Recently, the trend in South Korea to attribute our Chinese New Year to its culture has become more and more apparent in recent days. An internationally renowned virtual idol group unexpectedly triggered a large-scale ** of Korean netizens when they released Chinese New Year's holiday wishes.
These netizens insisted that the name of the festival should be changed to Lunar New Year, arguing that such a change respects the Korean tradition of the Spring Festival. This may seem like a small change, but it complicates the challenge of preserving the Chinese New Year culture.
Not only South Korea, but also a number of Western countries, including the United States, played a role in this matter, each with its own purpose. Looking back, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing used the title Chinese New Year in its 2017 New Year poster.
However, in recent years, the poster has been changed to lunar new year, a change that raises questions about the meaning behind the name change.
With about 2 billion people around the world celebrating the Chinese New Year, this is a great opportunity for overseas Chinese to showcase Chinese culture. However, South Korea's intentional confusion seems to be aimed at weakening the Spring Festival as a symbol of Chinese culture. South Korea has been actively promoting its own cultural interpretation on the international stage in recent years, and a Korean professor has been on the front lines to promote this initiative.
Not only did he advocate for the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and kimchi as Korean culture, but he also questioned the name of Chinese New Year and proposed changes to it, arguing that South Korea also celebrates the Lunar New Year and proposed that it be uniformly called Lunar New Year. If the title of the Spring Festival is changed to lunar new year, then the cultural belonging of the Spring Festival may become blurred.
The Korea Tourism Organization seems to use this as a strategy, and in recent years, South Korea's efforts in cultural promotion have become more and more obvious, and even the transformation of the Dragon Boat Festival into the Dragon Boat Festival is one of them.
Last year, they also hosted an event at the British Museum with a Korean New Year-themed theme.
How should we respond in the face of such blatant cultural appropriation? First of all, we need to make it clear that some of the cultural activities in South Korea have nothing to do with the Chinese New Year, and these are purely Korean creations. Chinese New Year celebrations, such as lion dances, Spring Festival couplets, firecrackers, etc., are festive and unique.
Second, we should resolutely reject and avoid using the term "lunar new year". When someone blesses you with this title, you should explain to them the difference between the lunar calendar, the solar calendar, and the lunar calendar, and emphasize that the correct title should be Chinese new year.
Finally, it is crucial to increase outreach, and the relevant departments should increase their budgets and use public figures with international influence to disseminate the right information. More importantly, every Chinese should pay attention to this incident and protect their cultural traditions.
Our purpose is not to oppose Korea, but to protect and pass on our own cultural heritage.
Newbie Mentoring Program