when facing obstacles.

Jiuwoshi baozibei held a similar view,

It is more reasonable if the story took place in an ancient setting. The view that men are superior to women is not acceptable in the modern society. Both men and women deserve to be treated as equal in a relationship. Why does a strong independent woman need to rely on a man?

Discussions: the battle of reading My Love from the Star

The textual analysis of Douban reviews shows that Chinese audiences appreciated the aesthetic quality of My Love from the Star and it becomes one of the major reasons for its popularity in China. The drama features beautiful sceneries, handsome men, and gorgeous women. The audiences are also attracted by its science fiction storylines. The storylines in earlier Korean dramas developed rather slowly, and the narratives were predictable (Lee, 2018), such as the character’s sudden death in a car accident or the diagnosis of a terminal illness. Dramas produced in the Hallyu 2.0 era kept the pure love and tragicomedy tradition while learning science-fictional innovations and quick rhythms from Western television series.

Because both Chinese and Korean people have conservative attitudes toward love and sex, the depiction of true and pure love in My Love from the Star remains attractive to Douban users. However, My Love from the Star is more than a love story. It triggers discussions about gender relations and female individualization. The increasing participation in education and labor market released Chinese women from traditional home-related gender roles (Kim, 2010; Yan, 2009). They started to challenge the dominant patriarchal ideology and strive to create an individual identity in a rapidly modernizing society. According to the sampled reviews, Chinese audiences widely believed the female character in My Love from the Star is more empowered than those in previous dramas. Rather than featuring household trivia, the plots center on the obstacles and conflicts encountered in Song-yi’s professional life. In addition, the audiences appreciated the fighting spirit of the female protagonist and her initiative attitudes toward love.

Under the impact of globalization, the middle class in urban China, especially among women, have experienced an increased sense of individualization of choice around lifestyle and tend to attach importance to self-realization than in China’s past (Lewis et al., 2016; Yang, 2017). The concept of individualization is just emerging for women in China, and to some extent for men as well. Meanwhile, traditional patriarchal norms are never entirely absent from the scene (Shen, 2011). Middle-class Chinese women, in this sense, are facing the tension between the deep-rooted male dominance and the rise of autonomy and individualism. Korea and China have similar social-cultural contexts (Kim, 2010). Thus, Korean dramas provide Chinese audiences with a space for reflexivity. They both associate the character in My Love from the Star with their own lived experiences as well as criticize the embedded unequal power relations. My Love from the Star tried to create an ‘ideal’ image of women. On the one hand, Song-yi is financially independent and career minded. On the other hand, she showed weakness and helplessness in the love relationship. Douban users identified the real agenda of My Love from the Star is to secure the submission of women to male domination. It delivers the message that women should surrender to the romance because men offer security and independent women alone have to face setback. Douban reviews demonstrated that the educated young urban audiences in China are striving for complete gender equality. They embrace the freedom of romance and pursue the individual independence, and are strongly against the gender hierarchy preserved in the Confucian cultural realm.

Conclusion

Containing elements of both Asian and Western culture, My Love from the Star portrays a romantic love story between an alien with the ability to travel across time and space and a tough, career-oriented female actress. The textual analysis of Douban reviews indicated that cultural proximity is still meaningful to explain the popularity of My Love from the Star in China to some extent. The physical appearances of the actors and actresses is in accord with the aesthetic standards of Chinese people because China and Korea have shared norms of beauty. In addition, the Chinese audiences on Douban endorse the conservative attitudes toward love and sex reflected in the drama.

Cultural proximity is a dynamic process composed by multiple elements (Iwabuchi, 2002; Straubhaar, 2003). In addition to traditional values, the results of this study further demonstrated that social class and lived experiences became an important factor in determining cultural proximity. When watching television dramas, audiences relate the characters and plots to their own lived experiences, making television dramas a space for reflexivity (Georgiou, 2012; Kim, 2017). Better-educated urban middle class has a more critical and reflexive engagement with the sense-making practice, and hence are distanced from the original culturally proximate media contents. With the socio-economic transformations, the major consumers of Hallyu 2.0 in China are well-educated young urban residents who are exposed to a wide range of global cultural products and are more open-minded than older generations. Influenced by western styles, My Love from the Star contained innovative science-fiction plots and values of female individualism and self-realization. Users admired these modern elements and deeply engaged in discussions on Douban because individual pursuits of free love and career success are highly valued in China’s rapidly modernizing society. However, unlike the dramas in the first Korean Wave that received unanimous praise for the successful portrayal of a glamorous cosmopolitan city living (Lin and Tong, 2008; Yang, 2012), My Love from the Star failed to fully satisfy the Chinese urban middle class audiences. According to Douban reviews, the users felt disappointed that My Love from the Star did not portray women’s existing struggle with their gender identity, but rather showed the conformity of the female protagonist to the dominant patriarchal ideology. The users are critical of the stereotypical gender relations and patriarchal values reflected in My Love from the Star. In fact, they are expecting television dramas to involve the intense tensions between Confucian traditions and Western modernity and the power struggle against patriarchy. The criticism on My Love from the Star revealed that the drama did not completely address the aspirations of the urban middle class audiences in China.

Soon after the incredible popularity of My Love from the Star, Descendants of the Sun repeated its success in 2016, hitting the peak of Korean drama fever in the Hallyu 2.0 era. Similar to My Love from the Star, Descendants of the Sun is a fantasy romance series that is criticized for involving gender discrimination and instilling patriarchal values (Lee, 2016; Zhao, 2017). In this respect, how long will the popularity of Korean dramas last in China is a question worth considering. As social and digital media facilitate the dissemination of television series today, there are a variety of choices available online. Korean dramas have to compete with American and British hits. In the meantime, Chinese television drama production has progressed and more drama series started to deal with social problems and reflect real-life struggles (Keane, 2005; Schneider, 2012). Therefore, despite its current success, the Korean drama industry is facing challenges ahead.

As transnational audiences remain highly fragmented, online social media platforms such as Douban provide an avenue where audiences can discuss and share opinions. This study provides some empirical evidence for the current academic debates on understanding audience reception in a digital media environment. The interpretation is usually in connection with the audience’s own social, economic, and cultural background (Hall, 1980; Liebes and Katz, 1990). Douban users are mainly educated middle class young people. The results of this study thus cannot be generalized to all the consumers of Korean dramas in China. Another limitation is that this study relies solely on audience reviews and it is not possible to probe further into their motivations and responses. Further research might explore the motivations and responses of Douban users by adopting in-depth interviews, which helps to present a comprehensive picture of the online community. My Love from the Star is one of the most successful Korean dramas in recent years due to its high viewership ratings and enormous cultural influence. But the single case study cannot be taken as representative of all Korean dramas in the Hallyu 2.0 era. Follow-up research might also contain more dramas in the new Korean Wave in order to examine the transnational audience reception with a broader scope.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Lingwei Shao

Notes

References

Ahn

(2014) The new Korean Wave in China: Chinese users’ use of Korean popular culture via the Internet. International Journal of Contents 10(3): 47–54.

Ainslie

(2016) Korean overseas investment and soft power: hallyu in Laos. Korea Journal 56(3): 5–32.

Athique

(2014) Transnational audiences: geocultural approaches. Continuum 28(1): 4–17.

Buckley

(1999) How a revolution becomes a dinner party: stratification, mobility and the new rich in urban China. In: Pinches

(ed.) Culture and Privilege in Capitalist Asia. London: Routledge, pp. 209–230.

Chadha

Kavoori

(2015) The new normal: from media imperialism to market liberalization–Asia’s shifting television landscapes. Media, Culture & Society 37(3): 479–492.

Chen

(2017) The emergence of the anti-Hallyu movement in China. Media, Culture & Society 39(3): 374–390.

China Daily (2017) Douban lays groundwork for overseas listing. Available at: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2017-08/07/content_30360867.htm (accessed 11 April 2019).

Cho

(2009) Neoliberal governmentality at work: post IMF Korean society and the construction of neoliberal women. Korea Journal 49(3): 15–43.

Choi

(2015) Hallyu versus Hallyu-hwa cultural phenomenon versus institutional campaign. In: Lee

Nornes

(eds) Hallyu 2.0: The Korean Wave in the Age of Social Media. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, pp. 31–52.

10.

Chow

(1991) Woman and Chinese Modernity: The Politics of Reading between West and East. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

11.

Chua

(2004) Conceptualizing and East Asian popular culture. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 5(2): 200–221.

12.

Deppman

(2017) Confucian heroes in popular Asian dramas in the age of capitalism. In: Iwabuchi

Tsai

Berry

(eds) Routledge Handbook of East Asian Popular Culture. New York: Routledge, pp. 102–114.

13.

Douban (2016) Douban analysis report. Available at: https://www.douban.com/note/538429107/ (accessed 10 October 2018).

14.

Fung

(2000) Formal vs. informal uses of television and sex-role stereotyping in Hong Kong. Sex Roles 42(1/2): 57–81.

15.

Fung

(2002) Satellite modernity: four modes of televisual imagination in the disjunctive socio-mediascape of Guangzhou. In: Donald

Keane

Yin

(eds) Media in China: Consumption, Content and Crisis. London: Routledge, pp. 80–90.

16.

Georgiou

(2012) Watching soap opera in the diaspora: cultural proximity or critical proximity? Ethnic and Racial Studies 35(5): 868–887.

17.

Gramsci

(1971) Selections from the Prison Notebooks. New York: International Publishers.

18.

Hall

(1980) Encoding/Decoding. In: Hall

Hobson

Lowe

, et al. (eds) Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies. London: Hutchinson, pp. 128–138.

19.

Hanaki

Singhal

Han

, et al. (2007) Hanryu sweeps East Asia: how winter Sonata is gripping Japan. International Communication Gazette 69(3): 281–294.

20.

(2017) Between informal and formal cultural economy: Chinese subtitle groups and flexible accumulation in the age of online viewing. In: Iwabuchi

Tsai

Berry

(eds) Routledge Handbook of East Asian Popular Culture. New York: Routledge, pp. 45–54.

21.

Hwang

Epstein

(2016) The Korean Wave: A Sourcebook. Seongnam: The Academy of Korean Studies Press.

22.

iQiyi (2013) High demand for online streaming of My Love from the Star among audiences. Available at: http://www.iqiyi.com/common/20140106/b503a9216bd0b710.html (accessed 10 April 2018).

23.

Iwabuchi

(2002) Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

24.

Iwabuchi

(2007) Contra-flows or the cultural logic of uneven globalization? Japanese media in the global agora. In: Thussu

(ed.) Media on the Move: Global Flow and Contra Flow. London: Routledge, pp. 61–75.

25.

Jeong

Lee

(2017) When Indonesians routinely consume Korean pop culture: revisiting Jakartan fans of the Korean drama Dae Jang Geum. International Journal of Communication 11: 2288–2307.

26.

Jiang

Leung

(2012) Lifestyles, gratifications sought, and narrative appeal: American and Korean TV drama viewing among internet users in urban China. International Communication Gazette 74(2): 159–180.

27.

Jin

(2016) New Korean Wave. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

28.

Jin

(2018) An analysis of the Korean Wave as transnational popular culture: North American youth engage through social media as TV becomes obsolete. International Journal of Communication 12: 404–422.

29.

Jin

Yoon

(2017) The Korean Wave: retrospect and prospect introduction. International Journal of Communication 11: 2241–2249.

30.

Joo

(2011) Transnationalization of Korean popular culture and the rise of ‘pop nationalism’ in Korea. Journal of Popular Culture 44(3): 489–504.

31.

Jung

(2009) Transnational Korea: a critical assessment of the Korean Wave in Asia and the United States. Southeast Review of Asian Studies 31: 69–80.

32.

Jung

(2011) Korean Masculinities and Transcultural Consumption: Yonsama, Rain, Oldboy, K-pop Idols. Hong Kong, China: Hong Kong University Press.

33.

Keane

(2005) Television drama in China: remaking the market. Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy 115(1): 82–93.

34.

Kim

(2014) East Asian television drama: A story of booms, fevers, and waves. In: Kim

(ed.) Reading Asian Television Drama: Crossing Borders and Breaking Boundaries. London: I.b. Tauris, pp. 1–24.

35.

Kim

(2007) The rising East Asian ‘Wave’: Korean media go global. In: Thussu

(ed.) Media on the Move: Global Flow and Contra Flow. London: Routledge, pp. 121–135.

36.

Kim

(2010) Female individualization? Transnational mobility and media consumption of Asian women. Media, Culture & Society 32(1): 25–43.

37.

Kim

(2013) Korean media in a digital cosmopolitan world. In: Kim

(ed.) The Korean Wave: Korean Media Go Global. New York: Routledge, pp. 1–27.

38.

Kim

(2017) The Korean Wave: Korean popular culture in a digital cosmopolitan world. In: Kim

(ed.) Routledge Handbook of Korean Culture and Society. New York: Routledge, pp. 269–282.

39.

Kuwahara

(2014) Introduction. In: Kuwahara

(ed.) The Korean Wave: Korean Popular Culture in Global Context. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–9.

40.

La Pastina

Straubhaar

(2005) Multiple proximities between television genres and audiences: the schism between Telenovelas’ global distribution and local consumption. Gazette 67(3): 271–288.

41.

Lee

(2016) ‘Descendants of the Sun’: more fantasy than reality. Available at: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20160408000920&ACE_SEARCH=1 (accessed 10 April 2019).

42.

Lee

(2018) A ‘real’ fantasy: hybridity, Korean drama, and pop cosmopolitans. Media, Culture & Society 40(3): 365–380.

43.

Lee

(2012) The structure of the appeal of Korean Wave texts. Korea Observer 43(3): 447–469.

44.

Lewis

Martin

Sun

(2016) Telemodernities: Television and Transforming Lives in Asia. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

45.

Liebes

Katz

(1990) The Export of Meaning: Cross-cultural Readings of Dallas. New York: Oxford University Press.

46.

Lin

Tong

(2008) Re-imagining a cosmopolitan ‘Asian us’: Korean media flows and imaginaries of Asian modern femininities. In: Chua

Iwabuchi

(eds) East Asian Pop Culture. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp. 91–125.

47.

Lin

(2014) Korean TV show sparks chicken and beer craze in China. The Wall Street Journal. Available at: https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/02/26/korean-tv-show-sparks-chicken-and-beer-craze-in-china/ (accessed 16 May 2018).

48.

Livingstone

(2004) The challenge of changing audiences: or, what is the audience researcher to do in the age of the Internet? European Journal of Communication 19(1): 75–86.

49.

Nye

Kim

(2013) Soft power and the Korean wave. In: Kim

(ed.) The Korean Wave: Korean Media Go Global. New York: Routledge, pp. 31–42.

50.

Ock

(2014) ‘My Love from the Star’ wins top prize at Seoul Drama Awards. The Korea Herald. Available at: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140904001191(accessed 16 May 2018)

51.

(2009) Hallyu: the rise of transnational cultural consumers in China and Japan. Korea Observer 40(3): 425–459.

52.

Park

Lee

Seo

(2019) The rise and fall of Korean drama export to China: the history of state regulation of Korean dramas in China. International Communication Gazette 81(2): 139–157.

53.

Ryoo

(2009) Globalization, or the logic of cultural hybridization: the case of the Korean wave. Asian Journal of Communication 19(2): 137–151.

54.

Schiller

(1976) Communication and Cultural Domination. White Plains, NY: International Arts and Sciences Press.

55.

Schneider

(2012) Visual Political Communication in Popular Chinese Television Series. Leiden: Brill.

56.

Schrøder

(2019) Audience reception research in a post-broadcasting digital age. Television & New Media 20(2): 155–169.

57.

Shen

(2011) China in the ‘post-patriarchal era’: changes in the power relationships in urban households and an analysis of the course of gender inequality in society. Chinese Sociology & Anthropology 43(4): 5–23.

58.

Shim

(2006) Hybridity and the rise of Korean popular culture in Asia. Media, Culture & Society 8(1): 25–44.

59.

Sina (2016) My Love from the Star broadcast on Anhui TV. Available at: http://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2016-01-29/doc-ifxnzanh0336765.shtml (accessed 17 May 2018).

60.

Sinclair

Jacka

Cunningham

(1996) New Patterns in Global Television: Peripheral Vision. New York: Oxford University Press.

61.

Soh

Yecies

(2017) Korean–Chinese film remakes in a new age of cultural globalisation: Miss Granny (2014) and 20 once again (2015) along the digital road. Global Media and China 2(1): 74–89.

62.

Straubhaar

(1991) Beyond media imperialism: asymmetrical interdependence and cultural proximity. Critical Studies in Mass Communication 8(1): 39–59.

63.

Straubhaar

(2003) Choosing national TV: cultural capital, language, and cultural proximity in Brazil. In Elasmar

(ed.) The Impact of International Television: A Paradigm Shift. Mahwah: Erlbaum, pp. 77–110.

64.

Straubhaar

(2007) World Television: From Global to Local. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

65.

Thussu

(2007) Mapping global media flow and contra-flow. In Thussu

(ed.) Media on the Move: Global Flow and Contra Flow. London: Routledge, pp. 10–29.

66.

Tunstall

(1977) The Media Are American: Anglo-american Media in the World. London: Constable.

67.

Wan

(2014) Chinese Officials Debate why China can’t make a Soap Opera as good as South Korea’s. The Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-officials-debate-why-china-cant-make-a-soap-opera-as-good-as-south-koreas/2014/03/07/94b86678-a5f3-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html?utm_term=.a2da9cec77f2 (accessed 16 June 2019).

68.

Won

(2015) Hallyu: numerous discourses, one perspective. Asian Journal of Journalism and Media Studies 2015: 1–26.

69.

(2007) Brand-new lifestyle: consumer-oriented programmes on Chinese television. Media, Culture & Society 29(3): 363–376.

70.

Yan

(2003) Private Life Under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949–1999. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

71.

Yan

(2009) The Individualization of Chinese Society. Oxford: Berg.

72.

Yang

(2017) Television and Dating in Contemporary China. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.

73.

Yang

(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.

74.

Yecies

Yang

Shim

, et al. (2016) The Douban online social media barometer and the Chinese reception of Korean popular culture flows. Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies 13(1): 114–138.

75.

Ytre-Arne

Das

(2019) An agenda in the interest of audiences: facing the challenges of intrusive media technologies. Television & New Media 20(2): 184–198.

76.

Zhang

(2010) In Search of Paradise: Middle-class Living in a Chinese Metropolis. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

77.

Zhang

(2012) A Chinese beauty story: How college women in China negotiate beauty, body image, and mass media. Chinese Journal of Communication 5(4): 437–454.

78.

Zhang

Sun

(2014) New Korean drama, new audience and new dissemination: analyzing the new Korean Wave. TV Research 9: 76–78.

79.

Zhao

(2017) The image of females in Korean dramas: a case study of Descendants of the Sun. Press Outpost 7: 86–87.