Korean Soap Opera Craze Spreads to China: by Frances Garnett

A Korean soap opera about an alien who arrives on earth and falls  in love with an arrogant female pop star has created an amazing craze in China. For example, when the female star of the show declared her love for "chi-maek" (a combination of fried chicken, pickled radishes and two bottle of beer) in one episode, sales of it in China exploded. In fact, there was a case of a Chinese pregnant woman who binged chicken and beer while watching episodes of the soap all night, almost causing her to have a miscarriage. Advertising using the stars and show, like with the bakery chain Tous les Jours, have also caused soaring sales. A cosmetic maker even stopped production lines of the air date of the show's final episode because so many employees wanted to stay home and watch it. The soap's success even has Chinese officials talking amid more important issues. China's cultural pride is facing some hits because it's used to being the center and the roots of culture in East Asia.

While this article shows us shows us how the media and TV can take over our lives, it's also an excellent example of cultural diffusion, since an aspect of one culture is being incorporated into another and becoming very important in everyday life. I predict that this is going to happen more and more, and maybe this craze will also spread to the US, even. Technology is allowing countries that haven't traditionally been leaders to shine, and I think that powerful countries like China will have to either accept that Korea is strong on the world map, or they will have to step it up to keep up in an ever increasingly competitive world. I think technology is a powerful tool (it's captured many people's lives with this soap) and as the world becomes increasingly globalized, we'll see more equality in  countries than major superpowers.

Sources: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/03/07/2014030701717.html , http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/03/10/2014031001745.html