British Museum Changes 'Korean New Year' to 'Chinese New Year' Amid Chinese Criticism

Used 'Korean Lunar New Year' in Event Description and Faced Backlash
Two Days Later, SNS Post Celebrated 'Chinese New Year'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyun-jung] The British Museum, which suffered indiscriminate comment attacks from Chinese netizens after using the expression 'Korean Lunar New Year' in a social networking service (SNS) post, hastily changed its stance and posted another post using 'Chinese New Year,' engaging in what appears to be 'appeasing China.' The British Museum, located in Bloomsbury, London, is the largest national public museum in the UK.

On the 22nd (local time), the British Museum posted a picture of a Qing Dynasty woman holding a rabbit on various SNS platforms, tagging it with 'Chinese New Year' in the hashtags. Not only that, but in the statement provided to the media, the museum also used the term 'Chinese New Year' instead of 'Lunar New Year.' A museum spokesperson said, "We hold events at the museum and wish for good things in the new year on online platforms, celebrating 'Chinese New Year' both domestically and globally."

SNS post of the British Museum. The hashtag included "Chinese New Year."
Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier, on the evening of the 20th, the British Museum promoted an event titled 'Celebrating Seollal (Seol-nal)' featuring Korean traditional music and dance performances and explanations by Korean gallery curators, using the phrase 'Korean Lunar New Year' in the promotional text. This led to a barrage of terror-level comment attacks from Chinese netizens. Angry Chinese netizens posted comments such as 'Chinese New Year' as a baseline, and sarcastic remarks like "A prestigious museum is helping Korea steal Chinese culture," and "Soon it will be called Merry Koriamas (Korea + Christmas)."

However, unlike the British Museum, the UK government used the term 'Lunar New Year.' UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, at a Lunar New Year event held at the Prime Minister's Office last week, invited Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese dignitaries and referred to the celebration as 'Lunar New Year' in his speech. Korea, Vietnam, and China all use the lunar calendar system based on the moon's phases and celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Professor Seo Kyung-deok: "The British Museum surrendered to indiscriminate attacks by Chinese netizens"

As the British Museum quickly changed its stance, Professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women's University said on SNS on the 23rd, "The British Museum has essentially surrendered to the indiscriminate attacks by Chinese netizens," adding, "They were probably scared because it was their first experience with the typical behavior of Chinese netizens who have no logic and only make unreasonable claims." He continued, "As a world-renowned museum, they should have acted more rationally, which is unfortunate," and added, "Honestly, it's an embarrassing measure."

Meanwhile, Professor Seo also reported that, based on tips from netizens, six out of twenty English Premier League clubs, including Manchester City and Arsenal, celebrated 'Chinese New Year' on their SNS accounts. He stated, "Soon, I will send protest emails to the British Museum and each Premier League club, asserting that the correct term is 'Lunar New Year,' not 'Chinese New Year,' to ensure that such incidents do not happen again."