Discuss: China's media censorship is hindering it from having a Hallyu-like pop culture influence?

[kookful]

Seems like this is a common sentiment amongst international fans when the topic of Chinese pop culture (music or dramas) is touched upon. Everyone keeps saying they have the potential to produce a successful idol group/TV show/movie that could be massively influential and spark a Hallyu-like boom in terms of pop culture influence but censorship limitations are preventing for that to happen.

 

My personal take is censorship might be limiting, but it's not a 100% roadblock. If I remember correctly, many people kept saying the same about K-dramas and K-Pop when its boom began, how unlike the US a lot of things are more filtered and watered down. How celebrities in Korea need to be more careful and be mindful of what they say compared to western celebs who speak their mind. How K-Dramas have a lot of tropes and plots that aren't liberal enough to be accepted globally. But it was proof all the audience needed was engaging and entertaining content, peppered with gorgeous celebrities. 

 

Come to think of it, even Korea has some sort of censorship still. Even Korean groups known to be very liberal and "raw" like BTS still toe the line when talking about social issues, especially ones that potentially touch upon politics. As a matter of fact K-Pop actually became more watered down since its initial boom, the current kind of K-Pop people enjoy may be "fierce" superficially, but lacks the punch and meaning the older generation acts included in their body of work. Despite this watering down of things, the global audience (who mostly don't understand Korean anyway) rely mostly on visuals/personality/melody/packaging which resulted to K-Pop becoming more global anyway. Also people need to remember K-dramas follow an intense censorship of sorts as well - in general, Asia has more censorship going on than the west. 

 

That's why I feel people simply saying censorship will prevent from China's pop culture from eventually blowing up globally are seeing things from an overly simplistic manner. People forget the entertainment industry there is used to being limited which in turn could actually spur more creativity. They adapt well to changes so I wouldn't be surprised if they just work their way around regulations that would come up. Also people need to remember that China is becoming the ultimate middle ground where Asian celebs work - it's not unusual to see a Chinese drama with actors and crew hailing from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Canada and the US all at the same time simply because of the Chinese diaspora (the main requirement seems to mainly be having the ability to speak Chinese). The censorship may slow things down a bit but I still do think Chinese entertainment is at the cusp of going really widespread and influential in the next 5-10 years.

 

 

[Liliana]

I don’t think censorship is what is blocking chinese pop culture to go international, it’s just that chinese pop culture has its own market where they can "survive" on their own.

Kpop and Kdrama have to appeal to internationals as well, because the korean market alone isn’t enough as a source as much as people think, idols or actors have a harder time becoming successful in Korea, so might as well go international. That’s why they’d promote in China, Japan, SEA, etc. The Korean pop market is too small and easily oversaturated.

[junmyeonsnoodle]

I don’t think censorship is what is blocking chinese pop culture to go international, it’s just that chinese pop culture has its own market where they can "survive" on their own.

Kpop and Kdrama have to appeal to internationals as well, because the korean market alone isn’t enough as a source as much as people think, idols or actors have a harder time becoming successful in Korea, so might as well go international. That’s why they’d promote in China, Japan, SEA, etc. The Korean pop market is too small and easily oversaturated.

[________________]

I don’t think censorship is what is blocking chinese pop culture to go international, it’s just that chinese pop culture has its own market where they can "survive" on their own.

Kpop and Kdrama have to appeal to internationals as well, because the korean market alone isn’t enough as a source as much as people think, idols or actors have a harder time becoming successful in Korea, so might as well go international. That’s why they’d promote in China, Japan, SEA, etc. The Korean pop market is too small and easily oversaturated.

1st gen used to be like China/Japan. I thought it was bad-ass how self-reliant KPOP acts were in the 1st gen. They sold so much and it wasn't as over-saturated. 

 

They even had a female-artist boom which didn't exist in 2nd and 3rd gen.

[Liliana]

1st gen used to be like China/Japan. I thought it was bad-ass how self-reliant KPOP acts were in the 1st gen. They sold so much and it wasn't as over-saturated. 

 

They even had a female-artist boom which didn't exist in 2nd and 3rd gen.

I had more of the current gen in mind, 1st gen did fine with Korea alone, but I guess things changed after with the public, which made it harder for the 2nd and 3rd gen to be just as successful with Korea alone.

[kookful]

I don’t think censorship is what is blocking chinese pop culture to go international, it’s just that chinese pop culture has its own market where they can "survive" on their own.

Kpop and Kdrama have to appeal to internationals as well, because the korean market alone isn’t enough as a source as much as people think, idols or actors have a harder time becoming successful in Korea, so might as well go international. That’s why they’d promote in China, Japan, SEA, etc. The Korean pop market is too small and easily oversaturated.

 

 

Chinese pop culture is self sustaining but they want that global awareness, and that's where their difference with Japan lies.

 

Notice how all these Chinese TV channels uploading full episodes of their shows with English subs recently. Also Chinese music acts reaching out more to the western press (I'm sure you've been seeing more features on Chinese pop acts on platforms like Billboard and Buzzfeed). Add to that Chinese celebs proactively seeking collabs with their western peers (Luhan, Kris, Lay, Tao, Cai Xu Kun are just a few I could remember, pretty sure there's more). A lot of Chinese TV dramas/celebs are also starting to do more frequent press rounds (features, interviews) in Thailand, Philippines, and more since 2018. Add to this, many Chinese drama companies have been pretty open to selling their rights to platforms like Netflix which has a more general audience share than a niche one. 

 

While China may not necessarily need a global market like Korea does to earn, people underestimate the power of Chinese diaspora which would naturally give the pop culture bigger platforms to be presented. Add to this that the industry itself aims to be global and have a wider audience reach unlike Japan.

[waycrispy1]

Agreed on the above comment about not needing to go international, what's happening right now seems much more organic than making a push into other markets. You have to understand that besides Chinese on the mainland, there are literally millions of overseas Chinese residing in every part of the globe that consume Chinese content. For instance, the dramas don't need to be on Youtube, but because those overseas cannot easily access iQiyi or Youku or Tencent video due to copyright, most dramas are uploaded to Youtube to be available to overseas Chinese, and they open it up to people who want to add subs so that's also how a lot of people just happen to get exposed to that content. I used to just watch them whenever they became available on sites like Dramafever or Viki which have much more Korean content, but then I began seeing fan made videos of web dramas that I never even heard of and apparently all everyone is discovering them on Youtube. Movies as well, will almost always play in movie theaters across major cities in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe that have a large Chinese population. Add to that the growing number of people learning Chinese across the globe. Chinese content is also improving every year, they have to also find ways to appeal to an audience on the mainland that very often also watch Korean, Japanese and American shows. When they are able to do that, it will naturally appeal to those outside of China. Netflix also made it easier to discover this content. 

 

Music is a whole other story. People don't just become a fan by listening to music, most singers have to appear on a lot of varieties or dramas to build up that fanbase, There are plenty of really popular songs, but no one knows who the singers are. Shows like Idol Producer are great, but as fans come to realize, half the time these groups are doing activities that have nothing to do with music. That's just the way it is for now. I guess with the success of kpop, people are expecting more groups out of China as well. I'd much rather see solo artists like GEM or Hua CHenyu get more international recognition. 

 

Censorship is really a non-issue, I've seen bans come and go, most last a few months tops. People on this forum often like to make a big deal out them, but really the last one lasted one week. Most of the content that appeals to people outside of China don't remotely have anything to do with anything that would be censored anyway.

 

Honestly the only form of Chinese entertainment that is being actively spread across the globe is TikTok. That thing is spreading like a virus, but it has more to do with it being good for the company's profits and not really anything cultural.

[Drama Drama Drama]

Respect to dramas and movies: it's question of time to China reaching the k influence if they still growing in the quality in the future.

But in music it's complicated because kpop have music, fanmeetings, varieties, vapp and the group unit is importante meanwhile in China is important the solo stan and advertising idol culture.

Ex TFBoys and Nine Percent is banking high but it's more individual activity than group activity. Kpop fans are loyal because the group activity is the main privilege despite having their own personal bias.

[peperoni]

I think C-ENT and J-ENT are satisfied with their current home market; funny thing is that they can see that even they are not promoting outside their respective countries they are selling more than the Hallyu artist which are more known world wide; from a business marketer POV if they can sell more in their own country  with minimum effort and less stress; they will stick to that safe zone/ Also there is a buffer of Sinophobia and Japanophobia existing until now unlike anti-korean sentiment which is very rare.