Domestic Shopping Malls Introducing Hanbok as Chinese Traditional Costume 'Hanfu'

Many Online Shopping Malls... "Tang Dynasty Style Hanbok"
"Could Provide China an Excuse... Urging Prompt Correction"

There has been criticism that a famous domestic online shopping mall is introducing Korea's hanbok as China's traditional clothing, hanfu (漢服).

On the 16th, Professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women's University stated on social networking services (SNS), "When searching for hanbok on a famous domestic online shopping mall, I found many cases where it was introduced and sold as hanfu," adding, "Especially selling it as 'Tang Dynasty style hanbok' is truly absurd."

The appearance of domestic online shopping malls introducing Hanbok as the Chinese traditional clothing 'Hanfu'.
[Photo by Professor Seokyung Deok's Facebook]

He said, "After investigating more than 30 major domestic online shopping malls, we found hanbok being introduced and sold as hanfu on Coupang, TMON, Interpark, Gmarket, OK, 11st, Naver Shopping, Daum Shoppinghow, and others," urging "a prompt correction." However, he clarified, "Of course, this is not to say that Chinese-style clothing should not be sold, but since hanbok and hanfu are different garments, they should be clearly distinguished when sold."

Professor Seo emphasized, "Most online shopping malls only provide the platform," but added, "At the very least, they should pay attention through monitoring to prevent such incidents from occurring. These situations give China another excuse." He continued, "Recently, China has been making unfounded claims that our hanbok originated from hanfu," and noted, "Last year's Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony caused a big controversy due to the appearance of hanbok."

Previously, at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony, a woman representing the Korean ethnic minority among the 56 ethnic groups, the Joseonjok, appeared wearing hanbok, which sparked issues. They performed a ceremony passing the Chinese national flag, the Five-star Red Flag, and the woman wearing hanbok was dressed in a pink skirt and white jeogori, with long hair decorated with a pink daenggi.

[Photo by Professor Seokyungdeok Facebook]

When domestic backlash spread at the time, the Chinese Embassy in Korea stated, "Traditional culture (hanbok) belongs to the Korean Peninsula and also to the Chinese Joseonjok, so the so-called 'cultural engineering' or 'cultural theft' cannot be established at all," adding, "China respects Korea's historical and cultural traditions, and hopes Korea will also respect the feelings of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, including the Joseonjok."

Regarding this, Professor Seo said, "The Chinese Embassy is greatly mistaken. Koreans are not just angry about the hanbok that appeared at the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony," but "because China has already carried out too many 'hanbok engineering' acts."

Previously, Baidu Encyclopedia, China's largest portal site, introduced hanbok as "Joseonjok clothing," and Xiaomi's smartphone wallpaper store introduced hanbok as "Chinese culture," causing controversy. In February last year, the famous American fashion magazine Vogue published a photo shoot featuring a Chinese model wearing hanbok, claiming that "hanbok was influenced by hanfu," which also sparked debate.