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China's youth look to Seoul for inspiration
(New York Times)
Updated: 2006-01-04 09:03 Society also seems to underlie the Chinese preference for South
Korean-filtered American hip-hop culture. Messages about rebelliousness, teenage
angst and freedom appear more palatable to Chinese in their Koreanized versions.
Kwon Ki Joon, 22, a South Korean who attends Beijing University and graduated
from a Chinese high school here, said his male Chinese friends were fans of
South Korea hip-hop bands, like H.O.T., and its song "We Are the Future." A
sample of the song's lyrics translate roughly as: "We are still under the
shadows of adults/Still not Free/To go through the day with all sorts of
interferences is tiring."
To Mr. Kwon, there is no mystery about the band's appeal. "It's about wanting
a more open world, about rebelliousness," he said. "Korean hip-hop is basically
trying to adapt American hip-hop."
Like many South Koreans, Oh Dong Suk, 40, an investor in online games here,
said he believed that South Korea's pop culture was a fruit of the country's
democratization. "If you watch South Korean movies from the 1970's or 1980's,
you could feel that it was a controlled society," Mr. Oh said.
Hwang In Choul, 35, a South Korean missionary here, also sees a direct link
between South Korea's democratization and its influence in China. After
restrictions on travel outside South Korea were lifted in the late 1980's, South
Korea's missionary movement grew from several hundred to its current size of
14,000 missionaries.
Mr. Hwang, who since 2000 has trained 50 Chinese pastors to proselytize, is
among the 1,500 South Korean missionaries evangelizing in China, usually
secretly.
"Under military rule, it was simply not possible to come out of South Korea,
and even our activities inside the country were monitored," Mr. Hwang said. "We
had the potential to be missionaries out in the world, but we were constrained.
We had the passion, but we couldn't express our passion."
Until South Korea and China, enemies during the Korean War, normalized
relations in 1992, North Korea had a stronger presence here, with its embassy,
restaurants and shops. Back then, South Korea remained unknown to most Chinese,
or suffered from a poor image.
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