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The anti-Korean sentiment in China refers to opposition, hostility, hatred, distrust, fear, and general dislike of Korean people, culture and anything having to do with either that occurs in both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China.
South Korea established official relations with the People's Republic of China in 1992, and relations between the two states gradually improved. Within the Chinese population, Korean art and culture became popular in the 21st century. Amid improvements in relations however, there was also looming anti-South Korean sentiment involved in various disputes between the two countries. While it may be regarded as anti-Korean in general, the view of North Koreans are consistent.[citation needed] instead, it seems, the recent increase of hostility is solely directed at South Koreans.[citation needed]
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Koreaphobia commonly refers to the sentiment of the Chinese national football team, which has played about 30 matches against the South Korean team since 1978 but has never been able to beat them, despite finishing higher in a number of tournaments. Frustration has possibly led to several violent outbreaks against South Koreans in football games hosted in China, such as the Olympic preliminary match in 1999, friendship match in 2001, and another Olympics preliminary match in 2004.[1]
In a Korea-China friendship football match held in Beijing, in 2000, South Korean spectators were violently beaten by Chinese spectators as the Chinese team lost.[2] In 2004 during an Athens Olympics football preliminary match held in Changsha, China, Chinese spectators responded with violence as the Chinese team lost, resulting in the injury of one Korean spectator.[1][3]
During the 2002 World Cup hosted in Korea and Japan, the Chinese media made numerous negative reports about South Korea.[4] As the South Korean team progressed through the tournament, the Chinese media stated that the South Korean team was winning because of unfair play and preferential treatment. When South Korea lost to Turkey in the third-place match, one Chinese reporter said, "Turkey made it certain that South Korea is a substandard football nation," and continued on to deride the Korean team as well as the Japanese team. The Chinese government may have been involved in these negative reports.
Anti-South Korean sentiment was also apparent among ordinary Chinese in China. It has been reported that ethnic Koreans in China were afraid of openly cheering for Korean teams due to hostility from local Chinese.[4] It has also been reported South Koreans cheering for the South Korean team in Beijing have been booed by the local Chinese.
The 2007 Asian Winter Games held in Changchun, China sparked disputes between South Korea and China as the host city began aggressively promoting Baektu Mountain, a mountain along the border of North Korea and China, like holding the torch ceremony on its peak and depicting it as a Chinese mountain in the ceremonies.[5][6][7] Baektu Mountain is , and it is a very sensitive issue to Koreans, as the sacred mountain is revered as the ancestral origin of the Korean people in Korean mythology. Provoked by aggressive promotion of Chinese claims to the mountain by the host city, a group of South Korean athletes held a political ceremony, holding out placards that said “Baektu Mountain is our land.”[8] This has sparked massive reprisals from the Chinese media and Chinese Internet forums, including personal attacks against the South Korean athletes.[citation needed]
Anti-South Korean sentiments in China and anti-Chinese sentiments in Korea became more prominent as a result of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.[9] Durinng the Seoul leg of the 2008 Olympic torch relay, Chinese students "rioted" against protesters.[10][11][12] Numerous projectiles were thrown towards the South Korean protesters, injuring one newspaper reporter. Chinese supporters of the Beijing Olympics also engaged in mob violence, notably in the lobby of Seoul Plaza Hotel, against South Korean protesters, Tibetans, Western tourists, and police officers.[13]
Further controversy was generated when SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System) leaked footage of rehearsals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.[14] This incident has been widely reported in the Chinese media, and has become the impetus of anti-Korean sentiments during the Games.
Anti-South Korean sentiments became more visible and became a major issue in Korea during the 2008 Beijing Olympics events. Throughout the events, the Chinese spectators often displayed hostility to the South Korean athletes, even during events where Japanese athletes are also competing.[15] Hostile attitude of the Chinese spectators during the Beijing Olympics were widely reported in the South Korean media, and anti-Korean sentiments in China became a major issue, prompting reaction from governments of South Korea and China. During Olympic events involving South Korean athletes, Chinese spectators would boo the South Korean team and cheer for other competing nations.[16] During competitive matches between South Korea and Japan, Chinese spectators have even been seen to be cheering for Japanese athletes, an action previously seen as taboo in earlier years as a result of Anti-Japanese sentiment in China. Analysts in China and abroad claim that Chinese are supporting Japanese players in return for their goodwill gestures towards China, noting a notable improvement in relations, which were previously mounted with arguments regarding topics such as World War II atrocities. Because of this, Anti-Korean sentiment was a major issue discussed[17] when Chinese president Hu Jintao met with South Korean president Lee Myung-bak in Seoul between the 25–26 August 2008.[18]
Another source of Anti-South Korean sentiment within China originates from reports by a number of Chinese students studying within South Korea, who describe their situation as unfavourable as a result of negative attitudes displayed by local Koreans towards these students.[19] Such reports by students claim that they are discriminated against based on the assumption that they are uncivil and in poverty, and are excluded and ignored by Koreans.[20] The common attitude amongst Koreans in regards to Chinese students is that Chinese people are typically poor, are not well educated, and are stereotypically seen as riding bicycles and working in factories. There is also the perception that most Chinese students come to South Korea to work illegally, as opposed to study (SBS reports that four in ten Chinese students are illegal workers[21]).
Many Chinese of Korean descent, as known as Chaoxianzu/Joseonjok, went to South Korea to pursue a better life after China open itself to the world, believing that common heritage and language would make them fit in more. However, majority of them were look down upon compare to Korean descent from wealthy countries and were mistreated at their work. Many work in "3D" jobs, referring to dirty, difficult and dangerous work conditions. Due to the downturn of world economy, the South Korean government strengthen the restriction on illegal immigrations with many Joseonjok deported.[22] Many native South Koreans also blames Joseonjok for stealing their jobs and view them as poor Chinese instead of Korean. Hearing about the Sufferings of Korean Chinese from different types of discrimination in South Korea have contributed the increasing sentiments against South Koreans amongst the Korean descent and Chinese public in China.[23][24] Huang Youfu, an ethnic Korean professor at the Minzu University of China, as well as Scott Snyder of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, note that joseonjok who have write about their negative experiences on the internet has been a major factor in the spread of anti-South Korean sentiment in China.[25][26]
In 2005, anti-South Korean sentiments in China became a major trend as China began disputing South Korea’s attempts to register the Gangneung Danoje Festival as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.[27][28] China claimed the Gangneung Danoje Festival derived from the Chinese Dragonboat Festival, and pursued a joint-registration of Gangneung Danoje Festival and Chinese Dragonboat Festival.[29] South Korea held the position that the Gangneung Danoje Festival is a unique cultural tradition of Gangneung, Korea, completely different from the Chinese Dragonboat Festival, and ignored Chinese demands for joint-registration. Despite Chinese opposition, UNESCO has registered the Gangneung Danoje Festival as an intangible cultural heritage.[30] Upon registration, the Chinese media began making accusations of South Korea stealing Chinese culture, and expressed regret and humiliation at losing Chinese Dragonboat Festival to South Korea.[31]
The UNESCO intangible heritage controversy was followed by a series of similar accusations from the Chinese media and the Chinese internet. In 2007, baseless reports from the Chinese media that South Korea is attempting to register Chinese characters at UNESCO has generated significant controversy.[32] It has been reported that Park Jung-soo (박정수), a professor at Seoul National University Department of History, has concluded after 10 year research that Koreans invented Chinese characters, and has advised the South Korean government to register Chinese characters at UNESCO. Contrary to the reports in the Chinese media, it has been confirmed that there is no professor by the name of Park Jung-soo at Seoul National University. These false reports has also spread to Hong Kong media.[33]
Influenced by these issues, South Korea was elected as the most hated country in an internet survey on Chinese netizens, according to Chinese news 国际先驱导报 in 2007.[34] However, Despite the internet debate, China's view of Korea is a generally fine.[35]
Some South Korean ultra-nationalists and historical revisionists claim that Gando, even whole Manchuria should be part of Korea.[36] However, this is not an official task.
On August 29, 2009, Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) released a documentary on the Qing and Jin dynasties during Korean History Special.[37] The documentary claims the founders of the two dynasties were of Korean descent. The claims in the show further increased anti-Korean sentiments among Chinese, especially Manchus who regard the two dynasty as their historic legacy.[38][39]
The continent series (Chinese: 大陆系列; Korean: 대륙시리즈) refers to a series of images posted on blogs and forums throughout the South Korean online community created in late 2008, ridiculing negative aspects of Mainland China, such as fake products, Shanzhai, public indecency in poorer districts, and general negative portrayal of Chinese people.[40] Chinese websites widely reported on the new "online phenomena", causing backlash from Chinese netizens.[41]
From a psychological perspective, Chinese are seen as assuming Koreans to be part of a Sino-centric East Asian regional order.[42] As a part of this group, Koreans are assumed to be inherently friendly to China. Chinese also emphasize hierarchy within their Sino-centric order, where China is at the top of the hierarchy. In contrast, Koreans reject the Sino-centric East Asian regional order and emphasize equality in diplomatic relations in East Asia. This rejection leads to conflict of existential identities, threatening the very meaning of being Korean and Chinese. Koreans and Chinese are seen as engaging in a relationship of negative interdependence, potentially comparable to Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[42]
From a political perspective, improvement of South Korea-United States relations is seen as a cause for anti-South Korean sentiments in China. In 2008, there was a change of administration in South Korea, where conservative Grand National Party nominee Lee Myung-bak was elected as president. In contrast to previous two presidents, Lee Myung-bak engaged in increasingly pro-US diplomacy. China has explicitly expressed opposition and discomfort to improving relations between South Korea and the United States several times, such as disparaging South Korea-United States military alliance as an obsolete relic of the Cold War.[43] Some analysts suggest that due to this turn in politics, China has intentionally turned a blind eye to anti-Korean sentiments in China in order to help it spread.[44] For example, China did not take any measures on false reports in the Chinese media that South Koreans are claiming Four Great Inventions of ancient China.[44] Professor Huang You-fu, a Korean Chinese expert on Korean affairs stated that it's difficult for the Chinese Government to control every post online in order to contain Anti-South Korean sentiments and they would be criticized for suppressing freedom of speech.[45]
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