ABSTRACT

The Korean Wave, known as "Korean wind" in Hong Kong, is the successor of the "Hong Kong noir" of the 1980s, and Japanese anime and manga of the 1990s, as the frontier of the global consumption of East Asian popular culture. Yanji's popular culture, which occupies a major share of online activities, is dominated by Chinese and increasingly South Korean images. The interest in Korean pop culture has also led to a surge in the number of students learning Korean language and culture at the eight local universities. The effeminacy of men, and even gender bending in popular culture, indicate new possibilities of gender and sexuality as a result of the empowerment of women in a consumerist society. Unlike in Japan, where middle-aged women constitute the majority of Bae Yong-joon's fans, K-pop fans are mostly teenage girls. Young consumers in Hong Kong aspire to a cosmopolitan identity and are anxious to follow the "global trends" in terms of gender.