NewJeans Participates in Ministry of Culture's 'Hanji Promotion'
Chinese Netizens Criticize "Papermaking Technique Belongs to China"
"Is the Smartphone American?" Rebuttal Also Raised
The idol group 'NewJeans' is suffering from malicious comments by Chinese netizens simply because they filmed a promotional video about Hanji.
On the 6th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Craft & Design Foundation (hereinafter referred to as KCDF) released the main promotional video featuring NewJeans as part of the '2022 Hallyu-linked Collaborative Content Planning and Development Support in the Hanji Field' project.
Released on KCDF's YouTube channel, the video includes a talk show where NewJeans members discuss Hanji, scenes of NewJeans members making Hanji themselves with national intangible cultural asset Hanji master An Chi-yong, and the members selecting fresh flowers to create flower Hanji.
After the video was released, some Chinese netizens left malicious comments on NewJeans' Instagram, claiming "papermaking technology belongs to China." One Chinese netizen posted, "Papermaking technology was invented in China and spread worldwide," adding, "Hanji is completely nonsense."
Another netizen wrote, "When Wang Xizhi existed, your Paocai country did not."
Korean netizens responded with disbelief to the sudden criticism from Chinese netizens. Soon, a dispute began in the comment section of NewJeans' Instagram between Korean and Chinese netizens.
In response to the unexpected criticism from Chinese netizens, a Korean netizen argued, "They were just promoting traditional Korean paper." Another wrote, "You bring up Wang Xizhi just because they posted a Hanji promotional video? If you have any sense, when promoting an airline, you don't bring up the Wright brothers," and "Who said papermaking technology originated in China? They were simply promoting traditional Korean paper."
Another netizen commented, "Most Koreans know that papermaking technology was invented in China. NewJeans was merely promoting Korea's traditional paper-making method. If you have complaints, China can promote Chinese paper using Chinese celebrities, so why take it out on innocent Korean celebrities?" Other comments included, "China should never advertise domestic smartphones in the future. Smartphones were invented in the U.S., after all."
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