In recent year, the Korean wave has been significantly popular among Asian countries such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia. Korean wave is usually called Hallyu which “is a neologism referring to the increase in the popularity of South Korean culture since late 1990s” (Korean wave, n.d.). This Hallyu trend not only gains popularity in Asian countries like Vietnam, Japan, China and Thailand but also spreads to South America and Europe (tuoitrenews, 2012).
Vietnam is not an exception of this trend. The Doi Moi in 1986, which gave a motivation of media exchange, is the leverage for Korean Wave to come to Vietnam. However until the late 1990s and soon 2000s, the Korean wave has started pervaded into Vietnam through some dramas such as: Autumn Fairly Tale," "Winter Sonata" and "Daejanggeum (Huong Dang, 2009). At that time, the Korean film had gradually altered the Chinese films. The Hallyu wave has strongly in infiltrated in recent years via the music from Korean idol. The K-Pop has influenced much to the young generation, which creates a huge impact on Vietnam.
Although Korean wave affects variety aspects, this paper will partly analyze the effects of Hallyu on a fraction of Vietnamese’s culture. The domain that will be focused is the influences of Hallyu wave to the young generation of Vietnam.
II. Researching:
It is easy to see that Korea dramas are dominating the airtime on television channel, from the North to the South. Everyday at least two to four Korean dramas are broadcasted. Taking the BTV channel as an example. Within 9 hours, there are two Korean dramas are shown on TV. This is a schedule of a general channel; if we consider the entertained or movie channel, the number of Korean films broadcasted will be more. The Korean films now become the mental food of a large portion of Vietnamese people. (Duc Nguyen, 2013).
Moreover a new trend, which is called K-Pop, is the one of the strongest effects to the young Vietnamese. People can understand K-Pop (an abbreviation of Korean pop) as a musical genre originating in South Korea that is characterized by a wide variety of audiovisual elements (K-pop, n.d.). K-Pop plays important role because its fans dominates the other fans of Korean wave. For instance, a statistics of one group named Super Junior in Vietnam shows that they have 279,423 fans in only Vietnam (Socialbakers, n.d.). Furthermore this is merely fans of one group, however there are hundred groups activating in Vietnam. Thus it is easy to imagine the number of K-Pop fan in Vietnam. In addition, the K-Pop fan nowadays start to dress, eat, using Korean things on account of the thought to follow their idols (Manh Nguyen, 2013). Therefore with the numerous of K-Pop fans, the impacts that they give to Vietnam is not small.
In addition, Korean wave has contributed to the change of consumer behavior in Vietnam. Fifteen years ago, it was difficult to find out products labeled “made in Korea”; however after a film shown on VTV3, the products of Double Rich have been popular in Vietnam, which originates the trend of Korean products in Vietnam. (Tam Vuong, 2012). After that series of ad from Korea with famous artist attacked Vietnamese market, which bring Korean culture to Vietnam. People are tend to use goods which are advertised by their favorite artists, thus Korean commodities become more and more common in Vietnam. It is certain that Vietnamese consumers are very familiar with South Korean bedding suites. Vietnamese consumers are also very keen on Korean household goods. Its cosmetics are quite familiar to Vietnamese women as their quality is not inferior to European luxury goods (vccinews.com, 2013). Furthermore due to the influences of Hallyu, people can see the banner and ad using Korea to make them attractive, especially in beauty field. It is clear that beauty industry is a symbol of success of South Korea in Vietnam hence, on the streets, we can easily see some signs such as: Korean beauty salon; Korean hairstyle and Koran cloths (vccinews.com, 2013). In these days, this phenomenon occurs in Vietnam as a result of the extraneous psychology along with the Korean wave’s impacts. The young are attracted by the beauty of Korean artist, thus they want to become as beautiful as Korean, which leads to the thought that Korean cosmetics are always good. In the similar way, when the audiences watch movies, they are accidentally seduced by Korean products because the actor or actress uses that products. As a result Korean culture becomes popular by that way.
III. Interpretation: 1. Influences:
a. Negative influences:
As mentioned, Vietnam was influenced by the emergence of Korean Hallyu. But not the entire influence gave a positive impact to the country being influenced by it. Taking an example of loving Korean dramas of Vietnamese youth. If audience just want to dress like Korean stars, it is still fine. However in reality, the young generation is also affected by some negative influences, and one of the most concerning issue is violence. It is obvious that there are many scenes in Korean film in which the star using violence to solve problem. In addition, these dramas are usually watched by the young people, who are easily affected by the external factors. Thus through watching films, the young may follow what the actors or actress do on the film without consideration whether it is right or wrong (2sao.vn, 2011)
To continue with, it cannot skip the impacts of K-Pop on the young. The emerging issue when mention to the K-Pop is the craziness of fans. The problem that fans expressed extreme admiration for the idols, especially the stars from South Korea is no longer a strange thing in our country in recent years. Even when stars from South Korea came to Vietnam, the organizers had to “align” to cope with the adverse consequences that may occur when some youths suddenly unbridled emotions and have exceeded actions. There is information that in Kpop Music Festival (night 29/11), the organizers had to “mobilize” 2,000 people to ensure the safety of the program. Moreover, the organizers also decided to buy insurance for 50,000 spectators watching the program at the My Dinh Stadium (Hanoi). There was not any precedent at any show in Vietnam before. Through this situation, people can see that " crazy fan" became a threat, the burden for the arts organization (Nguoiduatin.vn, 2012). The craziness about idol will cause abundant of consequences for young people such as: decrease the learning capacity, ruining both physically and mentally or wasting gray matter. Many of them are willing to do crazy things like suicide, cut themselves, leave home or even become prostitute to earn money to follow idols. Hence people can realize that distraction about idol cause negative impact on both individual and society.
The next aspect that is influenced by the Hallyu wave is consumer behavior. Korean culture is currently influencing to consumers in Vietnam, especially the Korea entertainment is very influential to the young consumer. The achievement of current popular culture in Korea mentioned has led to the creation of business benefits and the amount of such business such as tourism, restaurants, Korean fashion, cosmetics, health products, online game, movie, star, singer, Korean drama, Korea language school (Chmanana Wonkboonma, 2010). According to a research of a good-reputation newspaper, 82.77% of young people under 30 years old said that Korean fashion is their favorite style, 64.19% prefer to use Korean cosmetics, 62.84% prefer Samsung phone. Nearly 52.4% surveyed also said that they would choose Korea as a place to travel if selected (Dong Nai newspaper, 2012). Additionally, Vietnamese women are not stranger with the brand OHUI, which is a famous cosmetic brand of Korean. The beauty of Korean actress is a perfect tool to advertise their products to Vietnamese customers. Of course the consumer will believe that they will own a beauty like the actress on TV (Duc Nguyen, 2013). The trade culture of Korea will be harmless if the cross culture will not create the bias culture in the youth of Vietnamese. However in reality, a portion of Vietnamese are more likely to appreciate the Korean products and think Vietnamese goods as inferior. The Vietnamese consumers will use the same thing that they have seen on television, thus they are tend to buy Korean products to feel intimacy with the Korean dramas.
b. Positive influence:
The positive things that young generation can learn from Korea wave are much more that the negative ones. Korean people consider manner as a very important. They follow strictly the hierarchy in society and the familism. They also show the complete respect to the older (Them Tran, 2004). As mentioned, the youth may be affected by what they have seen on television, thus they can learn the values of Korean by watching films.
Furthermore the intrusion of Korean stream will give a motivation to the entertainment industry of Vietnam. It is true that when Hallyu comes to Vietnam, people will have more choice to entertain. It creates the competitive between Vietnamese and Korean artists. It means that Vietnamese artists have to try harder to keep the interest of audience, which makes entertainment industry of Vietnam become well. This is also a good opportunity for young singers in Vietnam to learn how to work and perform professionally (VNexpress.net, 2012). If Vietnamese artists can work more professionally, Vietnamese people will have more qualify entertainment programs.
Similarly to the idea above, we see that comparing to similar products, Korean items have more nice-looking designs, diverse species, and affordable prices (Vccinews.com, 2013). Hence when there are many Korean products on the market, the Vietnamese producers have to compete not only in price but also in quality and designing. Thus it helps Vietnamese consumers using good products with cheaper price. This gives advantages when considering in the perspective of consumers.
Referring to K-Pop, people often think of fans excessively crying, screaming, and fainting when meeting idols. But there are some unknown aspects of K-pop influence. Firstly via admiring the same idol, fans Figure 6 - Super Junior's fan prepare meals
Figure 6 - Super Junior's fan prepare meals are more likely to be closer together. In fact, these fans can talk together for long time about their idols although they live in different areas. Thus thanks to the K-Pop, Vietnamese are more facile to become more active, more widen-mind (dantri.com, n.d.). Moreover nany K-Pop fans are partly contributing good things to the society. Taking fan of the group Super Junior as an example. They had prepared 1,500 meals for poor people or gather garbage at Hoan Kiem Lake (Tiin.vn, n.d.). These fans would like to bring beautiful image about K-Pop fan to people around them. They have already proved that not all fans are obsessed about the idols. The K-Pop fans are also do good things. These activities are not very big, but it partially helps the society and environment in Vietnam.
Hence we can conclude that: admiration idol is a subculture, but crazy about idol is a catastrophe.
2. Reasons makes Korean wave become popular in Vietnam:
The basic and root of the problem is claimed for the globalization. When Vietnam significantly developed economy, society becomes more open, which leads to the fact that the way people entertain will change. It requires higher level of art; and Hallyu can satisfy the demand of the Vietnamese youth.
The next reason can be explain that Korean government is interested in bringing their culture to foreign countries. In addition, Vietnam is opening the gate to communicate with other countries, which creates opportunity for Korean wave coming to Vietnam.
The third reason is that Korean idols are seriously prepared, trained and they are all selfless-attempted. Most of Korean idol are talented – they are able to sing, dance and acting, and good looking (Chung Ly, 2013). This factor attracts Vietnamese fans.
Another vital factor that cannot be dissembled is the marketing strategies of Korean wave to the clients that are professionally done. Also, the power of international communication channel plays an important role; and YouTube is an effective tool helps Hallyu come over the Korean border. It is true because most of Vietnamese fans approach Korean wave via Internet, especially through Facebook, YouTube and Twitter (Chung Ly, 2013).
Finally, it is impossible not to mention about the cultural similarities in Asia, in which South Korea, Japan, China and Vietnam are considered the most similar. This is the area where residents are easily to accept Korean dramas with humanism and unique culture of Asia. Nowadays, the influence of Confucianism and the Confucian values still exist in Vietnam, therefore, when Korean drama exploiting these values, the audiences are receptive (Chung Ly, 2013).
IV. Recommendation:
First of all it is needed to assert that the infiltration of Hallyu is not any individual’s responsibility. The psychology of loving idol changes with age and every age has idol; the difference is how they express to outside. When people are young, they express more passionate, due to the dynamism and they do not determine correctly about idol. Hence parents should try to know about the hobbies of children and help children realize the good side of admiration instead of prohibiting the children’s hobbies. If parents continually impugn the idol or prevent them from admiring idol, it will inadvertently make children feel that their parents did not understand anything. This will eventually create a gap between parents and children that is difficult to break.
Secondly the society should show more moral example on the mass media, which will encourage young people to learn and emulate. This is a good way to help children live in the real world and not be "crazy" on unreal things.
Thirdly it is said that Hallyu becomes much popular in Vietnam a part comes from the media channel of Vietnam. TV channels broadcast Korean dramas, music all the day. In addition newspaper, online papers for the young are filled by news about Korea. Thus the youth are facing Korean world everyday (VNexpress.net, 2011) As a results, affected by Korean of young people is not stranger. To limit this issue, the agencies should provide more domestic entertainment program for young people to enjoy. The programs about soft skills, survival skills or historical researching will be helpful to the young. They will have more play ground to spend time on instead of spending time on idol.
Last but not least, the recommendation for the thought of refers Korean products will be mentioned. To compete with Korean products, Vietnamese producers have to produce goods with high quality. Moreover after-sales service is also an important factor that producers need to care about. Nowadays the after-sales services and activities constitute a relevant profit source as well as a key differentiator for manufacturing companies and resellers (engineerspress.com, 2013). If the domestic products have high quality with acceptable price along with good services, they can keep the loyal customers and compete with Korean products.
V. Conclusion:
Hallyu first was a random phenomenon that broke out in China. It strongly influenced not only among young people but also touched the hearts of millions of Chinese. As for Vietnam, Hallyu influenced to Vietnamese later than in China but it was also very deep. This wave gives both positive and negative impacts to the Vietnamese youth. The root causes of the Hallyu’s popularity in Vietnam can be claimed for globalization as well as the demands of residents and cultural similarity. To handle the over-expressed of Vietnamese fans toward Korean stars, it needs help from every individual, families and the whole society. In conclusion when people call it is a wave, it will sometimes go up and sometimes go down. Although Hallyu is extremely popular now, it may declines one day. Hence in near future, Vietnam may probably adapt and adopt a new trend, which will not from Korea anymore.
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