A new Korea-Chinese internet war

Submitted by Sonagi92 on Sun, 2007-02-04 19:11. ::
 

The silver-medal winning South Korean short-track speed skating team pulled a stunt on the medal stand by holding up signs reading "Baekdusan (Changbaishan) is our land." Chinese netizens have put together a collection of scornful photoshopped versions of the original image:

http://www.tianya.cn/publicforum/Content/funinfo/1/928735.shtml

Some of the photos and captions are tastelessly sexist.

nausicaa
Submitted by nausicaa on Sun, 2007-02-04 19:39.

*groans* Politics and athletics should, in my opinion, stay far away from each other. Remember Apolo Ohno?

colin
Submitted by colin on Mon, 2007-02-05 17:42.

I can't read chinese so it's a little lost on me.

I did laugh at photoshop work with the girls with beards (steriod abuse?) and red cheeks though.

I don't entirely agree with politics/sport comment. It ain't exactly the US sprinters in 1968 Olympics is it? (or Muhammed Ali refusing to fight in Vietnam). Jesse Owen didn't do anything apart from run...which was enough. Is it sad reflection on my western centro mentality that I don't know/care?

I like the idea of midgets with fat thighs and attitude though. There is a film here somewhere I'm sure. It could be porn or it could be by Coen Brothers or Jim Jarmusch.

The Iron Buddha
Submitted by The Iron Buddha on Tue, 2007-02-06 14:53.

Having lived in both China and Korea, whenever I mad about Chinese nationalism, racism, sense of cultural superiority etc., I can usually calm myself by saying "well, it was worse in Korea." If nationalist idiots want to tear each other apart on the internet, fine by me. They deserve each other, a pox on both their houses.

Si
Submitted by Si on Thu, 2007-02-08 13:19.

it's worse in korea? i am never going to korea then....

out of interest what do they point to as evidence of their superiority?

Sonagi92
Submitted by Sonagi92 on Fri, 2007-02-09 01:03.

Someone on another blog likened disputes between China and Korea to the Iran-Iraq war. The two parties can go on fighting as long as they like.

Having lived in both countries, I would agree that public expressions of nationalism are worse in Korea. It isn't so much that Koreans think they're so superior. It's more that the Chinese government, with the exception of the anti-Japanese demonstrations, has tried to control nationalist sentiments while the Korean government encourages nationalist sentiments especially toward Japan.

Those young women are so used to all the "Dokdo-East Sea-Goguryo-we-are-one-people hype that they naively thought the rest of Asia would smile at their little prank. One cannot imagine a Japanese or a Chinese team doing something similar. I believe the Koreans have learned their lesson and will not repeat this sort of trick, at least not in China. Had the women held up an "East Sea" sign in Japan, the Japanese would showed more subdued anger, and the Koreans would be thrilled, rather than cowed. There is a brilliant explanation for Korea's kowtowing to China while nipping at the heels of Japan and the US on Abiola Lapite's Foreign Dispatches blog:

http://foreigndispatches.typepad.com/dispatches/2007/02/explaining_kore....

This entry has a growing list of trackbacks from other Asia-centric bloggers.

Sonagi92
Submitted by Sonagi92 on Fri, 2007-02-09 01:09.

@ Colin:

I'm not going to translate the 100 photoshop entries (although I highly recommend CSL learners look at them to pick up trashy slang) I had no idea acronyms had become so common in Chinese slang. I will classify them into groups:

1) bitches and hoes: a majority of the images sexually degrade the women, calling them prostitutes.

2) gaoli bangzi: this is an ethnic slur against Koreans, originally North Koreans, but now used for South Koreans, too. Literally means "Korean bumpkins"

3) nationalism parody: Changbaishan is our land; Korea is China's territory; before we hosted the Japanese army; now we host the US army