K-Pop Concept Analysis in China: The Intellectual Discourse and Feminist Critical Interpretations

This honors thesis examines the creative authorship and active spectatorship of Korean popular music (hereafter, K-pop) concepts (keonsep). The first chapter tackles two main issues with the existing scholarship and the general public’s understanding of the term, “concept.” First, because its definition remains vague and constantly varies as the field develops, a thorough study of the word’s use and the transformations should be conducted in order to come up with a precise set of definitions. Second, the seemingly increasing homogeneity in the globalized online world often overshadows regional differences. As the Korean word keonsep is a transliteration from English, it is taken for granted by many that concept’s meaning is identical across various areas. On the contrary, this project adopts a nuanced approach to contextualize the notion of “concept” based on cultural specificity, with a strong emphasis on China. The Chinese fans’ interpretations are particularly worth studying for 1) China has one of the largest populations of K-pop followers; 2) Korean content has been banned in the country since the 2016 geopolitical dispute between the U.S., South Korea, and China. Oftentimes caught between the nationalism-vs.-idol conflict, the Chinese K-pop fans curiously developed an abstruse yet welcomed discourse that interprets transmedial K-pop content through the lens of intellectual theories, i.e., scholarships by Lacon or Foucault. For young Chinese audiences unfamiliar with these theories, following K-pop concepts has been turned into a way to approach the profound, once-intimidating ideas. This study provides five main angles to explain this popular phenomenon: fan influencers’ leadership, the unique ecologies of Chinese popular media, China’s new Mandarin language education, problems with the domestic idol industry, and the Sino-Korea geopolitical tensions that urgently demand one to justify their passion for K-pop. The second chapter turns to audience studies and integrates this field with the discoveries about the recent feminist movement in China. It explores the critical (negative) online interpretations of K-pop media content by Chinese feminist video makers. With a survey of feminism’s transformations in China, this chapter reveals that K-pop (pseudo-)feminist concept analysis creates a space–a subaltern counterpublic–for Chinese audiences to freely debate over female agency and representations. Moreover, Bilibili’s promotion of knowledge-category video productions pushes the content on this popular video platform to package itself as enlightening and critical, thus further accelerating the creation of critical interpretations among Chinese feminists who engage with K-pop.