My view on Gangham Style and K-Pop

PSY's Gangnam Style has broken many records, not only those on Youtube, but also in terms of chart/sales success for an Asian song. First of all, do I enjoy the song myself? Yes, I do. I particularly like how PSY sang that song on stage, as well as all the parodies and flesh mob clips related to that song on Youtube. However, for being a music fan myself, I can't help but take a moment to sit back and take a critic look of this phenomenon, and further share my view of that from a broader scope for a long time span.

These are my thoughts:

One hit wonder destiny- I think Gangnam Style is gonna be another one hit wonder from PSY in the Western music scene. Yes, he signed a label in the U.S., and he does have music talent. But, that's wouldn't change my view. Cuz, Gangnam Style reminds me of few other songs, the most obvious one is Macarena which was sung by unattractive singers (2 older Spanish guys), came with a set of dance (actually not as difficult or funny as PSY's), and it was a big hit in the U.S. to a point that even Al Gore danced along the song. However, does anyone remember the second hit from the singer of that song? No! because there was another one.

PSY's future - he will certainly be label as a spokeperson of K-pop for this generation and will be viewed as a 'living national treasure' in South Korea. Business wise, he will make a lot of money, that's no doubt about it. In the West, he will try his best to replicate his success in coming album, particularly the one that he signed for an U.S. label. He will have moderate success in sales (a quarter million or less in the U.S.) from an Asian artist perspective, but that's about it. No more number one song. The reason is because of many factors.1) Novelity - his success because he is considered to be coming out of nowhere, a completely new singer to the West that dance funny and sing in a strange language. When he starts to sing in English, that's not what his current Western fans wanna hear. 2) Genre - Gangnam Style is a K-pop with heavy programming and loops. PSY himself actually can and does sing in other genre, soften ballad or hip-hop. That's gonna be a tough sell to the Western audiences. They like what they hear, and if change the formula, they wouldn't buy it. If PSY stick to his current formula, he will still be viewed by the Western audiences as doing the same thing for being uncreative. It is no win situation for him.

K-pop in the West - It is no doubt that K-pop has captured a sizable trunk of fan base in the East Asia. However, with PSY and I'm sure few more fellow artists from South Korea who will certainly try to follow PSY's footstep, K-pop will become a bit more well-known in the West. However, I only think that it will only at best become a niche that few world audiences will really take into their heart to follow K-pop in the future. It is because K-pop itself is not really an unique genre. Music wise, it is a bend of dance pop, hip-hop, R&B, electronica, plus bunch of young singers/dancers with 'hot' but 'copycat' style appearance. If they don't have anything that 'exceed' what their Western counterparts have already done, I don't see how would Western fans will choose them over their native artists. For more, Western fans do look at things more than skin-deep. They like their idols to be individuals with unique views, talents, beliefs, or style. They don't mind them to do outrageous things, just to be different. When I see the whole bunch of K-pop artists, many of them do dance and sing well, but that's not enough. What are their background stories? life experience? how they were brought up? what odds that they have encountered and overcome? Have they done wrong and turned right? What are their inspirations? What are their contribution to the music itself? Western fans do care about these things. I'm sorry that K-pop artists wouldn't offer such, at least that's not what I've seen so far. Also, the language is an issue as well, if K-pop artists sing in English, they wouldn't beat their Western counterparts. Even if they are as good, that's still not enough. If they stay singing in Korean, they will have no chance for a long term career in the West. Korean is not Spanish or French, the speaking population of it is just too small. Just because someone buy Samsung or Hyundai, doesn't make him/her a fan of Korean culture.

Wild factor - what I mentioned above is far from certain. One wild factor is the power of MV. The fans these days are not MTV generation. They watch youTube. PSY succeeds because of youTube. It is still possible that his followers will do the same thing by using music video rather than just songs alone to capture fans. To make great MV, it takes money and creativity. These are things that Korean producers shouldn't be short of, at least for the short run. With the visual appeal of the K-pop artists, that would help a lot in that regard. So, there is still possibility that new generation of music fans will take the whole visual package as a whole to choose who they follow. With the growth of broadband, 4G, etc. Technology wise, it would help those K-pop artists in spreading their products to fans over the world.

Well, just some thoughts that I wanna share, feel free to comment if any.

Love is like water

Over the Easter weekend, I had a chance to catch up with my old friend Jacob. We had a good chat over a beer or two. Of course, our chat was not itemized or planned ahead. So things were brought up left and right, and one thing led to another, we talked about what love is.

I can’t recall what I had said or what he had replied, but there are certain back and forth content in our conversation that stayed in my head, somehow it is summarized as the following.

Love is like water. Most animals can’t live without it. However, different animals would need different amount of water. Like a whale can’t live with less than an ocean. But, a camel can walk for days without drinking a drop. So, the relationship of a couple would have problem when both of them need different amount of love. Yes, love can’t be measured like water, but the analogy still goes.

Furthermore, there is also a mystic relationship between "how much love you needs to be happy" and "how much love you can or willing to ‘give’ to others". Some people don’t need much love to stay happy, but he/she is generous in giving love. There are certainly case of vice versa. Such thing is bothering Jacob and his wife and I don’t know much to say as it is very difficult to dissect and truly understand a relationship unless you are in it.
Jacob is more a ‘free-spirit’ person who doesn’t like to bother with little details – just like most men. His wife is more a ‘demanding’ type that easily got upset if things doesn’t work her way. They don’t have much financial issue at the moment and they are fine with their daughter. However, when it comes to their relationship, Jacob’s wife has been upset with the lack of ‘attention’ or ‘love’ that Jacob has been offering to her. To Jacob, he is largely fine with what he got from her though he did saying that she is too emotional and cranky for many little things. Jacob admitted that he does love his wife, but he, like many men, he doesn’t exactly sure what love is. Cos, 'love' to most ‘rational’ minds is an ‘abstracted’ thing that we can’t touch or grab it in your hand. We all know that love exists, but it has no formula that once you execute, it will generate love. So, though Jacob know he loves his wife, he thought that everything he has done for her and the family is shown for his love. Jacob is a practical person, he doesn’t believe that just saying ‘I love you’ means a thing, if there is no ‘action’ to back it up. Hugging and kissing are easy, but he believes that more 'concrete' things would mean more.

However, Jacob’s wife still complain that Jacob doesn’t love her very much. That got Jacob upset. Cos, she has been a demanding person, sometimes when she asked for things from him, she expected him to stop whatever he is doing to attend her needs – which could be some simple thing that she can do herself but she simply doesn’t want to do it. He thinks that she is spoiled, partially by him. When I asked him why, he said that he is a ‘peaceful’ man, doesn’t like conflicts or shouting match at home. So, if argument can be avoided by giving in a bit on his side, he will just do it for peace sake. But, he is human, sometimes he can’t help by showing his unpleasantness towards the demands from his wife and give a ‘look’ to her somehow. That makes her a bit upset and think that he is not 100% willingly and happily do what she wants which is equivalent to his love for her. She thinks that he does what she asked because she asked for it, he lacks of the ‘voluntary self-motivation’ to ‘love’ her. I think that Jacob’s wife is a bit too demanding and has twisted what love is all about to another ‘dimension’. Cos, what Jacob is thinking that simply serving her demands with action means he loves her. If what he has done still can’t satisfy her, then he would think that he doesn’t how to love her anymore.

After I heard all of these, I don’t really know what to say….cos Jacob does opine that taking on family responsibility / taking orders from his wife are the way to prove his love to her and the family. So, love becomes a responsibility. It sounds bad, but objectively, it is not that bad, cos it is something can be measure and actionable by a rational minds. However, the case is that she doesn’t buy that completely and use some ‘out of the world’ standards to measure how much Jacob loves her. That’s just confusing and frustrating at the same time.

At the end, I don’t think I could come up with any good logical helpful advice to my friend, but simply told him that I understood what he was saying and told him to take things easy…..Cos, it is just difficult to advise on such complicated thing of relationship of which I’m by no mean an expert of it.

Use our senses

When the economy was good, most of us indulged in our works and enjoy our leisure time with family and friends. It was actually okay to be ignorant of the society, let alone the world out there. Though I'm not one of them, many folks did live those lives. That's why there are many people who didn't know world events or knowledge beyond what the stupid headlines or topics in casual chats in front of water fountain.

When the economy was bad, many folks can still live the life mentioned above as long as they still have a job. Certainly, the job security is an issue and people will start paying more attention to the local economy. As local economy is closely tied to the global one, the latest recession (or possible depression) really get many people anxious. The recent nosedive of major stocks in the local stock index does get on many people's nerves. Yes, that's still unrealized losses, but come on, how many folks' wealth are in real paper money under their mattress? So, I think that the tanking of market will really further dampening the local retail market as the only brighter spot in the local economy so far. That's deemed to be changing.

Many folks are asking 'why?' but what they get in return is hearsay and soundbites from the media. How many will really spend sometimes to read and think? Not the majority, it is said that folks with all the information accessible at their fingertips and not use it to find out more. They may see, but they don't 'read', they may hear, but they don't 'listen'. It is just sad! Cos, a lot of behavior changes are usually triggered by social events related to political, economical, or health. The current economic catastrophe should be a triggering event that make people think, especially the sense of value, what is important to that live. What they did? what they are doing? and what they should have done? will all affect what they will do in future.

I just think people should spend more time to use their sense to find out what is going on in the society and in the world. That can help them to understand the 'rings in the chain' that link events together. See what can be done, at least on a personal level. For example, should we live a more 'green' life? That can save us money, save the environment at the same time. Especially after I became a parent, this just get me thinking more about what kind of life he will live in future. What kind of things that we are doing now and what would they lead to in future? Before doing anything, use our senses to link ourselves to the world, then think! That's what I'm trying to say....

Korea's Education Initiatives on Teaching Chinese Characters

Just came across few articles about this topic. Something that I've never known before. Just wanna share with all interested.

国际先驱导报：韩国离不开中国“汉字”

韩国国内围绕汉字的争议背后，始终是民族主义情绪的躁动

　　“每当用古诗、成语或典故介绍名胜古迹时，日本游客一般都会听得津津有味，而韩国人却似乎无动于衷。”一位经常给韩日游客做导游服务的中国人士深有感触地说。

　　一百年前，韩国的官方文字还仅限于汉字，但如今，在韩国年轻一代的眼中，汉字已显得那么陌生。韩国古代很多书籍大多是用汉字撰写，年轻一代却视其为外文，难以理解。韩国有识之士因此忧心忡忡，“韩国年轻人如果不懂汉字，那韩国传统文化的精髓必定将日渐流失。”

　　正是出于此担忧，日前，首尔南部一地区教育部门宣布将在小学重新引入强制学习汉字计划。此消息一出，再次引发韩国社会对“汉字教育”的争论。

　　韩国再掀“汉字教育”之争

　　韩语学会最先站出来反对。9月18日上午，该学会发表声明称，“此举是韩国的一大倒退。”

　　韩语学会的声明得到了相当一部分韩国人，尤其是年轻人的认同。他们认为，韩国人应该重视自己的语言，能不用汉字尽量不用汉字，“如果有时间学习汉字，还不如花时间来学习英文。”

　　在北京大学就读的韩国留学生李庾珍告诉《国际先驱导报》，韩国人对自己的语言和文字感到很骄傲，国家还特地设立了“韩语节”加以纪念。

　　正因为民间酝酿的这样一种情绪，2004年7月，韩国政府部门曾向国会提交决议草案，要求推行韩国法律文书的韩语化，去除法律条文里的汉字。韩国的一些议员甚至认为，这是弘扬民族自主精神的表现。然而，这一法案的支持者和反对者互不相让，最终该决议草案不了了之。

　　“汉字”始终是韩国敏感话题

　　韩国国内围绕汉字的争议背后，始终是民族主义情绪的躁动。

　　在古代韩国，汉字是上层社会与下层社会的分界线。能写一笔好的汉字书法，能用汉字写诗作赋，是上层社会的身份标识。而下层社会的庶民则与汉字无缘，其所使用的语言也没有相对应的文字。

　　公元1443年，朝鲜世宗大王下令创造专为庶民使用的表音文字（现在的韩文），此称为“训民正音”。但是，在之后相当长的一段时间里，上层统治阶层还是使用汉字，而庶民使用表音文字，用表音文字写的文章被称为“谚文”。

　　清朝末年，韩国人开始摒弃汉字，从前的“谚文”开始占居主导地位。之后，韩国沦为日本的殖民地，日本殖民当局确定了“日汉文字并用”的政策，并把表音文字学者视为反日分子加以迫害。就此，表音文字打上了反日、爱国的民族主义标识。

　　1948年，摆脱殖民地地位的韩国颁布了《表音文字专用法》，规定公文全部使用表音字。但出于历史的缘故，暂且允许兼用汉字。到了1970年，事情发展到了极端，当时的朴正熙政府一度下令废除汉字，学校教育中只教授韩语。这直接导致了韩国有整整一代人完全不懂汉字。

　　韩国淑明女子大学中文系教授咸恩仙告诉《国际先驱导报》，上世纪60至70年代，韩国对汉字教育的争论十分激烈。认为应该多爱护自己国家语言的韩国人很多，且态度强烈。而支持汉字教育的人认为，汉字已经成为了韩语中的一部分，应该尊重。到了80年代以后，汉字教育才开始逐渐恢复。

　　韩国离不开中国“汉字”

　　汉字在韩国的命运可谓一波三折，数度浮沉。那汉字在韩国语言和文化当中，到底有着怎样的作用？韩国终究能够离开汉字吗？

　　其实，这个问题一直是韩国人面对的尴尬。韩文是表音文字，没有像汉语一样有四个声调的变化，当遇到同音字时，就只能通过上下文语境来猜测词的含义了。即使这样，在很多情况下，韩语还是不能准确表达出含义，这就需要借助汉字来理解。并且韩语当中多数词汇来源于汉字，很多成语、典故，也只有通过汉字才能完全理解。因此，韩国的多数法律条文中夹杂有大量的汉字。

　　自然，如果不懂得汉字，不仅无法阅读古典文学，查阅古代朝鲜的书目，还不能理解现代法律文书。这对于一个现代韩国人来说，是不可想像的。“要去除法律条文里的汉字，不太可能，对废除汉字教学更是不认同了。”北京大学的韩国留学生李庾珍向《国际先驱导报》指出。

　　一个耐人寻味的现象是：在韩国民间废除汉字呼声日高之时，韩国政府2005年2月宣布，在所有公务文件和交通标志等领域，全面恢复使用已经消失多年的中国汉字和汉字标记，以适应世界化的时代潮流。

　　有评论认为，中华文明是韩国的母体文明，韩国废除汉字的行为，将使他们逐渐失去母体文明的灵魂，脱离了汉字的韩文，就犹如没有灵魂的文化“木乃伊”。因此，韩国政府全面恢复使用汉字是必然的、明智的历史选择。（国际先驱导报记者梁辉发自北京）


[世間萬象] 韓國的漢字教育

朝鮮日報評論員 金東燮 (2009.01.12 15:23)
“将‘南北통일（统一）’中的韩文部分用汉字写出来。”结果有超过一半的学生莫名其妙地把答案写成“남북（南北）”。因為不知道“部分”和“漢字”的意思，所以連提問都看不懂。还有很多人把背水阵(배수진)读成“부수차（部水车，音）”，把幼稚(유치)读成“절치（节稚，音）”，把文化写成“文花”，把学科写成“学校”。這是首爾大學幾年前對1280名教養國語課聽課生進行漢字基礎能力測試的結果。

辭彙就是語言實力的基礎。韓文學會《大辭典》中的16.4125萬個辭彙中，漢字詞達8.5527萬個，占52.1%.小學國語書中的55%，醫學、哲學等領域專門用語的95%是漢字。如果不懂漢字，就無法提高辭彙能力和學習能力。即使是同一個韓文辭彙，根據漢字的不同也有完全不同的解釋，這種詞語有很多。例如，与“사기”同音的汉字有士气等22个，“전기”则有电气等18个汉字。

漢字從1970年開始在小學、初中、高中教科書中消失。雖然1975年重新出現在初中、高中教科書中，但不是採取混用方式，而是把漢字放在括弧裏的並用方式。現在，小學已經取消了漢字課，在初中和高中，漢字課也和德語、法語一樣是選修課，因此在高考中只有17%的人選擇這個科目。北韓在相當於韓國小學五年級的高等初中至大學期間共教授3000個漢字。

據說，全國漢字教育推進總聯合會向青瓦台提交建議書主張從小學開始教漢字，已經有20名健在的歷任國務總理在該建議書上簽名。除了臥病在床的91歲高齡的劉彰順以外，從金鍾泌（第11屆）到韓悳洙（第38屆），所有健在的歷任總理全都參加了聯合簽名活動。據說，漢字教育推進總聯合會理事長陳泰夏利用一年多時間東奔西走，終於說服了他們。盧武鉉政府執政時期曾擔任國務總理的李海瓚、韓明淑和韓悳洙也一同參與令陳泰夏“頗感意外”。由此可見，和理念及政治立場無關，所有人都深刻認識到了漢字教育問題的重要性。

在學習漢字方面，僅靠死記硬背效果不大。也就是說，如果將“龍須鐵（彈簧）”解釋成“像龍須一樣的鐵”。那麼孩子們也會學得很有意思。如果多多瞭解漢字，縮短冗長文章的概括能力和創造新語句的創造能力就會提升，從而使語言生活豐富多彩。漢字教育不是外語學習，而是韓語正常化過程中所必需的前提條件。

朝鮮日報中文網 chn.chosun.com

[Opinion] Teaching Chinese Characters

There is an effective way of teaching the Korean language to teens who have returned to the country after a long stay overseas: teaching commonly used Chinese characters. As 70 percent of Korean is derived from Chinese, a student can learn Korean much easier if he or she has knowledge of Chinese characters. It is like having a map when traveling. Many words in European languages such as English, French and German originate from Latin, which was the official language of the Roman Empire, which ruled much of Europe. Latin is inseparable from American and European school curricula no matter how badly students complain about the difficulty of learning it.

Young Koreans are not good at Chinese characters because the subject has been neglected for a long time. Seoul National University administers a reading test for Chinese characters as part of its entrance exam. Though easy Chinese characters appear on the test, many test takers find it very challenging. Jobseekers fresh out of college are also poor at Chinese characters. Sadly, their poor understanding of Chinese characters mirrors their poor comprehension skills in Korean. Though it could be argued that Korean language education is the most important, in reality, it cannot be properly done without teaching Chinese characters.


Illiteracy in Chinese characters incurs a big loss to the nation. The combined population of China and Japan, two countries whose people use Chinese characters, is 1.5 billion. Good knowledge of Chinese characters is a must for someone wishing to learn either Chinese or Japanese. China and Japan are Korea’s major rivals and partners. A good grasp of Chinese characters is also essential to better understanding of the cultures of the two neighbors, which is of paramount importance.


Most of Korea`s cultural heritage is preserved in Chinese characters. As the number of people illiterate in Chinese character swells, precious cultural legacies of Korea such as classical literature are growing useless. This has also resulted in widening the generation gap. Twenty former prime ministers recently urged the government to enhance Chinese character education. It shows their grave fears over the young generation`s growing inability in Chinese characters. It is pointless to split the nation into two groups involving one insisting on using Korean characters only and another demanding the use of both Chinese and Korean characters. Instead, the two sides should quickly find common ground and lay the foundation to strengthen Korean-language education.


Editorial Writer Hong Chan-sik (chansik@donga.com)

Silent Rave

A silent rave was organized in Union Square by a British exchange student at Packer Collegiate Institute.

I first heard of the term 'Slient Rave' on my podcast from NPR.ORG this week. I found the concept is quite interesting, so I dug into wiki and find the following:

The concept of a silent party, Silent Gig or silent disco involves party-goers dancing to music received directly into headphones. Most commonly, this will be music provided by a DJ who will broadcast via an FM transmitter with the signal being picked up by wireless headphone receivers worn by the silent party attendees. Another type of silent party involves the gathering of a group of people in an unconventional location to dance to music which they provide themselves via an MP3 player and conventional wired headphones.

The idea has been around since the 1990s espoused by eco-activists who found that the easiest way to get large numbers of people to certain areas, such as a forest that was being logged, was to put on a party. However, this could cause distress to animals living in the area, so a compromise solution was needed for particularly sensitive areas.

Since then the concept has evolved into the guerilla-type gatherings as seen at London's Victoria Station in 2005 and also into commercial ventures across the UK, Europe and worldwide.

The following is a translation of what Silent Rave is in Chinese.

Rave Party一般給人的印象都是吵吵鬧鬧，而且一定要選在晚上在偏僻的空曠地方舉辦，上個週末的紐約市就舉辦了一場完全不Rave的Rave Party，這場被稱為是無聲的Rave Party(Silent Rave)，儘管沒有播放任何音樂，卻吸引了超過一千名民眾參加，他們戴上自己的iPod(或其他MP3隨身聽)，舞動身軀，跳出自己的節拍，場景相當壯觀。這整個活動依循快閃族的啟動模式，由18歲的Jonnie Wesson在Facebook中發起，然後在網路上得到數以千計的回應，雖然最後真正參加的只是這數以千計的一小部分而已，卻也十分可觀。對於不熟悉快閃族活動的路人，經過時看到他們似無旁人瘋狂跳舞的景象，可能有點摸不著頭緒，但是參與的民眾仍然十分盡興的跳到天黑才結束。而這起活動除了再次證明網路的號召力之外，也顯示了一件事-紐約市民已經知道如何在不違反噪音管制條例的情況下，開場大家都開心的派對了。

I'm wondering when will local folks start picking up this trend here. Cos, I think it is gonna be great. Cos, people can dance and have fun. It won't bother other people with noise or music that you don't like. Also, it is supposed to be cheap. Without picking up what is raved in places like London and NYC, and claim itself an international metropolitan city in terms of culture? What a joke!