1. INTRODUCTION

China has used the terms ‘Korean Wave’ and ‘anti-Korean Wave.’ At present, three Korean genres play an important role in the Korean Wave in China: young teen to thirty-something centered dramas (from historical to trendy drama), idol groups with powerful raps and dynamic, dancing centered K-pop (from HOT to Psy and EXO-M), and Chinese type entertainment programs, such as travel and audition programs that have recorded high ratings.

2013 was the year when Korean pop culture became popular in China again. Broadcasting two K-dramas, The Heirs and My Love from the Star, on online video sites, importing the format of nine Korean entertainment programs in total, and broadcasting them on Chinese provincial satellite TV resulted in high popularity. Chinese provincial satellite TV imported the format of Korean programs and broadcast Chinese versions in 2013: MBC’s I am a Singer (Hunan TV), Dad! Where are We Going (Hunan TV), SBS’s K-Pop Star (Shandong TV), Miracle Audition (Chongqing TV), KBS’s Immortal Song: Singing the Legend (Dongfang TV), tvN’s Super Diva (Dongfang TV), KBS’s 1 Night 2 Days (Sichuan TV), tvN’s The Romantic (Guizhou TV)，and Mnet’s Super Star K (Hubei TV). Four Korean programs have been chosen for importation, but have not yet been broadcast.

The popularity of Korean pop culture is revealed in the continued use of the term ‘Korean Wave’ for more than 10 years. It has spread, and changed the users, genres, usage, and behaviors of the consumption of Korean pop culture. It is centered on dramas, K-pop, entertainment programs, and Korean Wave stars, and continues to grow. This recent phenomenon has expanded and developed types from the earlier period of the Korean Wave. During the first Korean Wave (from 1997 to the early 2000s), soap operas were popular among middle-aged women; during the second period (from the mid-2000s to 2010), K-pop was popular; and in the third period (after 2010), the Korean Wave star centered dramas, dancing idol centered K-pop, and Chinese versions of Korean TV programs formed the Korean Wave, and have been popular with Chinese youths in their teens and those in their twenties.

The previous study [1] - [5] regarded the spread of the Korean Wave to be the result of changes in the media environment and the development of cultural proximity. Interms of cultural proximity, the Korean Wave could easily be diffused in Asia, similar to the cultural spread of Confucianism, where local, cultural, and linguistic proximity allow Korean popular culture to be easily transmitted and assimilated. In addition, with Social Networking Services (SNSs), such as Twitter, accelerating the effects of the Internet and the rapid changes of the media environment, the Korean Wave spread toward the middle of Asia, South America, Europe, and beyond.

This study aims to investigate Korean pop culture in terms of usage behaviors, preferred genres, and the relationship between the motivations and behaviors of Korean pop culture use and the Korean image by genre, with a focus on Chinese students who are in their teens and twenties.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Korean Popular Culture in China

Because of the value shift among the Chinese people and the diffusion of the Western style taste for consumption in the 1990s, the reception of Korean pop culture starting from the end of 1990s appeared as a flow of foreign pop culture. Multicultural China, with 56 racial cultures, is composed of different cultures, religions, and races, but they coexist and communicate in one national system. This means China has an open attitude to accepting other cultures. Therefore, these characteristics have contributed significantly to the reception of the Korean Wave. More than forty national television channels [6] and high rates of dissemination also form part of the background of the Korean Wave.

Rapid changes in the media environment, such as online video sites, greatly affected the influence of the Korean Wave on the young generation of Chinese: they prefer Korean pop culture because of similarities to traditional Chinese culture, the freedom and refinement of Western culture, as well as its nonexclusive social and cultural background. In addition, Korean pop culture is preferred not only because of its characteristics but also its production system. For example, K-drama has a special system, which broadcasts and produces simultaneously, and has the power to engage an audience because viewers’ responses can be reflected immediately, which is different from Chinese dramas with preparatory production systems. K-pop is especially popular with younger demographics. It includes dynamic and brilliant dancing, groups with Chinese members that also reflect Chinese glocalization, and it embraces diversity, so that both the group as a whole and the individual members have unique identities and fan bases.

Previous studies of the Korean Wave have two perspectives: the first is the economic perspective, which focuses on discovering the reasons for the diffusion of the Korean Wave and the factors influencing its competitiveness in cultural industries and products. The second is the cultural perspective, which analyzes characteristics of Korean pop culture in terms of the audiences’ positions. For example, this perspective uses cultural proximity [1] - [3] and cultural hybridity [7] - [9] or the study of fans [10] - [12] to explain the Korean Wave.

2.2 Online Video Sites: New Usage Space for Korean Pop Culture

According to the development of Information Communication Technology (ICT), the importance of the Internet for various industries has been expanding. Wireless Internet service has been extensively increased by the popularity of Smartphones, and a new media paradigm is rapidly evolving to meet the changes in Internet accessibility [13]. SNSs, such as Twitter, YouTube, etc., have especially increased the influence of the Internet and contributed to its spread to places such as South America, the middle of Asia, Europe, etc. But, in reality, it is difficult to use the services provided by Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in China. Instead, Tencent, Sina Weibo, and Baidu provide service to the Chinese people and, as a result, they have a large number of users, which means that the diffusion of the Korean Wave is not by SNS in the case of China.

The associations between content and services and the evolution of platforms mean not only the development of simple media devices, but also changes in the media and use environment since users can have access to services wherever and whenever they wish. The development of new functions for mobile devices, the rapid speed of wireless Internet, and new video software have caused rapid growth in online videos [14].

There are Chinese video websites, such as Youtu, Tudou, Soho TV, iQiyi, Xunlei TV, Tencent TV, LeTV, PPTV, etc. in China. The top ten Korean pop culture videos on the main Chinese online video sites (Youku, Tudou, iQiyi, Sohu, and PPTV) on 15 May 2014 include as follows: for dramas, Doctor Stranger (SBS), My Love from the Star (SBS); for K-pop, EXO-M’s Overdose, T-ara’s No.9, Jiyoung Baek’s Flash Back; and for entertainment programs, Superman is Back (KBS), Roommate (SBS), Chinese version Dad! Where are We Going? (Hunan satellite TV), Super Diva (Dongfang satellite TV), etc. [15] - [18].

There were 618 million (45.8% of the total population) Internet users and 500 million (81.0% of Internet users) PC and Smartphone users in China in 2013. Of these users, there were 4, 002,800 (69.3% of Internet users) online video users and 2, 004,669 (49.3%) mobile online video users. Internet users consisted of age 10-19 (24.1%), age 20-29 (31.2%), and middle and high school education (31.2%) and over college (20.9%) [19]. Chinese teens and twenty year olds consume the most pop culture and entertainment, quickly accept new cultural products, and have a relatively high frequency rate for using new media. Korean pop culture seems to play an important role in forming a Korean image for the younger generation of Chinese.

This present study empirically investigates how Chinese teens and twenty-somethings consume Korean pop culture. It also explores how motives and behaviors of Korean pop culture use and Korean image significantly affect preferred genres. To examine the relationship between motives and behaviors of Korean pop culture use and Korean image, this study begins by identifying the motives and behaviors of Chinese students that are satisfied by using Korean pop culture. One way to explore the motives and behaviors is to apply the uses and gratifications (U&G) approach. The U&G approach has always provided a cutting-edge theoretical approach in the initial stages of each new mass communications medium: newspapers, radio and television, and now the Internet [20]. This approach suggests the relationship between an individual’s needs and media use [21]. Rubin [22] suggested that audience activity is not an absolute concept, but a variable one [20]. Therefore, we have constructed three research questions:

3. METHOD

To measure use behaviors of Korean pop culture, we drew up a questionnaire for usage time, usage device, usage media, etc. after a pilot survey. The motives of Korean pop culture use were determined using 16 items after referring to related papers and modifying and adding components. The study on the viewing motives and behaviors of the audience of Japanese dramas [23] was composed of items such as information motives, communication motives, trend motives, sociability motives, interest motives, personal motives, etc. The study on the relationship between the viewing behaviors of Korean TV dramas and attitudes about Korea and the Korean Wave [24] was composed of viewing motives, such as information, leading trend, interesting story, entertainment, passing the time, etc.

The behaviors of Korean pop culture use were measured with 13 items to explore how Chinese students use and behave in relation to Korean pop culture [25]. Korean image after using Korean pop culture was assessed using 21 items [24], [26]. For example, “Korea is a culturally close nation,” “Korea is a nation that considers courtesy important,” “Korea is a nation that has strong nationalism and ethnic pride,” “Korea is an economically rich nation,” “Korea has a high standard of living,” “Korea is not a rival but a partner,” and “Korea is an open nation.” The scale used in the analysis ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

A survey was conducted on high school students and college and graduate school students in Beijing, China from 24 to 28 June 2013. A total of 300 respondents participated in the survey, and data from 289 students were used for analysis (101 men and 188 women). The age of the respondents ranged from 15 to 29 years (M = 20.10; SD = 2.07).

Frequency analysis was used for exploring the characteristics of respondents and usage time, preferred genres, and preferred online video sites. Factor analysis for motives and behaviors of Korean pop culture use and correlation analysis for the relationship between motives and behaviors and Korean image were employed. In the current study, the measurements of motives, behaviors, and Korean image showed good internal consistency, with alpha coefficients of 0.97, 0.95, and 0.98, respectively (Table 1).

Table 1.Measurement Items’ Reliability

The motives for Korean pop culture use were determined by asking respondents how well each of the statements corresponded to their own motives for Korean pop culture use. Sixteen items were scored on a five-point scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). Sixteen items were borrowed from Sun’s [23] motives of Japanese dramas, Soh’s [27] motives of American television programss, and Cai’s [28] motives of Korean and Chinese dramas. These measures were based on the media genre use motive scales that had been validated in previous studies. Since the measures were borrowed from different genre motive scales, the principal components were analyzed using factor analysis with varimax rotation to uncover any possible underlying component structure. Sixteen items were divided into two factors, summed, and averaged to create two different types of Korean pop culture motives: longing for Korean culture and stars, and rest-relaxation. In an earlier study, the measurements showed good reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.73 for longing for Korean culture and stars, and 0.71 for rest-relaxation [27]. In the present study, the measurements of longing for Korean culture and stars, and restrelaxation motives showed good internal consistency, with alpha coefficients of 0.97 and 0.87, respectively.

4. RESULTS

4.1 Characteristics of Korean Pop Culture Users

The study analyzed 289 responses, of which 34.9% were from men and 65.1% were from women, which showed a higher participation rate among women. The average age was 20.1 years, and most of the respondents were in their teens and twenties. In terms of education, there were 99 high school students (34.3%) and 190 college and graduate school students (65.7%).

In order to explore cultural proximity, they were asked whether they had visited Korea, the purpose for the visit, and the length of the visit. Of the respondents, 75 (26.3%) had visited Korea and 213 (73.7%) had not. Of those who had visited, the purpose of the visit was categorized based on trip (58.3%), study (40.3%), and employment (1.4%). Other purposes included workshops, fieldwork, etc. For the amount of time spent in Korea, responses were less than six months (80.6%), six months to one year (16.7%), one year to less than two years (0.0%), two years to less than three years (0.0%), and more than three years (2.8%).

Table 2.Descriptives of Korean Pop Culture Users

4.2 Usage Behaviors of Korean Pop Culture Users

Respondents were asked about their usage of Chinese online video sites for Korean pop culture with the multiple response: Youku 184 (30.2%), Baidu 149 (24.5%), Tudou 130 (21.3%), Sohu 68 (11.2%), PPTV 67 (11.0%), others 11 (1.8%).

Table 3.Frequency of Chinese Online Video Sites Use

The usage time of Korean pop culture per day (M=1.4, SD=0.96) was ranked by less 1 hour (56.3%), 1–3 hours (31.5%), 3–5 hours (7.9%), and more than 5 hours (4.3%). Media and genres that the respondents frequently used were collected using multiple responses. The participants used Korean pop culture regularly through their PC (personal and portable, 32.7%), Smartphones (26.3%), television (including IPTV, 24.1%), and tablets (16.9%). Respondents using PCs and Smartphones formed the largest groups, and television ranked third. The genres of Korean pop culture that the respondents preferred were diverse, ranging from drama to animation (Table 4).

Table 4.Use Behaviors of Korean Pop Culture

RQ 1: What motives and behaviors motivate Chinese students to use Korean pop culture by genre?

4.3 Preference for Korean Pop Culture by Genre

Crosstabs analysis was used to compare motives and behaviors of Korean pop culture use by genre. In terms of differences between the age groups, twenties often had higher usage rates than those in their teenagers (dramas 69.4%, K-pop 63.3%, and entertainment programs 67.1%). College and graduate school students also had higher rates than high school students. Usage device ranked in the following order: PC, Smartphone, television (including IPTV), and tablet for dramas, K-pop, and entertainment programs.

Table 5.Characteristics of Users and Use Behaviors by Genre

4.4 Motivations and Behaviors for Using Korean Pop Culture

Factor analysis extracted two factors for the motivation for Korean pop culture use: longing for Korean culture and stars and rest-relaxation. The longing for Korean culture stars motivation includes the following: “to get special content,” “to communicate with others,” “to get interesting stories,” “see high-quality Korean pop culture,” “to learn the Korean language,” “to see Korean culture that is not different from Chinese culture,” “to watch Korean pop culture,” “I long for Korean culture,” “to follow the Korean trend,” “to see actors (or actresses), singers, and entertainers who perform well,” “to know Korean culture,” “to see actors (or actresses), singers, and entertainers I like,” “to search for Korean information,” and “to study the Korean language because of my major.” The other factor is the rest-relaxation motivation, with three items: “to take a rest,” “to pass time,” and “to use Korean popular culture habitually.”

Table 6.Motivations for Using Korean Pop Culture

There were two use behaviors for Korean pop culture: active practices and complete immersion. Behaviors for Korean pop culture use included 13 items. Active practices motivations for use behaviors contain: “I have participated in online fan clubs and many activities,” “I have purchased DVDs, OSTs, CDs, etc. related to dramas, music, and TV programs,” “I actively search and use popular program lists,” “I have visited Korea to see concerts or performances,” “I have registered with a related online fan club,” “I have visited filming locations for dramas in Korea,” “I have translated Korean dramas using Chinese and uploaded them, or uploaded related photos,” “I collect information about scripts, stars, directors, etc.” The other motivations for use behaviors included: “I accidently find dramas, songs, and programs online and intensively view or listen to them,” “I use my friends’ downloaded dramas, songs, and entertainment programs,” “I watch recent popular TV programs, etc. online,” “I download dramas, etc. online and watch them,” and “I concentrate on viewing dramas or listening to songs, not engaging in the two simultaneously.”

Table 7.Behaviors for Using Korean Pop Culture

4.5 Motivations and Behaviors for Using Korean Pop Culture by Genre

There was only a small difference between the longing for Korean culture stars motivation and the rest-relaxation motivation. The complete immersion motive (2.57) was higher than the active practices motive (1.80). A variance analysis (ANOVA) was conducted to investigate the difference between use motives and use behaviors of Korean pop culture by genre. The result showed that there was a significant difference between the factors by genre. Entertainment programs received the highest score in the longing for Korean culture and stars motivation, followed by rest-relaxation motivation, and active practices behaviors. In complete immersion, dramas, entertainment programs, and K-pop ranked highest.

Table 8.Motivations and Behaviors for Using Korean Pop Culture by Genre

RQ 2: How are Chinese students’ motives and behaviors of Korean pop culture use related to Korean image?

A correlation analysis was conducted to answer RQ2 (Table 9). All the motives ranging from longing for Korean culture and stars to complete immersion had significant positive associations with Korean image. Complete immersion motivation (β = 0.74, p < 0.01) had a higher positive relation than active practices motivation (β = 0.52, p < 0.01) and Korean image motivation (β = 0.70, p < 0.01).

Table 9.**p < 0.01 (1=Longing for Korean culture and stars, 2=Rest-Relaxation, 3=Active practices, 4= Complete immersion, 5=Korean image)

RQ 3: How do Chinese students’ motives and behaviors of Korean pop culture use and Korean image affect preferred genres?

4.6 The Influence of Motives and Behaviors for Using Korean Pop Culture and Korean Image

In order to explore the effects between use motivation, use behaviors, and the Korean image for Korean pop culture, a multiple regression analysis was conducted. The explanation of the regression model was very high at 88.0%, and all four motives had a positive influence on Korean image. Longing for Korean culture and stars as a use motivation (0.42) and complete immersion of use behaviors (0.47) had a more significant influence than the rest-relaxation motive (0.02) and active practices behavior (0.09).

Table 10.**p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001

4.7 Factors Influencing Korean Pop Culture Use by Genre

The analysis showed significant differences in motivations for watching dramas and entertainment programs. The longing for Korean culture and stars motivation had positive effects on dramas and TV shows, and a negative influence on K-pop. The complete immersion motivation had a significant role in dramas and K-pop, and longing for Korean culture and stars for entertainment programs. Of the demographic variables, education showed a significant effect on dramas; the use level of college and graduate school students was greater than that of high school students in regards to dramas. For K-pop, the degree of significance was relatively lower than that of dramas and entertainment programs.

Table 11.#p < 0.10, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001

5. DISCUSSION

While the Korean Wave originated in China, it also co-existed simultaneously with the anti-Korean Wave. The current study aims to explore use behaviors of Korean pop culture by genre, how Korean pop culture affects Korean image, and to estimate the present state of the Korean Wave. By comparing recent use behaviors of Korean pop culture with the most popular genres, dramas, K-pop, and entertainment programs, this study confirmed the differences in the use of Korean pop culture. Additionally, we analyzed use motivation and its differences in Korean pop culture by genre.

The results showed online video sites frequently using Korean pop culture: Youku (30.2%), Baidu (24.5%), Tudou (21.3%), Sohu (11.2%), PPTV (11.0%), and others (1.8%). The TV-ization of giant online video sites is proceeding at a rapid speed. These sites produce the videos themselves, instead of outsourcing production [29], which has the advantage of low investment expense, high profits and mutual relations between the video sites and the audiences, and flexibility.

In terms of age difference in the preferred genres, twenties had higher consumption percentages than those in their teenagers (dramas 69.4%, K-pop 63.3%, and entertainment programs 67.1%). College and graduate school students had higher rates than high school students. For usage device, PC ranked first, followed by Smartphones, television (including IPTV), and tablets in the categories of dramas, K-pop, and entertainment programs. Here, television likely ranked third, which means television is still important media for using Korean pop culture, although television includes IPTV in this paper.

All the motives ranging from longing for Korean culture stars to complete immersion had significant positive associations with Korean image. The complete immersion motivation (β = 0.74, p < 0.01) had a higher positive relationship than active practices motivation (β = 0.52, p < 0.01) and Korean image motivation (β = 0.70, p < 0.01).

There was a minor difference between the longing for Korean culture and stars motivation and the rest-relaxation motivation. The complete immersion motive (2.57) had a higher score than the active practices motive (1.80). A variance analysis (ANOVA) was conducted to investigate the difference between the motives and behaviors of Korean pop culture use by genre. The result showed that there was a significant difference between factors by genre. The entertainment programs category had the highest score in the longing for Korean culture and stars motivation, followed by rest-relaxation motivation, and active practices behaviors. For complete immersion, dramas, entertainment programs, and K-pop ranked in this order.

The relationship between motives and behaviors of Korean pop culture use and Korean image showed that the longing for Korean culture stars motivation had a positive influence on dramas and entertainment programs, while it had negative influence on K-pop. This means that users listened to K-pop for rest-relaxation, not because of the longing for Korean culture stars motivation. It is interesting that longing for Korean culture and stars was the most significant factor influencing the use of entertainment programs. Recently, the main themes of TV entertainment programs include caring for children and travel with family, friends, and the old and the young. In terms of the characteristics of users, there was a difference in their education: high school students had a significant preference for K-pop and entertainment programs, and college and graduate school students preferred K-drama.

In order to explore the relationship between the motivations and behaviors of Korean pop culture use and Korean image, a multiple regression analysis was conducted. The explanation of the regression model was very high at 88.0%, and all four motives had a positive influence on Korean image. The longing for Korean culture and stars use motivation (0.42) and complete immersion of use behaviors (0.47) had a more significant influence than the rest-relaxation motive (0.02) and active practices behavior (0.09).

Based on these results, more effective market strategies should be employed in exporting Korean pop culture by genre. In addition, more case studies on teenagers and those in their twenties who are attracted to Korean pop culture should be conducted. The purpose of this study is not simply to explore motivations, behaviors, and the image of Korean pop culture use, but to focus on how various factors influence each other and to empirically investigate the effects of the relationship between use motives, use behaviors, and Korean image.

Given the nature of the survey sample used in this study, the findings cannot be generalized to all Chinese high school and college students. However, this study can be viewed as a case study that identifies the main users of Korean pop culture: Chinese students living in Beijing and frequently using online video sites for Korean pop culture. Future research can explore Korean pop culture use in other contexts, communities, groups, and places in China. Another limitation is that the present study lacks a description of specific online responses to enhance the market strategy for Korean pop culture. However, the study is still significant as it addresses the needs and behaviors of Korean pop culture use that influence the national image. In fact, it would be valuable to identify the specific national image in future research. Finally, future research needs to expand the target users and compare Korean pop culture with the use of other foreign pop culture. In addition, the Korean image in the Chinese media, including newspapers, television, and web portals, needs to be analyzed and compared with that of Chinese audiences.