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New Jeans recently was at a center of a scandal. The scandal was centered on the debate between who terms โ Chinese New Year, and Lunar New Year. Letโs take a closer look at how a Korean girl group ended up at the center of one of the most heated debates in Asia.
New Jeans lunar new year celebration post
On Jan. 21, Danielle, a Korean-Australian member of the K-pop girl group NewJeans, apologized soon after sending a message to her fans that read: โWhat r u bunnies (the name of the quintetโs global fandom) doing for Chinese new year?โ
The term Chinese new year somewhat rubs people the wrong way since this new year is not only celebrated in China. There are other Asian countries with lunar new year celebrations such as Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Under the heat of Knet, the 17-year-old Kpop star had to issue an apology, promising she would be more careful with her words and actions in the future.
However, the Cnet had an adverse reaction. They seemed to compare Hanni (another New Jeans member who used โLunar New Yearโ) with Danielle. The favor was towards Danielle. Meanwhile, Hanniโs usage of โLunar New Yearโ was not appreciated.
Lunar new year or Chinese New Year?
There is a debate over whether Lunar New Year comes from China or not. Since many believe it comes from China, they think it should be called โChinese new yearโ. Meanwhile, associate the term as the Sinification of Asia. Many in the west see Asia as a monolith and China often claims aspects of its neighborsโ cultures and territories under its one-china policy,
These incidents have brought up a question: What is the best way of referring to this annual holiday? According to experts, โLunar New Yearโ is the least-controversial term.
Lim Dae-Geun, a professor of Chinese Cinema Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS), underscored that culture has no nationality. According to him โIt is not completely wrong to add โKoreanโ or โChineseโ to the Lunar New Year since both countries celebrate it, but culture does not hold any nationality in essence,โ he said. โThe concept of nationality was formed after modernization. The Lunar New Year was created before the establishment of the Republic of Korea in 1948 and the Peopleโs Republic of China in 1949. But today, people tend to confine culture within a specific nation, instead of relishing it together.โ
Jieun Kiaer, a professor of Korean Language and Linguistics at the University of Oxford also states that โIn the case of Korea, the way people celebrate the Lunar New Year is different from that of Chinese, except for eating dumplings,โ Kiaer explained, adding that Korea has its own word โSeollalโ that specifically refers to this holiday.โ
Korean and Chinese Lunar New Year
In Korea, people eat โtteokgukโ (sliced rice cake soup), perform โsebaeโ by bowing to elders on their knees, and play traditional games such as โyutnoriโ. Meanwhile, in China, people eat fish and moon-shaped rice cakes, light firecrackers, and put on red outfits, which are believed to bring luck and prosperity. The difference is obvious.
However, due to the clashes between Knet and Cnet, the tension regarding Korea, and China in cultural feuds is still increasing. Besides the lunar new year problem, last year, Korea and China also has a big dispute over hanbok and kimchi.
Want to learn about Korean Lunar New Year? Click Here for more information!
