Why K-dramas based on Chinese novels are a problem in Korea: Joseon Exorcist ended after two episodes following a viewer boycott while TVN’s Vincenzo and True Beauty face a ‘product placement’ furore

Apr 11 , 2021

Shin Hye-sun, left, and Kim Jung-hyun, lead actors in the TVN K-drama, Mr Queen, one of many shows based on Chinese novels. Photo: TVN

Some experts say dramas like Mr Queen and A Love So Beautiful show high quality storytelling while others suggest Chinese money drives programming choices

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When it was revealed that the TVN drama The Golden Hairpin and JTBC’s Until the Morning Comes were in the pipeline for later this year, numerous people in Korea raised their eyebrows rather than welcoming them with keen anticipation. The reason was simple – the Chinese background of those productions ruffled people’s feathers.

The two upcoming TV shows are Korean renditions of popular Chinese novels, which are expected to have star-studded casts. Although remakes are nothing new to K-drama production companies, a growing number of viewers are venting their discontent over works originally from China, largely due to the ongoing cultural clash between Seoul and Beijing over the “origins” of traditional Korean assets, including kimchi and hanbok.

Joseon Exorcist was terminated after airing only two episodes, as the viewers boycotted it for “distorting history and unnecessarily featuring Chinese props”. Photo: SBS

The ensuing anti-China outrage has spilled over into the local entertainment scene. Recently, SBS’ big-budget historical fantasy drama, Joseon Exorcist, was terminated after only two episodes as viewers boycotted it for “distorting history and unnecessarily featuring Chinese props”. A few weeks ago, TVN’s Vincenzo, starring Song Joong-ki and True Beauty were also engulfed in controversy over “excessive Chinese product placement”.

Korean drama producers these days do not seem to immerse themselves in research and development – they are neither very interested in hunting [for] talent nor in developing new scripts

Yun Suk-jin, professor of Korean language and literature, Chungnam National University

Chinese drama A Love So Beautiful. Photo: Netflix

Nevertheless, there is a rationale behind Korean producers’ inclination toward Chinese content, according to experts. In fact, there have recently been plenty of soap operas based on Chinese novels or dramas including TVN’s Mr Queen and Kakao TV’s A Love So Beautiful.

Korean remake of A Love So Beautiful. Photo: Netflix

“China has a massive online novel market; more than two million novels are created in a year, and the number of readers exceeded 300 million as of 2016. Given this huge market, a successful Chinese work is often thought to have a guaranteed quality in terms of storytelling,” said Choi Min-sung, a professor of Sino-Korean Culture at Hanshin University. “Thus, Korean drama production companies think that remaking these works can reduce the risks of production by certain degrees and help them garner more rave reviews from the public.”

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But drama critic Yun Suk-jin, also a professor of Korean language and literature at Chungnam National University, believes it is Chinese money – rather than the quality of Chinese stories – that lures the producers.