NCT’s Winwin And SEVENTEEN’s Wen Junhui Under Fire For Chinese Drama’s Portrayal Of Korean Culture

Coincidence or malicious?

Korean netizens criticized two Chinese dramas (C-Dramas) featuring prominent K-Pop idols.

On August 28, an online post titled “Two Recent Chinese Dramas Featuring K-Idols” went viral. The post, which has been viewed over 48k times (as of this writing) in just over 4 hours, has become a hot issue among Korean netizens.

In the post, the author uploaded several scenes from the C-Dramas Exclusive Fairytale and Sweet Games featuring SEVENTEEN‘s Wen Junhui and NCT‘s Winwin, respectively.

In one of the scenes, a young actor is seen wearing a Taekwondo uniform.

In another scene, Winwin is shown eating barbecue in a style reminiscent of Korean barbecue in which lettuce wraps are a key ingredient.

The author of the post then lamented the scenes and pointed out the irony of them both featuring K-Pop idols.

(First scene)In the original source novel, the girl is a student of martial arts, but the drama chose to make her into a Taekwondo student. (Second scene)They are busy stealing Hansik (Korean food) and the lettuce wrap. Seeing how she is folding the lettuce like a sandwich, it’s funny to see their bad attempt at copying (Korean culture).

Why?… Why?… The fact that both dramas feature K-Idols pisses me off more.

— Netizen

Netizens reacted, with most expressing bewilderment at the depictions and criticizing the dramas.

• “Seriously… I don’t know why they are envious of this?”
• “Why are they stealing lettuce wraps?… I just don’t understand. Do they even eat lettuce wraps?”
• “Why are they doing this? They should be proud of their own culture.”
• “Wow, if they have fans in Korea after this, the fans have no shame.”
• “It’s hilarious to see how flat the lettuce wraps are.”
• “Why are they doing this?”
• “LOL, what’s wrong with them? F@ck.”

Still, some fans stated that the depictions may not have been malicious.

Does this call for controversy? If an actor does judo or eats sushi in K-Dramas, does that then warrant a controversy as well?

— Netizen

Despite the dramas not claiming the depictions to be portrayals of Chinese culture, Koreans have been very sensitive about aspects of their culture being shown in Chinese media. This is due to claims Chinese media have made in the past about quintessential aspects of Korean culture as their own.

This has led to Koreans becoming very protective of their culture and, in turn, has also led them to call out Chinese influences when depicted in K-Dramas.