Cultural battle behind the British Museum’s ‘Korean Lunar New Year’ controversy – BBC News 中文

“Isn’t it stealing to put your own country’s name on it despite adopting the traditional Chinese calendar?” another netizen questioned.

According to reports, some Chinese students went to the British Museum on Friday (January 20) to “correct” the history of Chinese New Year for passers-by.

Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, originates from a traditional Chinese festival calculated on the lunar calendar, and is also widely celebrated in South Korea, Vietnam and other Asian countries.

However, there are also some netizens who have a different opinion, and they think that there is no need to make a fuss.

“The Lunar New Year is originally celebrated by many countries. This event is a Korean band event, so it is not a problem to add South Korea, just like Christmas, there is a Russian Christmas and American Christmas,” a netizen wrote.

According to the event introduction, this celebration of the Lunar New Year mainly includes performances of traditional Korean music and dance, as well as explanations from the curator of the Korean Pavilion.

According to reports, the event is sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The post has now been removed after a flood of criticism flooded the British Museum’s social media accounts. A link to the British Museum website also appears to be inaccessible. However, South Korean media reported that the British Museum held the event as scheduled.

The British Museum told the BBC that the event was a performance of Korean music and dance with the aim of “presenting the traditions of the Lunar New Year celebrations in Korea”.

“We are celebrating Chinese New Year with UK and international audiences, including events with the local community within the museum, and wider wishes for the year across our online platforms,” ​​said a spokesperson.

Behind the incident at the British Museum is an increasingly contentious Chinese New Year “name battle” on the Internet, including whether the traditional festival should be called “Lunar New Year” in English or ” Chinese New Year”?

“Lunar New Year” literally translates as “Lunar New Year”, and is generally used to refer to “Lunar New Year”, while “Chinese New Year” means “Chinese New Year”. Although there is only one word difference, in the eyes of many people, these two words are very different.

Earlier this month, Disneyland Resort (Disneyland Resort) tweeted that people are welcome to come to Disney to taste unique food during the Lunar New Year. But because he used “Lunar New Year” instead of “Chinese New Year,” he received a lot of critical comments that seemed to be from Chinese netizens.

“There has never been a Lunar New Year, it has always been a Chinese New Year, for thousands of years,” wrote one netizen.

Chinese actor Wang Hedi also got into trouble because of this. When his personal clothing brand “Desirable D” posted Chinese New Year greetings on Instagram, using the phrase “Lunar New Year,” his account was quickly taken over by angry Chinese netizens.

The brand quickly deleted the post and republished one that read “Chinese New Year.”

On the other hand, Danielle, a member of the Korean girl group “New Jeans”, is facing the exact opposite crisis. When the Korean-Australian singer used the phrase “Chinese New Year” in a message to her fans, she was immediately slammed by South Korean netizens.

Danielle later wrote in an apology statement: “Chinese New Year is a holiday in many countries and regions, including my country. My expression was inappropriate and I deeply reflect on it.”

Dali L. Yang, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, told BBC Chinese that the debate is rooted in cultural sensitivity in a multicultural and transnational context.

“Although it is Lunar New Year (actually Lunar) in Han areas, people living in non-Han areas and other countries may have different traditions and cultures, which naturally need some recognition, ” he said.

Zhuang Jiaying, associate professor of the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore, also has a similar opinion. He told BBC Chinese that Lunar New Year is a broad term that “describes a time of celebration, not something to do”.

He believes that although the Lunar New Year originated in China, the celebrations are different in different places, and therefore have different names.

“For example, the Vietnamese calendar regards the next year as the Year of the Cat, while in other regions it is the Year of the Rabbit. Celebrations can also change. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan moved their New Year away from the lunar calendar ,” Chong said.

In 2019, the city government of Sydney, Australia announced that it would change the local “Chinese New Year” to “Lunar New Year”. Authorities said the name change was a national effort to make the festival more inclusive. Previously, Korean, Vietnamese and other non-Chinese communities had been calling for the name to be changed.

Due to the deep historical ties between China and South Korea, the cases of netizens from the two countries fighting for a cultural connection in recent years are not limited to the Lunar New Year. Both sides often accuse the other of “cultural theft” in online forums, sometimes along with rumors and nationalist sentiment shared by both countries.

For example, there have always been rumors on the Chinese Internet that “Korea preemptively registers the Dragon Boat Festival”, but in fact, South Korea’s declaration of intangible cultural heritage to the United Nations is a specific celebration in the Gangneung district of Gangwon. -do, South Korea-Gangneung Dragon Boat Festival.

Last year, at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, a female performer dressed in traditional Korean clothing appeared as a representative of China’s ethnic minorities in a Chinese flag-passing segment, which caused an uproar in South Korea.

South Korean politicians and the public criticized this as tantamount to advocating that Hanbok is Chinese culture. China responded that it was “their wish and right” for representatives of different ethnic groups in China to wear traditional costumes at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, while repeating that the costumes are also part of Chinese culture.

In 2020, South Korea and China will also launch a war of words over ownership of the international standard of kimchi.

“I think there is too much nationalism here, probably fueled by social media,” Chong said. “An intense political debate involving tradition, history and nationalism strengthens the belief in the need to claim social and cultural icons.”

However, Professor Zhuang said that this is not only between South Korea and China, there are similar disputes in other countries such as Southeast Asia. For example, there are also debates among the population of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia about the origin of certain dishes and folk songs.

“But these arguments tend to be softer – possibly reflecting less friction and tension between these countries,” he said.