Controversy over China’s distortion of Kimchi. 

Chinese attempt to subjugate Korean culture by claiming that kimchi is Chinese 

Kimchi Controversy

"It's a shame that this is mine and that's yours." Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming made a statement on May 26, 2021 on MBC's "News Extraordinary" about the controversy over the sovereignty of kimchi.

Kimchi and Pao Cai, are different

Korean kimchi has long been called "Pao Cai" or "Korean style Pao Cai" in China.

When kimchi was introduced to China at first, it was a new food culture, so it was known in comparison to Pao Cai, which calls for pickled vegetables in China.

When introducing rice cake in English, it is similar to introducing rice cake and makgeolli as rice wine.

Although this usage itself was old, there was no big problem because the Chinese considered Korean-style kimchi as "of course Korean food," and even if it was "Pao Cai," it soon came to mind with "Korean-style kimchi."

However, it has been a problem since the 2010s when the Chinese government began to smoke and mirrors.

From the Chinese perspective, Chinese pickled vegetables are often called "Pao Cai" and Korean kimchi is also called "Pao Cai," so they began to use the term cleverly without distinction.

Eventually, the collective relationship surrounding "Pao cai" gradually reversed, creating the logic that "one of the sub-classifications of Chinese food, Pao cai, is Korean-style kimchi."

Of course, the Korean government has already recognized this and has promoted Korean kimchi in the Chinese market under the name Xinqi, not Pao Cai, since 2013, before the outbreak.

However, it has not been very successful to call Korean kimchi Pao cai since long ago, and after this incident, VANK also calls for calling kimchi cinch and promoting it, but it is not easy to change people's perception.

The Baidu encyclopedia, one of China's most popular wiki[ describes the origin of kimchi as China.

The name is also "Pao Cai," and Google Translator and Camprise English-Chinese Dictionary define kimchi as "Hanguo Pao Cai" in Chinese.  Even the next/Naver translator translated kimchi into Pao Cai.

Since November 2020, "Kimchi has been constantly in the market for propaganda, saying, "Korea only changed its name by stealing Pao Cai from China."

In particular, YouTube, which can appeal to foreigners, is actively being used, and considering that YouTube is blocked in China, the inside story is already obvious in that large Chinese YouTubers are spreading the Chinese claim.

In fact, there was a case in which the contract was terminated under the interference of the Chinese Communist Party because a Korean eating show YouTuber named Hamji, who had a relationship with a Chinese company, said, "Kimchi and Ssam are Korean dishes." One of the evidence that the Chinese Communist Party is actively involved in cultural distortion.

On January 9, 2021, Chinese YouTuber Li Ziqi posted a video on his YouTube channel titled "The Last Episode of Life Series: The Life of Muui!" showing him making kimchi and making soup with kimchi.  The problem caused controversy by attaching hashtags #ChineseCuisine, #ChineseFood as if kimchi were Chinese food.

"Kimchi is a Chinese cultural heritage…"In fact, it has always been the Chinese side to argue about everything with Hanbok, Kimchi, and Dano.

Finally, Wikipedia created a paragraph titled "Dispute over the origin of kimchi" that deals with the dispute over the origin of kimchi between Korea and China, and on February 5, 2021, "place of origin" in the document "kimchi" was written as CHINA and corrected to KOREA again.

On February 5, 2021, Google searched for kimchi origin and changed the search term setting to English, resulting in the ridiculous result of CHINA.

As the news spread among domestic netizens, they sent feedback asking for correction, and VANK protested against Google and now it is changed back to Korea.

But we don't know when the Chinese will strike back, so we need to be careful.

China's distortion of the strategic (dissemination process)

All things are from China Nonsense Theory

China's northeastern process is all this way, but if there is a culture that is not popular in China's continental culture, is influenced by continental culture, or has one or more things in common, they expand their cultural concepts to their own culture.

Therefore, because of this logic, they claim that kimchi is part of Pao Chai, which has something in common with pickled kimchi, and that even doubles such as hanbok with jeogori, obi in Japan, and Ao Dai in Vietnam are their own.

How can we argue that such things are traditional Chinese culture when they have never been used in China except by the people concerned?

Claiming California Roll as a traditional Japanese culture is an ignorant argument rather than claiming the copyright of LEDs by the developer of incandescent light bulbs.

Moreover, according to this Chinese logic, all Chinese cultures influenced by Buddhism from India to China are Indian.

Not only Chinese Buddhism, but also Confucian Neo-Confucianism and Taoism, which were established by adding new doctrines while competing with Buddhism, will all be guided.

The things that were just primitive ideas were developed by Buddhism's transition to China.  And everything that has had an impact on China in the 20th century becomes Russian culture.

If any Chinese music or cosmetics have been influenced by Korea, it becomes Korean culture.

In the first place, Paochai and Kimchi are completely different ways of making them, and Paochai is Sichuan's salted vegetables that ferment or boil salted vegetables immediately, which are closer to pickles than kimchi.

The most important issue here is China's claim that "Paochai is kimchi, and kimchi is the culture of China, no matter where it comes from, where it developed, or where it was never eaten in China."

China has no literature on the development process of kimchi.

One day, kimchi with red pepper powder, ginger, salted fish, and cabbage suddenly appeared.

However, in Korea, records of kimchi with salted fish appeared in documents from the 16th century and gradually changed.  If kimchi was first made in China, it would be a strange phenomenon that the development process of kimchi is only in Korea.

The reason for this claim, even though there is no record of kimchi, is to think or insist that Pao Cai and Kimchi are the same.  However, since kimchi was banned during the Korean War, there was a minimum of Korean food at that time.

Especially, it is recorded that adding chili powder is a new culture in Korea, but considering that it is a traditional Chinese culture, they have not reviewed history at all.

It's pickled vegetables. It is to claim 'our own'.  If you look at "traditional Chinese Pao Cai," which is claimed by most Chinese YouTube channels, you can see chili powder flapping, but if you think about it a little bit, you made an error because it was recorded that it was a recently created culture in Korea.

It was only a hundred years ago that such modern cabbage kimchi began to appear in Korea in earnest.  Furthermore, chili peppers, the representative ingredient of kimchi seasoning, were introduced around the Japanese Invasion of Korea (1592), and even those were first used for medicinal purposes or only for poor people until the 18th century.

Source At least if China wants to claim that it is a traditional Chinese food, it must be different from Korean kimchi and must not contain cabbage and red pepper powder.

In other words, China claims that kimchi is its food just because it is the same salted vegetable without any grounds.  The funny thing is that if the logic is the same, Japan's Tsukemono and Germany's Sauerkraut should claim that they are their own food, but they do not.

In addition to kimchi, China, in this way, has a clever pun that melts three things, "China is the beginning," = China has influenced," = China's traditional culture," based on poor evidence and makes them the same meaning.

For example, there is a claim that "In China, soccer came from China because we kicked the ball since ancient times."

Making and kicking a ball was everywhere in ancient times, and to be the beginning of soccer, at least the elements that make up the current soccer should be seen, but I don't know about it.

Anyway, it's soccer. The same is true of kimchi.  Pickling vegetables has been everywhere in the world since a long time ago, and since their pao chai is pickled vegetables, kimchi, the same vegetable pickles, is also Chinese.

In other words, there are steaks, barbecues, and pork belly in grilled meat, saying, "Our China has grilled meat over fire since ancient times.  Therefore, steak, barbecue, and pork belly are a 5,000-year culture of China and are Chinese cuisine.

It is a Chinese food culture because it is a food culture of ethnic Koreans in China theory

Chinese Terminology Confusion Tactics

China's kimchi distortion is applied with a term confusion tactic.

In China, Korean kimchi is also called Pao Cai and vegetable pickles in Sacheon province are also called Pao Cai, which is a 5,000-year-old traditional Chinese food, and they secretly claim Korean kimchi as Chinese food, and they are trying to claim Sacheon Pao Cai as their food.

In the absence of accurate recognition, they say it is a traditional food in Sacheon, point to Korean kimchi, say it is a traditional food of Northeast Koreans, and change the argument as necessary.

On 29 November 2020, China approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and used China's Pao Cai manufacturing method as an 'international standard'.

"Chinese kimchi has become the standard of the international kimchi market," said Baidu manager of China's leading nationalist journalist Global Times.

"Korea has been humiliated," posting a community post on Baidu account of Chinese netizens sarcastically speaking Korea.

However, it turns out that China's kimchi, or Pao Cai, is a salt vegetable in the Sichuan region that ferments or boils salted vegetables immediately, and is closer to pickles than kimchi.

In short, Korean kimchi and Pao Cai are completely different concepts.

It is said that the Korean kimchi exported to China must be labeled "Pao Cai" to be licensed for sale.

"To sell kimchi, it is mandatory to mark 'Pao Cai'.

The meticulous intermediate "kimchi process" can also be seen as part of the typical term confusion tactics of Pao Cai=kimchi.

China's Liaoning station announcer Zhu Xia cleverly used the term Pao Cai kimchi, claiming, "It is very common for Chinese people to make Pao Cai and they don't need permission from anyone.

There are many dishes in China, but it is unnecessary to prepare separate refrigerators to make Pao Cai.

According to the following remarks, he caused controversy by making very serious defamation of character and making remarks that were not seen by people, and openly saying, "If a small country confronts a great country, it will be ruined."

Korea's response

South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs once again declared on its official Twitter that kimchi in South Korea is not related to China's Pao Cai.

According to this, kimchi was adopted by Codex (International Food Standards Commission) as a world standard in 2001, and the definition according to the standard is "a product fermented by mixing cabbage with mixed spices made of red pepper powder, garlic, ginger, green onion, and radish."

On the other hand, Pao Cai is a salted vegetable product with cabbage, mustard stems, long beans, red pepper, radish, and carrots, and is dipped in salted water to ferment lactobacillus.

In addition, the ISO/FDIS 24220 document with Pao Chai clearly states, "This document does not apply to kimchi."

Reaction from different Nations

Korea

Korean netizens mocked China, saying, "China is envious to jump on the K-pop and Hallyu craze due to its cultural inferiority because it has no culture to boast about by destroying all cultures with its own hands with the Cultural Revolution.

In the past, Japan's Kim chi incident was mixed with some misunderstandings, but China's government-led claim that kimchi is its own country's cuisine is completely different, and Koreans are now seriously aware of the dangers of China's kimchi process as the Chinese government's Northeast process and corporate Shining Nikki Hanbok.

Meanwhile, the opinion that the Korean government should directly promote kimchi in Korea is gaining strength as it is distorting kimchi in China.

However, as the Chinese government has yet to distort kimchi through official statements or policies, it should take a cautious approach to whether the South Korean government needs to take direct action on promoting kimchi.

Some say that the Chinese government is distorting kimchi, but the media reports on the kimchi debate are mostly not the Chinese government, but the Chinese government's stance, such as the Global Times and Chinese netizens, or online responses.

China and its government must distinguish clearly.

The Global Times is actually a media outlet used by the Chinese government and the Communist Party, and is one of the main means of China's media play, but it is a completely different matter to proceed with the policy, considering its claims and responses to it's official response.

If the Chinese government thinks it is disadvantageous, it can just give up on the Global Times.

The Global Times has represented the position of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government a lot, but it is not a channel to convey the official position of the Chinese government.

The Chinese government's official stance on the kimchi debate so far has been called "Kimchi" in China, while the Korean Peninsula and the Chinese people all call it "Kimchi," although they have their own characteristics in ingredients, flavors, and recipes.

"I think the Pao Cai issue should be carried out through beneficial and friendly exchanges at the gastronomic level," he said. "We should not be prejudiced not to hurt our feelings."

I think there is more to be shared with cooperation between Korea and China," said only theoretical responses such as.

As such, China continues to take only ambiguous and ambiguous principles, giving no excuse for the Korean government to intervene.

In conclusion, the Korean government does not have to protest against the Chinese government if it lacks a reason to officially protest, but instead it needs to take a form of public relations activities or support promotional organizations to announce that kimchi is Korean food.

In addition, China's poor and dirty kimchi manufacturing site, which was excavated in March 2021, has become known in Korea in earnest, fueling the fire.

In the case of Chinese kimchi, it has been widely used in the front line of Korean restaurants because it is cheap, because the quality problems that are always problematic in Chinese imported food overlap in earnest.

The United States

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul said the kimchi is Korean. 

Japan

Japan's mass-circulation newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, a 'Kimchi is Korea's closing price' of an article was published.

And somehow moderate wing of the (is not as tough as the Sankei Shimbun newspaper, but) tendencies, the tone of Korea is a good newspaper Yomiuri Giants, is not to stand up for South Korea, Japan is at China's behavior is directly to know how Does that sound pathetic.

North Korea

Today, North Korea's foreign propaganda media, Chosun, reported on February 15 that it will revive the taste of kimchi, a traditional Korean food, and released a recorded report highlighting the Ryugyong Kimchi Factory. 

India

The owner of the online event, which was held by the Korean Cultural Center to promote kimchi culture and kimchi, was so popular that it recorded more than 1 million views in a week.

"There has been a growing interest in Korea and Korean food among students learning to cook and major hotel chefs," said Kundu Ranozit, a professor at Banarsidas Chandialla Hotel Management Cooking University.

"I understand that kimchi is a national identity food that reminds Indians of their homeland and hometown."

Hwang Il-yong, head of the Korean Cultural Center, said, "I was surprised by the love of kimchi by Indians through this event.

In November, we will hold the second Korean Food Cooking Contest in India to commemorate Kimchi Day."

India is a country that has become particularly hostile to China despite the global anti-China and anti-China trends, and unlike other countries, it has experienced direct armed clashes with China, leading to a boycott.

Belgium

In an interview with the Munhwa Ilbo in March 2021 to commemorate the 120th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and Belgium and the 70th anniversary of the Belgian military's participation in the Korean War, Peter Lescue said, "Kimchi in Belgium reminds me of Korea."

Do we need to be so angry at China's claim of kimchi aid? Imitation is the truest form of flattery," he said, openly supporting South Korea's position.

Belgium is a country that is engaged in an aid debate with France over its own food, French fries, so it seems that Korea and China have a different perspective on the origin of kimchi. See French fries for more information.

Perspective of Kimchi Dispute Situation

Pessimism

Optimism