(NEWS UPDATE USA FAST)-- Let me first point out that I am not Chinese.
Due to my job, I just happen to be in contact with and regularly converse with all types of Chinese people.
As such, I know some of what they truly think.
The Chinese have some very different concepts about Koreans, note, I am referring to South Korea, not North Korea.
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| What do you honestly think most Chinese really think of Koreans, and why? |
1. Chinese attention on South Korea
Obviously, the Chinese people are not the first to pay attention to South Korea. The country which China pays most attention to is always the United States, and the others are not worth mentioning. Maybe Russia can also occupy part of the Chinese people's vision, but believe me, the United States accounts for at least 70% of the Chinese people's attention.
But it is not all irrelevant to South Korea. Compared with many countries which Chinese people cannot name, they actually pay relatively good attention to South Korea. Almost everybody knows where South Korea is, its capital being Seoul, and people know they like to eat kimchi.
2. Emotions of Chinese people towards South Korea
Chinese attitudes toward South Korea are pretty unfavorable. In most conversations, an ordinary Chinese person will express disdain for South Korea. Note that I used the word "contempt". instead of "hate". The Chinese don't hate Korea at all, or they think Korea is not worth using this word at all.
Chinese sentiment towards South Korea: contempt
Chinese sentiment towards Japan: feud
Chinese sentiment towards the United States: Dislike
According to many social surveys, the country with the most negative images of China always outstrips South Korea, ahead of Japan and the United States.
This is a very special emotion. Many Chinese people feud with Japan because of the history of World War II and the current historical attitude; however, they do not scorn Japan. Many Chinese people will even say that Japan has technologies and products worth learning from, and that Japan's sportsmanship is very good.
Because of the conflicts of recent years between China and the United States, many Chinese people also somewhat despise the United States. However, they do not "feud" or "despise" America but only "dislike" it. Meanwhile, many Chinese will bring up how the United States helped them during World War II and their common battle against Japan.
That is to say, though the Chinese do not like the United States and Japan, they can always find a balancing partner; they will say the opposite, stating that the United States and Japan also have advantages.
But when it comes to South Korea, the atmosphere is utterly different. The Chinese will hardly talk about any good news regarding South Korea. Most Chinese regard South Korea as useless. This feeling somewhat improved during the time period of Park Geun-hye but deteriorated afterward.
3. Sources of negative emotions
The reasons for their negative feelings, according to most people, are derived from South Korea's obedience to the United States; for instance, when there are some Sino-US conflicts, like in the THAAD incident in previous years. In fact, that is not true at all.
The disdain of Chinese people towards South Korea mainly comes from cultural issues. I could give some examples that they mentioned. Of course, I have not verified whether this information is accurate and objective; I am just paraphrasing what the Chinese say.
(1) Trying to appropriate and compete for culture from China is done by Koreans.
Some traditional festivals, Chinese medicine, clothes, philosophical thought, and even historical figures including Confucius have been stolen by Koreans. In sharp contrast, the behavior of Koreans differs greatly from the Japanese. For example, traditional Chinese medicine has a wide influence on many Asian countries and is a traditional culture. For example, in Japan, TCM is still referred to as Chinese medicine, or Han medicine, while in South Korea, it was renamed "Korean medicine". Korean scholars also like to make various remarks such as Confucius is Korean and Li Bai is Korean. Chinese calligraphy is Korean and so on.
The Chinese have always been proud of their thousands of years of cultural tradition, so they despise this behavior of Koreans.
(2) Koreans are an arrogant people
Historically, the Korean Peninsula has been a dependent state of China. The Chinese believe the relationship between the two peoples is that of "master" and "servant". Because over the past 200 years, China has entered into a period of decline. China became a poor backward country; in contrast, after the "Miracle on the Han River," the economy of South Korea rapidly rose and entered the level of developed countries. This gave Koreans an arrogant mentality, and they generally display a condescending attitude when facing the Chinese and Chinese information. It was 20 to 30 years ago that the Chinese people chose to put up with it, because they needed the capital investment and technology of South Korea, just like the other developed countries. Now Chinese youngsters pursue Korean movies and TV series, regarding Korean culture as fashion. But in the past 20 years, China's economy has developed rapidly. The economic level in the eastern part of the country is as good as that of South Korea, and it also far surpasses South Korea in terms of scale. Besides, Chinese literary and artistic works, fashion elements gradually surpassed those of South Korea.
The golden mean" is a very important moral virtue in Confucianism. He asked the Chinese people to "not be arrogant when they are rich, and not feel inferior when they are poor." The Korean people's characteristic of "becoming proud as soon as they become rich" happens to fall within the worst range of China's moral values.
Besides, in Chinese eyes, the capital and technology in South Korea are outdated. They were unwilling to tolerate that attitude from Korean people anymore; thus, they transform this mentality into contempt of P. R. China towards South Korea.
(3) The weakness of South Korea
Actually, the Chinese and Koreans have common interests when facing Japan. The Chinese once mentioned there is a saying: The friendship between China and South Korea depend on Japan. That means if there is a friendship with Koreans, it is all because they don't like Japanese.
On the history of World War II, comfort women issue, World War II labor issues, nuclear wastewater issues, whale hunting, island dispute and other issues, the Chinese have the same interest as South Korea. They had worked together against Japan over these issues.
It was, however, the Koreans' performance that made them feel very bad. The compromise on the comfort women issue was bad enough; compromising with Japan on the nuclear wastewater issue was just too much. What this does is makes the Chinese feel that South Korea is "just a softie" and "not worth cooperating with."
Therefore, the negative emotions of Chinese people towards South Korea mainly arise from the field of culture but not from politics, economics, and history. But it is at the cultural level that the clash is most profound.