King of the Wilderness

Chapter 633: Chapter 312: Cultural Controversy, Official Media Steps In!

[The analogy upstairs is brilliant! Suggest submitting it for heritage status! #HanfuIsNotHanbok# Kickstart this trend! Show the world who the real thief is!]

[Don’t argue with them, you can’t win an argument with someone pretending to sleep. We just need to present the evidence. I’ve already posted a comparison of the Ming Dynasty prince’s portrait and the Joseon king’s portrait. Let the people of the world see for themselves who’s the buyer’s display and who’s the seller’s display!]

[Hahaha! A buyer’s display, how fitting! But speaking factually, the Koreans’ sensitivity over this proves their own insecurity. A truly cultured heritage doesn’t need to chase heritage status every day to prove its existence.]

As the video playback showed Lin Yu’an clearly saying the keywords ”Hanfu,” ”Ming Dynasty,” and ”Chinese New Year” on stage.

The battlefield situation instantly reversed! Numerous European and American netizens, who were merely bystanders, for the first time, directly learned the difference between these two concepts.

[Oh! My God! So the Kimono and Hanbok I’ve always thought were theirs, actually have their roots in this thing called Hanfu?]

[The person upstairs is right! I just Googled it, the similarities between the Ming Dynasty’s attire and the Korean Joseon Dynasty’s attire are as high as 90%! Moreover, time-wise, the Ming Dynasty came much earlier! The truth is out!]

[So is there really a difference between Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year? Can anyone explain it?]

China’s self-appointed educators quickly seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to begin using various easy-to-understand pictures and short videos to convey their culture worldwide.

[One picture to show you the parent-child relationship between ’Hanfu,’ ’Kimono,’ and ’Hanbok’!]

[Why do we insist on saying Chinese New Year? Because all the core cultural elements of this festival—the twelve zodiac animals, couplets, reunion dinners, fireworks...—all originate from China! Respect the culture, start by respecting its name!]

This cultural recognition movement sparked by Lin Yu’an had an impact far beyond the concert itself.

On YouTube, the official Discovery Channel’s 4K HD live video of Lin Yu’an singing ”Beautiful Things” amassed an astonishing ten million views and over a hundred thousand comments within just eight hours of its release!

The most liked comments were remarkably consistent:

[I swear, this song is going to blow up! Lin’s voice carries the resolve of a man determined to protect everything! (By the way, that attire is called ’Hanfu’, not ’Hanbok’!)]

[I cried... Watching that little bear clumsily chase a red rubber ball, I really cried. (PS: Happy Chinese New Year!)]

[Can anyone tell me where I can buy that outfit? I’m willing to trade my LV bag for such a beautiful piece!]

[Happy Chinese New Year! Blessings from a German fan! Lin, you’ve shown us a completely different, charming China!]

At the center of the storm, Lin Yu’an’s personal YouTube channel was experiencing data mythical to the level of miracles.

Prior to the concert, due to the popularity of ”Alone in the Wilderness” Season 8, his subscribers had already reached a very remarkable 1.7 million.

But from the moment he stepped on stage, this number began to soar at an eye-popping and extremely terrifying speed!

In just twelve hours overnight.

His YouTube channel subscribers surged from 1.7 million to 2.7 million!

Overnight gaining more than a million followers!

And this number continued to climb at a rate of several thousand per minute, showing no signs of stopping!

Every past video of his received tens of thousands of comments from new fans around the world.

[I came from Bieber’s concert! My God, what a treasure of a blogger I’ve missed!]

[I’ve watched all of his videos! This guy is a monster! I declare, from today on, he’s my new idol!]

[So he builds houses, hunts, sings, and flies planes?! God, is there anything this man can’t do?]

Lin Yu’an, with his brief but perfect appearance at Madison Square Garden, indisputably skyrocketed to become a truly global super influencer!

And the storm he brought is only just beginning!

As both sides of netizens were embroiled in heated debates, with historical images and memes flying everywhere, and the stalemate holding firm, a verified blue-checked official account quietly joined the fray.

Account name: Korean Culture Center, NY (New York Korea Culture Institute)

This overseas cultural promotion agency under the South Korean government clearly received domestic media pressure, attempting to conclude this debate.

At 9:30 AM Eastern Time, they released a long tweet with images and text introducing the so-called beauty of Hanbok.

The article selected several portraits of Joseon Dynasty kings and modern modified Hanbok photos, along with a seemingly objective but actually suggestive and misleading English narrative.

[The beauty of the East, an unbroken lineage. Round-collar robes and insignia are shared treasures among East Asian court attire.

During Korea’s Joseon Dynasty, this splendid clothing saw further development, forming what we today know as Hanbok.

We are pleased to see this ancient aesthetic being reinterpreted on the world stage. #Hanbok #KoreanCulture]

This tweet was written with extreme finesse, not directly stating Lin Yu’an was wearing Hanbok but subtly implying that Hanbok is the culmination and modern representative of such attire.