This video has recently been taking Chinese social media by storm.
The footage features the phrase, "Let us spread Chinese culture to the world," along with subtitles claiming that "the Ming Dynasty bestowed clothing and official headwear upon Joseon, its vassal state."
Recently, controversy has arisen as Chinese influencers have been spotted roaming around Gyeongbokgung Palace, a representative cultural heritage site of South Korea, while wearing the traditional Chinese attire, Hanfu.
[Kang Jun-young / Professor, Graduate School of International and Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies: As you know, social media and the market scale are just that huge. There is a traditional clothing market worth close to 3 trillion won in our money for wearing Hanbok and their own attire. And there are a lot of people. When they come to Korea, wearing Hanbok or their own clothes to promote their culture, they simply get massive view counts. (So it's about the money, after all.)]
Foreign tourists visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace said they were confused because Hanbok and Hanfu look similar, emphasizing that people should respect each other's cultures.
[Iliuno / French tourist: If they hadn't told us it was traditional Chinese clothing, foreigners wouldn't have known.]
[Iman Reda / Egyptian tourist: I think we should respect Korean traditions in Korea, and respect Chinese traditions in China.]
Chinese tourists expressed the view that Hanfu is better than Hanbok and questioned what problem such personal behavior could possibly cause.
[Chinese tourist: It doesn't matter. People should just do as they please. As long as the individual likes it, that's what matters.]
[Chinese tourist: In my opinion, the variety of traditional Chinese clothing seems much more diverse than Hanbok. After all, China was also a very powerful nation in history at one point.]
An expert who observed these behaviors by Chinese individuals pointed out that such actions have been repeated in the past and stem from cultural impatience and a form of inferiority complex.
[Kang Jun-young / Professor, Graduate School of International and Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies: So I fundamentally believe these kinds of things are all related to China's cultural impatience. They want to constantly emphasize that their things need to be known more widely, that they possess a more splendid history, and that the raw materials originated from them. But to Westerners' eyes, they all look similar. In fact, China even claimed that the kimono belonged to them. They did that in the past, back in the 1970s.]
As the controversy grew, some suggested banning Chinese people wearing Hanfu from entering the palaces. Currently, Gyeongbokgung Palace does not have entry restrictions based on specific types of attire.
Netizens who came across the video reacted with comments such as, "It's shocking that they used the expression 'vassal state,'" and "Let's wear Hanbok and go to the Forbidden City ourselves."
(Produced by Yoon Sung-sik | Video editing by Lee Da-in | Source footage provided by News Hunters | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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