Since the Korean Wave phenomenon started in 1997, Hallyu has undergone many changes. Geographically, while Asia has been the largest cultural market for the Korean cultural industries, other parts of society, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America have gradually admitted Korean popular culture. The components of the Korean Wave have also greatly expanded. Hallyu originally implied the exports of a few cultural products, such as television dramas, popular music, and films; however, Korea has recently developed and exported K-pop, digital games and smartphone technologies as well as relevant youth culture. Meanwhile, industrial and technological contexts of the Korean Wave have changed significantly during the last 20 years. The role of social media in the Korean Wave's transnationalization in recent years is especially intriguing because fans around the world can easily access social media to enjoy K-pop, digital games, and films. The changes in the nature and appearance of the Korean Wave, conceptual and theoretical shifts in the studies of the Korean Wave, and the influences of the development of media technologies on the Korean Wave are all very significant. This book aims to provide a better understanding of Hallyu's theoretical and institutional history on one hand, and new features of the Korean Wave on the other hand.

Since the Korean Wave phenomenon started in 1997, Hallyu has undergone many changes. Geographically, while Asia has been the largest cultural market for the Korean cultural industries, other parts of society, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America have gradually admitted Korean popular culture. The components of the Korean Wave have also greatly expanded. Hallyu originally implied the exports of a few cultural products, such as television dramas, popular music, and films; however, Korea has recently developed and exported K-pop, digital games and smartphone technologies as well as relevant youth culture. Meanwhile, industrial and technological contexts of the Korean Wave have changed significantly during the last 20 years. The role of social media in the Korean Wave's transnationalization in recent years is especially intriguing because fans around the world can easily access social media to enjoy K-pop, digital games, and films. The changes in the nature and appearance of the Korean Wave, conceptual and theoretical shifts in the studies of the Korean Wave, and the influences of the development of media technologies on the Korean Wave are all very significant. This book aims to provide a better understanding of Hallyu's theoretical and institutional history on one hand, and new features of the Korean Wave on the other hand.

This book examines different aspects of Asian popular culture, including films, TV, music, comedy, folklore, cultural icons, the Internet and theme parks. It raises important questions such as - What are the implications of popularity of Asian popular culture for globalization? Do regional forces impede the globalizing of cultures? Or does the Asian popular culture flow act as a catalyst or conveying channel for cultural globalization? Does the globalization of culture pose a threat to local culture? It addresses two seemingly contradictory and yet parallel processes in the circulation of Asian popular culture: the interconnectedness between Asian popular culture and western culture in an era of cultural globalization that turns subjects such as Pokemon, Hip Hop or Cosmopolitan into truly global phenomena, and the local derivatives and versions of global culture that are necessarily disconnected from their origins in order to cater for the local market. It thereby presents a collective argument that, whilst local social formations, and patterns of consumption and participation in Asia are still very much dependent on global cultural developments and the phenomena of modernity, yet such dependence is often concretized, reshaped and distorted by the local media to cater for the local market.

Hong Kong was once an established hub of creativity in Asia recognized internationally for its cinema, Bruce Lee and Kung Fu. Cantopop, its particular form of pop music, was popular throughout China and East Asia from the 1970s. So why is Hong Kong's creative industry today in a state of stagnation? Cultural Policy and East Asian Rivalry unravels the challenges faced by the creative industries in Hong Kong in relation to the wider East Asian context in countries including Singapore, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia and China. Based on a four-year study of the gaming industry in Hong Kong, this book explores the barriers that creative industries face in the region. Fung argues that a lack of cultural policy in Hong Kong has damaged the gaming industry and by extension all creative industries in the region by rendering them uncompetitive. Conversely, the growing strength of cultural policy in other countries across the region has created further barriers for the industry.

Hong Kong was once an established hub of creativity in Asia recognized internationally for its cinema, Bruce Lee and Kung Fu. Cantopop, its particular form of pop music, was popular throughout China and East Asia from the 1970s. So why is Hong Kong's creative industry today in a state of stagnation? Cultural Policy and East Asian Rivalry unravels the challenges faced by the creative industries in Hong Kong in relation to the wider East Asian context in countries including Singapore, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia and China. Based on a four-year study of the gaming industry in Hong Kong, this book explores the barriers that creative industries face in the region. Fung argues that a lack of cultural policy in Hong Kong has damaged the gaming industry and by extension all creative industries in the region by rendering them uncompetitive. Conversely, the growing strength of cultural policy in other countries across the region has created further barriers for the industry.

This book examines the way transnational media companies have entered the Chinese entertainment market. Based on the author's ethnographic work and over 100 interviews with senior executives in global media corporations, including Warner Bros. Pictures, Viacom's MTV Channel, and Nickelodeon and News Corporation's Channel V, the book analyzes the concrete globalization/localization strategies of these corporations and how they cope with the various political and economic constraints of working in China.

This book examines different aspects of Asian popular culture, including films, TV, music, comedy, folklore, cultural icons, the Internet and theme parks. It raises important questions such as What are the implications of popularity of Asian popular culture for globalization? Do regional forces impede the globalizing of cultures? Or does the Asian popular culture flow act as a catalyst or conveying channel for cultural globalization? Does the globalization of culture pose a threat to local culture? It addresses two seemingly contradictory and yet parallel processes in the circulation of Asian popular culture: the interconnectedness between Asian popular culture and western culture in an era of cultural globalization that turns subjects such as Pokemon, Hip Hop or Cosmopolitan into truly global phenomena, and the local derivatives and versions of global culture that are necessarily disconnected from their origins in order to cater for the local market. It thereby presents a collective argument that, whilst local social formations, and patterns of consumption and participation in Asia are still very much dependent on global cultural developments and the phenomena of modernity, yet such dependence is often concretized, reshaped and distorted by the local media to cater for the local market.