Chapter 50: Counterproductive

On August 8, 2016, two major events occurred in the Asian entertainment industry.

The first was that China finally released the exact news of the Hallyu ban. The content was to comprehensively restrict Korean artists from performing in China, stop new investments in Korean cultural industry companies, prohibit the signing of new Korean TV dramas, and restrict cooperation projects on variety shows.

Although the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs clearly denied the existence of this ban when facing reporters' questions, the Korean cultural industry had indeed entered winter in China.

Various endorsements and announcements of Korean stars in China were canceled one after another, Korean movies, TV dramas, and variety shows were taken off the shelves overnight, and many Korean star fan clubs on Weibo were silent and at a loss.

Regardless of whether this ban was true or false, it was an indisputable fact that the Korean wave in China suffered a heavy blow.

Korean star idols who used to hit entertainment headlines frequently disappeared instantly, and domestic stars finally turned over and sang. Many second- and third-tier stars actually had the opportunity to board the homepage of the entertainment section.

No one dared to go against the country at this sensitive moment. Before there was any wind, no one would ask about whatever you posted. Now that the situation is clearly wrong and you still want to jump out, that is a typical old birthday star hanging himself—tired of living!

In any case, Korean stars and idol groups had no way to survive in China. There was no possibility of negotiation at all, and they could only watch this big piece of fat drift away.

However, they were not the most miserable. The most miserable were those members from China in idol groups.

Their ability to join the group back then was largely due to the senior management's layout for entering the Chinese idol market.

In China, the attention received by an all-Korean group and a group with several Chinese members is completely different. With attention, with the consumption power of Chinese female fans known in Asia, wouldn't the real money roll in by then?

In fact, in the first few years, these companies did indeed make a lot of money in China, and those companies that were jealous also began to vigorously develop and dig for Chinese trainees, hoping to get a piece of the pie in this huge market.

This formed a circular industry. Those Chinese boys and girls with star dreams went to South Korea to sign contracts with companies and conduct professional idol training. After forming a group, the company sent them back to China to earn money from fans.

Talents were sent out, money was sent out, and they had to be mocked for the backward domestic entertainment ecology. Who could endure this? Coupled with the deployment of a certain system, whether considering maintaining hard power or soft power, the promulgation of the Hallyu ban was very necessary.

And the appearance of the Hallyu ban also made these Chinese stars developing in South Korea lose most of their value.

They actually didn't do anything wrong. To seek a better platform, going to South Korea to be an idol is actually understandable, but in front of the state machine, individual power is really pitifully small.

Francis Fukuyama once wrote in a book: "Every grain of dust in the era is a mountain when it falls on an individual."

However, no matter how difficult the era is, it is not completely hopeless. As the saying goes, as long as the thinking doesn't slip, there are always more ways than difficulties. Under the situation of having policies above, there were quickly countermeasures below.

At noon on August 8, just when the whole internet was hotly discussing the possible impact of the Hallyu ban, a large number of Chinese artists in South Korea announced their withdrawal from the group on Weibo one after another, wanting to return to China for development with a heart of a child.

These Chinese artists were basically boys, and their fan base in China was extremely huge, with 50 or 60 million at most, and 10 or 20 million at least, which could be considered the essence of Chinese idols in recent years, which is the so-called "little fresh meat."

How many of these people are like Wen Xia, whose contracts expired and withdrew from the group, or directly breached the contract and withdrew from the group, no one knows for the time being.

But what is important is that they returned to China, signed with Chinese agencies, and their future work focus will definitely be placed in China.

This will definitely cause a huge impact on China's existing entertainment environment, but on the other hand, it will also bring huge opportunities.

Perhaps netizens didn't know what traffic meant before, but after 2014, this word became something that all stars chased. With traffic, it means heat, attention, endorsements, and resources, and these are also the necessities for most stars to survive in the entertainment industry.

In fact, it can be seen from today's Weibo that the reading volume of topics related to the Hallyu ban exceeded 300 million in half a day, and the discussion volume rushed to the 100,000 mark, firmly occupying the top of the Weibo topic list.

And when the news of these male idols returning to China came out, the topic reading volume rushed to second place in less than an hour, and it showed a trend of catching up.

Now eight out of ten hot searches on Weibo are related to this, and almost everyone is discussing these things.

And the second major event that happened today seemed a bit insignificant under such circumstances.

"Izumi's new album 'Coming of Age' is about to be released!"

What a thin description, without any explosive points. On such a big day when a group of top stars appeared, this hot search was as eye-sore as an ugly duckling among a group of white swans.

If it stayed at the bottom of the hot search, quietly not stealing the show, maybe no one would say anything, but after Sony Record Company's Chinese branch smashed a lot of money, this hot search climbed step by step under the eyes of everyone, and finally reached the top five of the hot search.

Now everyone has seen this "ugly duckling" that is unwilling to be mediocre, but its too abrupt appearance immediately attracted group mockery, group mockery in the true sense:

"An 18th-tier star with less than 1 million Weibo fans, releasing an album can hit the fourth hot search. How much money does this have to cost?"

"Don't know if the money spent on buying hot searches can be recouped by selling albums? (Eating melon)"

"Izumi, a frequent visitor to hot searches. Don't know how many times she has been on it this month."

"It's a pity that if you can't get popular, you can't get popular. No matter how many times you go up, you are still an 18th-tier, and you can't compare with my idol at all."

"Over-marketing is too damaging to the passerby's favor. The image was pretty good originally, but now I really feel ugly in my eyes."

"She has been on hot searches abroad more times than domestically. It is said that she is very popular on YouTube."

"This cow is blown... do you believe it? Anyway, I don't believe it."

"'Faded' and 'Lemon' are her songs, they are very popular on TikTok!"

"TikTok songs, I won't say too much, everyone understands."

"I've heard the songs, they are indeed good, but even if you have talent, you don't need to be so anxious to make money. It's only been how long and you're releasing a new album again. Writing ten songs in fifteen days is faster than a hen laying eggs!"

"Everyone don't say that, this is a very talented singer..."

"Don't protect her. If you really have talent, do you need to buy hot searches for promotion? Good wine is not afraid of deep alleys!"

"Exactly, don't think that writing a Japanese song can pretend to be an international singer. Now the country is strong, and that set of worshipping foreign things is no longer popular!"

The sporadic fan speeches were also drowned out by the overwhelming mockery. Luo Quan's new album promotion in China had just begun, and it seemed to have encountered Waterloo. ===== CHAPTER 51 =====