The returning of Hallyu in China: transnational reception of the Korean drama My Love from the Star

Abstract

My Love from the Star, the hit Korean drama has led to the revival of the Hallyu boom in China in 2013. After conducting a textual analysis of 100 reviews on Douban, the results of this study indicate that urban middle class audiences in China are attracted by the beauty of the actors and the conservative romantic storyline, and admire individual pursuits of free love and career success depicted in the drama. However, they are dissatisfied with the stereotypical gender relations and criticize the drama’s aim of securing the submission of women to male domination. The results illustrate that cultural proximity is not only related to the audiences’ cultural background, but also determined by the social class and lived experiences. As the major consumers of Hallyu 2.0 have switched to the open-minded young generation, the production of Korean dramas which maintains the traditional patriarchal ideologies is facing challenges ahead.