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Online Essay Draft Submission

Topic: Mobile payment in China

Abstract This paper is about the phenomenon that people can purchase without physical wallet, but the mobile payment applications. With QR code appearing in almost every place one might need, one can live in a city in China without cash. The mobile payment in China is very well adopted. In the last few years, mobile payment users have rapidly grew. There are few factors that effect people in China accepting the new purchasing way. Referencing the TAM, I will explain the factors in the following essay. (Key words: mobile payment, adoption, initial trust, China, TAM, Mobile Payment security)

Figure 1

Image Link: https://walkthechat.com/wechat-payment-5-reasons-tencent-might-kill-alipay/

Introduction

Nowadays, about two third of the people in China are mobile payment user. With mobile payment, one can survive in an urban area without physical wallet. (CGTN, 2017) Mobile payment as “a process in which at least one phase of the transaction is conducted using a mobile device (such as mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, or any wireless enabled device) capable of securely processing a financial transaction over a mobile network, or via various wireless technologies (NFC, Bluetooth, RFID, etc.)” is defined by Ghezzi, Renga, Balocco, and Pescetto in 2010. (Tiago.O, Manoj.T, Goncalo.B, and Filipe.C, 2016) Yue Liu mention the Organization for Economic Cooperation and development (OECD)’s definition that “mobile payments are payments for which payment data and instruction are made via mobile phones or peter mobile devices.” (Yue Liu, 2015) In China, the QR code can appear everywhere when one need to scan and purchase with WeChat Pay or Alipay. QR code, the quick response code, is a trademark. (Wikipedia) 

Figure 2

Image Link: https://scanova.io/blog/blog/2015/03/04/wechat-qr-code/

In China, the QR code can appear in stores, taxi, mobile payment application, and even on a piece of paper. (CGTN, 2017) The main third party payment firms in China nowadays are WeChat Pay and Alipay. They are the mobile payment applications in the smart phone. WeChat Pay is originally a messaging and locating providing application. (Wei Huang and Jillian Tang, 2015) The WeChat Pay function can be a platform for mobile payment. The purchasing system is between buyer, bank, and shop. (Wei Huang and Jillian Tang, 2015) “Alipay is a non-financial organisatoin. Payment is based either Onan prepaid model or charging directly from pens bank card.” (Yue Liu, 2015) The objective goal of this paper is to argue that mobile payment is well adopted in China market; The disadvantages of mobile payment are considered to be minor issue due to a successful builded initial trust. I will analyze Mobile Payment adoption by referencing the theory of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the data from research. 

Sub-topic #1 Recent Development

The “growth of WeChat Payment” and “ the booming mobile payments” can show the “great market potential” in China. (Wei Huang and Jillian Tang, 2015) Indeed, in 2017, mobile payment has already become the major purchasing method in China. Mobile payment user has grew rapidly in China during the past few years under the strong support from China government, banking institution, and the strong development of the third party payment firms. “Online payment users increased from 40.3 million [in 2007 ] to 221.5 million [in 2012].” (Wai-Ming To and Linda S.L. Lai, 2014, p.22) 

Figure 3

Image Source: (Wai-Ming To and Linda S.L. Lai, 2014, p.23) 

In order to success the mobile payment demands, the government, banks, and third party payment industry in China have to corporate with each other. According to the article, “in 2005, the government passed [ the law of Electronic Signature].” In the same year, “the People’s Bank of China released the ‘Electronic Payment Guidelines’.” In 2011, TheChinaSecurityPaymentUnion is established. (Wai-Ming To and Linda S.L. Lai, 2014, p.23-25) In 2015, about 10.6 billion (RMB) are processed through through the mobile payment application, also known as the third party payment firm, Alipay, each day. (Yue Liu, 2015) When the majority of urban Chinese have became mobile payment users directly from off- line cash users, mobile payment is the late development advantage. Chinese shoppers skip the time of period of using credit card and directly jump into the mobile payment era.

Sub-topic #2 Adoption

From the observe of recent situation and phenomenon of mobile payment in China, people are willing to combine their physical wallet into a smart phone. However, there are few factors influencing customer’s adoption and intention of mobile payment. Mobile payment, as a payment channel, is depending on the acceptance of consumers to survive in the payment market. The acceptance degree is the most important key factor of mobile payment. (Jing Li, Jia-Le Liu, and Huan-Yong Ji, 2014, p.120) The behaviour beliefs, social influences, and personal traits are indicated to be the main potentially “explanatory variables in technology adoption.” (Shuiqing Yang, Sumeet Gupta, Yuzhi Cao, Rui Zhang, 2012,p.129 )

The TAM (Techonolgy Acceptance Model ) is pointed out to be a useful and powerful theoretical model in understanding of technology innovation adoption by many researchers. The external influence factors, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, “are added to expense TAM.” (Jing Li, Jia-Le Liu, and Huan-Yong Ji, 2014, p.120) The TAM forwarded by Davis explain the “individual acceptance behaviour of information technology.” Due subjective norm has different influence level in different culture environment, the external influence factors: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, are added to help analyze one’s adoption behaviour. (Jing Li, Jia-Le Liu, and Huan-Yong Ji, 2014, p.120) The perceived usefulness is “user’s subjective expectation” for the application. Perceived ease of use is the easiness while user learning to use the application. The external variables are indicated having positive influence on adoption intention. (Jing Li, Jia-Le Liu, and Huan-Yong Ji, 2014, p.122)

In terms of behavioural beliefs,  relative benefit and computability are two factors, which might influence adoption intention positively; perceived risk and perceived fee are two factor that might influence adoption intention negatively. In terms of social influence, while relative benefit can positively influence on adoption intention, the perceived risk can have negative influence on adoption intention. In terms of personal traits, the relative benefit applies significant impacts on adoption intention; however, the preceded risk’s impacts are little. (Shuiqing Yang, Sumeet Gupta, Yuzhi Cao, Rui Zhang, 2012,p.129 )

Sub-topic #3 Security ( negative factor effect adoption )

Although mobile payment is well adopted in China, it still has disadvantage. In the security aspect, mobile payment still involves risk. Mobile payment usually process through wireless network, which might be easy to get hacked. The unwarrantable security “will increase user’s perceived risk and decrease their usage intention of mobile payment.”  (Tao Zhou, 2011, p.290)

Figure 4

Image Link: https://cleeng.com/blog/3-learnings-from-implementing-mobile-payments-2/#gs.ZjYUyus

Sub-topic #4 Initial Trust (positive factor effect adoption)

Nowadays mobile payment is well adopted in China. One of the reasons can be that the third party companies have successfully builded initial trust among mobile users in the very early stage. Due to the unwarrantable security in the wireless internet environment, building initial trust  and reduce user’s perceived risk is a  significant step for mobile payment companies. (Tao Zhou, 2011, p.290)

Explain initial trust. Pull out mobile user data.

Synthesizing Conclusion

Reference

Huang, W., & Tang, J. (2015). Explore the Development of WeChat Payment from User Behavior. 118-121. doi:10.1109

Li, J., Liu, J., & Ji, H. (2014). Empirical Study of Influence Factors of Adaption Intention of Mobile Payment based on TAM Model in China. International Journal of u- and e- Service, Science and Technology, 7, 119-132. Retrieved October 9, 2017.

Liu,Y. (2015). Consumer protection in mobile payments in China: A critical analysis of Alipay’s service agreement. ELSEVIER, 679-688. www.sciencedirect.com

Oliveira, T., Thomas, M., Baptista, G., & Campos, F. (2016). Mobile payment: Understanding the determinants of customer adoption and intention to recommend the technology. Computers in Human Behavior, 61, 404-414. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.030

QR code. (2017, October 09). Retrieved October 9, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code

To, W., & Lai, L. S. (2014). Mobile Banking and Payment in China. IT Professional, 16(3), 22-27. doi:10.1109/mitp.2014.35

Yang, S., Liu, Y., Gupta, S., & Zhang, R. (n.d.). Mobile payment services adoption across time: An empirical study of the effects of behavioral beliefs, social influences, and personal traits. Computers in Human Behavior, 129-142. doi:10.1016

Zhou, T. (2011). The effect of initial trust on user adoption of mobile payment. Information Development, 27(4), 290-300. doi:10.1177/0266666911424075

Video Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPcA0xw8a-0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Z3-1w_8PI

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Literature Review (IAT309W Assignment)

My Topic : Queer Film in Hong Kong around 1997

Summary of “ Gender Trouble in Hongkong Cinema” by Tammy Cheung and Michael Gilson

The topic of the article is about the bending and stereotypical portrayals of male and female characters appear in Hong Kong movies in the 1990s. Especially in Hong Kong, a densely populated city, the authors think that the true portrayals of various male, female, and homosexual characters did not appear in the movies. The authors have introduced the political and economy  environment of Hong Kong. The authors approach the topic by introducing the development of feminist in the society and traditional portrayal in films. The author provides examples in movies to tell the different of female, male, gay, lesbian between in film portrayal and in reality. The main argument is that many stereotypes about gender appears in Hong Kong movie. They found male is usually positive and gentlemen hero, but female, gay, and lesbian are usually described as negative and dark in films.

Summary of “ Queering Chineseness: The Queer Sphere of Feelings in Farewell My Concubine and Green Snake ” by Jen-Hao Hsu

The topic of the article is about the queerness in film Farewell My Conbine and Green Snake. The author approach the topic from the International point of Queer in cinema to the two films, and then back to the International point of view. The main argument is that the films can be read as a national allegory intent in the representation of homosexuality. Through analyzing the main characters and conflicts in the two films, the author found that new forms of affective subject like queer culture can combine into traditional Chinese story and background in movie. The queer feeling in films have affected the ethico-politial order of Chineseness.

Summary of “ Farewell my concubine and its Nativist critics” by Ben Xu

The topic of the article is about the Chinese critics toward movie Farewell my concubine. The critics show asymmetrical power relationships between the first and third worlds. The critics are helpful for studying post- 1989 China. The main argument is that people in the West critics the film differently than Chinese native film critics due to culture differences. The author approach the topic by introducing the history background of the film. In the end, the author find out that the film Farewell my concubine is “not just China’s bygone past construed for Western gaze.” However, the film is a cultural self-refection for Chinese themselves.

Summary of “ Beyond the crisis: the “chaotic formula” of Hong Kong cinema” by Petra Rehling

The topic of the article is about the history of Hong Kong film industry from the unique crisis cinema was established to 2000, which Hong Kong film market combined into China mainland’s. The author approach topic from the Hong Kong crisis cinema and the successful economic environment and unique political environment during the 1980s to 1990s. The author also explained the crisis of Hong Kong cinema during 2000s, the phenomenon is also related the society and economy factors, as well as, the global factors. The main argument of this paper is that the “chaotic formula”, also called “China factor” applied strong affects to Hong Kong cinema and film market. After 1997, Hong Kong film market is handed over to China. The author found that Hong Kong film became more “popular”; however, the freedom and unique became classic.

Summary of “ Queer at Your Own Risk Marginality, Community and Hong Kong Gay Male Bodies” by Travis Kong Shiu-Ki

The topic of this article is about  the gap between personal and community political of Hong Kong gay man. The author approach the topic through interview of individuals. The author attempt to see the interviewees as the representative of Hong Kong gay population. The interviewees have different age and education level. The mostly repeatedly data are taken by the author. The main argument in this article is that “society at large limits the emergence of gay space; even inside the gay world, certain gay bodies are marginalized.” Through the data collection and analysis the author find that gay identity in Hong Kong do not challenge the gendered and sexual order of society in public, however gay man in Hong Kong can use “their own embodied cultural capital” to against the ideals in order “to form intimate relationship.”

Summary of “ The changing spectacle of Glamour Heroines in Contemporary Hong Kong Cinema” by Stephen C.K.Chen

The author is interested in that “in what ways have the new currents of [trans-nationality] affected existing forms of cultural sensibility in the ‘post-colony’. ” The article is focused on the alter of spectacle of Hong Kong through the heroine mediation changing in films. The author intends to exam that how the cinematic action in Hong Kong has been “re-imagined and re aligned.” The author approach the topic through explaining culture complexity, which individual can be influenced and shaped by the surrounding culture environment. The author provides examples of films and theories from research. So, after Hong Kong return to China in 1997, the culture sharing environment has changed in Hong Kong, and the popular genre of “women warrior” in action cinema is influenced. Through analyzing the cases of action film in Hong Kong the author finds the “changing signs of culture relevance, identity, and sensibility. Due to Hong Kong’s unique national and political environment, the culture identity to people is also complex.

Summary of “ Queerscapes in Contemporary Hong Kong Cinema” by Helen Hok-sze Leung

The topic in this article is about the respond from Hong Kong cinema through queer films toward the uncertain and changing of government. The conflict and fear are indirectly represented or symbolized with the struggles in the queer films. The author approach this topic from Chau’s argue, which there is no “tongzhi” film in Hong Kong but films about “tongzhi”. Through his argue, information about identity of sexual minorities is presented. The author also pulls out examples in the movie “hold tight” and the song “Undercurrent”. The main argument in this article is that the fear, worry, and struggle toward the uncertain government in Kong Hong 1997 are showed in queer film. Queer, as a un-normal sexuality, represents the abnormal days during the postcolonial transition in Hong Kong. The author fins that queer films have succeeded during that time is relate to the local political and social situation.

Summary of “ First Contact: Queer Theory, Sexual Identity, and ‘Mainstream’ Film” by Rob Cover

The topic in this article is about the “role of queer theory in media critique, entering on a discussion of four recent “mainstream” mass-circulation films with significant lesbian and gay content.” The author approach the topic through introduce the first non-heterosexual film and its development and spread in audience through time, and research about construction of sexuality. The author discussed four lesbian and gay films in the quire theory. The main argument in this article is that the four films with significant homosexuality content of the construction of youth sexuality might be the first contact with lesbian and gay discourse for younger generation. Through analysis and research the author finds that “a predominance of bisexuality and a need or desire towards experimen- tation that might be dependent on time, place, and other factors that influence desire. In other words, the categorisations of sexuality into “homosexual” and “heterosexual” found in the above films, plus the exclusiveness of each category, is one that is not co-related in actual human behaviour.”

Summary of “ Archiving queer feelings in Hong Kong” by Helen Hok-Sze Leung

The topic in this article is about “ the revitalization of a productive tension between ‘queer’ and ‘theory’.” The author also “underscores its necessity for a study of ‘local queer theory.’” The author approach the topic by analyzing “three examples of queer writing by Hong Kong authors,” during the year 1984 to 2000. The author will focus on “the text’s archival effect and affective expression.” The main argument in this article is that queer writings, which is base on the global queer theory, in Hong Kong might has a gap between the writing and queerer’s real lives.  The author points out that the queer writings in Hong Kong “can offer fruitful interventions into current theoretical debates.” In the end, the author concludes with a call foe more creative and irreverent in short, queerer ways go localizing the global phenomenon of queer theory.”

Summary of “ An Unruly Death: Queer Media Loci Hong Kong” by Denise Tse-Shang Tang

The topic in this article is about the proliferation of queer media productions in Hong Kong near the dark times, which the city is handover from British to China government. The hopeless in Hong Kong has shaped public discussions, media representations of Hong Kong, and literary circles. The author indicates that LGBT lives in Hong Kong “are not immune to this message of fatalism.” The author approach the topic by pull out examples of queer films in 1997 that “speak to local queer sensibilities and sexual politics.” The author “exam the scope of Hong Kong queer media in four broad area:” Leung’s term, theatre and writings of indie pop and independent film, “queer media concerns gender-crossing performances and cultural productions from mainstream media icons in popular culture”, and “gossip magazine coverage of queer celebrity rumours.” The main argument in this article is that the broad sentiments of sadness, fear, indifference, and frustration Hong Kong faced in 1997 have made the “affect of politics ripe for exploration in film and other cultural productions.” In the conclusion, the author finds that “Hong Kong has not fulfilled its prediction of death, but rather thrives on premature rumours of its death to bring queerness into everyday life.”

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Final Project Submission

See Current K-pop Culture in UK through Flash Mob Events

        The term K-pop is a musical genre that means South Korean pop music. However, what is pop music? Pop music as the meaning of “popular music” is a type of music originally occurred and developed in America and Britain during the mid-1950s. For example, Michael Jackson is one of the most famous pop star in American. Since the mid-1960s, pop music spread from America and Britain to all over the world and influenced the music development trend in countries. K-pop, the pop music in South Korean, is started in 1990s. Inspiring by western pop music, the earliest K-pop band formed in 1992, called Seo Taiji & Boys. The music from this band is a remarkable fresh in Korean music history. In 1996, one of the member in Seo Taiji & Boys, Yang Hyun-suk’s established his company, called YG entertainment, which now become one of the three biggest entertainment company in south Korea. (Hannah Waitt, 2014) The other two entertainment companies are SM and JYP, and they formed in 1995 and 1997. Inspired by the success of Seo Taiji & Boys within Sourth Korea, these entertainment companies have built more idol bands in the mid of 1990s. (Hannah Waitt, 2014) K-pop wave first arrive in Japan in 2000, then spread to other countries in the following years. Until 2016, K-pop is still in the trend to become international. As K-pop culture spread through internet from Korea to U.K., the positive connection and high enthusiasm circulate among K-pop fans in U.K. through K-pop flash mob events. 

Flash mob is a 21st-century phenomenon and social activity. The event is usually attended by a group of people who do not know each other. The group of people will plan the flash mob event on internet. The plan includes instruction, time, and location of the event. In a public area, the group of people will perform at the same time, then disperse into the crowd. (Anne Duran, 2006) The k-pop flash mob take place in London is a unique case because the performers are trained for the event. The training includes learning the choreography of the k-pop dance, which they will perform in the flash mob, and rehears with formation. The training is also one of the ways to experience k-pop. In this paper, I will use “netnography” methodology to help explaining my thesis. Netnography is developed from the methodology, Ethnography, which can be used to study a specific group of people who has similar belief and behavior in a specific culture content within the society. The difference is that netnography uses online research to instead the process of collecting data from people and places. Base on my observation to the two k-pop flash mob videos and other research online, I would like to explain the current k-pop culture and k-pop flash mob through four main concepts, or four main perspectives. I will explain these concepts base on some academic resource in the following paragraphs.

Key Concept#1: Mimesis

         By imitating the behaviors of k-pop idol, the fans feel the connection between themselves and their k-pop idols. In both k-pop flash mob videos, the k-pop fans try to cover k-pop dance in the form of flash mob. Covering a k-pop dance is to learn and perform the k-pop dance choreography. It can also be viewed as an action of imitating k-pop idol’s behavior, for fans are copying the dance from k-pop idols. Different from the dance cover in the two flash mob videos, a k-pop dance cover performance usually has the almost same level and quality as the original piece. Through my observation of the two k-pop dance cover flash mobs, the choreography is not fully corrected. Although their performing enthusiasm is high, some of their moves are not full out. The allover performance level and quality haven’t reach the original dance’s. From my opinion, the main goal of the flash mob is not high quality performing but high enthusiasm of attending the k-pop activity and imitating k-pop idol. Covering k-pop dance in flash mob, fans are not only imitating the dance choreography but also the way of presenting it. Fans perform the dance in a public place and upload their performance video to internet. The fans are imitating k-pop bands’ performance routine.  Walter Benjamin’s Theory of Mimesis indicates that people “find meaning in the world though discovery of similarities”. The author Neil Leach says “the desire for camouflage is the desire to feel connected”.  One in society might imitate to a model to fit in the society or make itself feel comfortable to stay in to society (Neil Leach,2005). In my opinion, the k-pop idols are built to be perfect by entertainment company. The k-pop idols can be “models” that Walter Benjamin talked about. One part of “camouflage” can be imitating the “model” in a society. Therefore, the fans imitating idols to gain the “similarity” and to feel more connection. Through the flash mob events, the fans will feel that they are more similar or closer to their k-pop idols in some ways. 

Key Concept#2: Unique language

           In the area under the YouTube video “BTS Flashmob London UK Blood Sweat and Tears”, there is a line of text: “From UK A.R.M.Y to BTS” I find is interesting. BTS is a k-pop idol group, and the fans of the group called themselves A.R.M.Y. From my observation, most of the fans are girl; however, they are named army, which usually gives people a masculine image. Also, in the Hush Hush Facebook page provide by “Smile. Camera. Action” under the YouTube video “BTS Flachmob London UK Blood Sweat and Tears”, in Alessia Stefan’s comment “ARMYs all over the world” is mentioned. In my opinion, all the fans of BTS are given a name, ARMY. In the website, HELLOKPOP, Sharon reports that the k-pop idol group, BTS, creates their own official fan club name. A.R.M.Y is the abbreviation of Adorable Representative M.C for Youth. (Sharon, 2013) The fan club name also has a relationship with the group name Bangtan Boys (BTS). The reading sound of “Bangtan” means bulletproof in Korean language. Body armor, which is bulletproof, “and [army] are always together”. In denotation meaning, body armor protects army and the two are inseparable. The connotation meaning is the fans and the k-pop idol group are always being together just like army and body armor. (Sharon, 2013) In Bessie Lawton’s journal article, she states that word choice is important in public communication because a connotation meaning can give people positive or negative emotional association to the word. Denotation is the definition and dictionary meaning of a word. The name of a person, company, and band is one part of public communication. Bessie Lawton has a study about the denotation and connotation of person name. She points out that a denotation or the origin of a person’s name is very unrelated to the connotation. When people only know the connotation of a name base on popular culture, the positive or negative impact will apply on one who has the name. Bessie Lawton gives an example of “A Boy Named Sue”. Since the boy has a girly name, he is bulled in school. (Bessie Lawton, 2011) The story communicates the fact of how negative connotation exist and impact.  In my opinion, connotation has positive and negative emotional association with the word; however, connotation can be related to denotation. In BTS’s case, although army and body armor is unrelated with fans and idols, they share the meaning of inseparable. Military survive with body armor, and idols need the support from fans to survive in their company. All in all, the fan club name gives fans a positive connotation emotional impact and a relation to idol group.

Key Concept#3:  Accessibility

K-pop culture spread easily to countries having internet and social media accessibility. Through a cultural diffusion study, which is based on the “Gangnam Style” video, Weiai Wayne Xu, Ji Young Park, and Han Woo Park find that the video has spread rapidly and globally through YouTube and Twitter through internet, in 2015. Base on the report from Xiaolong in 2013, in the Central European, over half of the k-pop fans know k-pop through the internet; about 28% of the k-pop fans discover the Korean pop culture through Korean TV drama; the other 33% of the fans are circulated by friends. As the Korean wave is globalizing through broadcast and internet, in the city of London, people are experiencing the Korean wave too. The rapidly spread Korean culture wave is named “Hallyu” by Chinese journalists in the mid-1999s. Hallyu usually are Korean pop music, TV entertoyment programs, TV drama, and film. In London, people usually know k-pop through electronic media. In the dictionary, electronic media is the “broadcast or storage media that take advantage of electronic technology”. The electronic technology can usually be “television, radio, internet, … and other medium that requires electricity or digital encoding of information”. For example, nowadays some people read news on television or smart phone. Comparing to the physical newspaper, the electronic devises are electronic media. In the article, “The Struggles of Being a Kpop Fan in Europe”, the author indicated that there are very limited chances of holding concert in United Kingdom. Since hallyu started in 1999, United Kingdom held the first k-pop concert in 2011. Until 2016, in the six years, there are only twelve k-pop concerts happened in United Kingdom. In 2011, November 26, Holly Williams reports about the k-pop concert in London. In the interviews of k-pop fans, most of them indicate that they know k-pop through internet. The fans can watch a k-pop video on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or other websites. On YouTube, a video k-pop flash mob in London is viewed 317,401 times and is liked 10,000 times. On Twitter, the fan page, Bts army uk, has 119,000 followers. The other fan page on Twitter, BTS ARMY UK, gets 13,600 likes. The video and fan pages are created by k-pop fans from the United Kingdom. Most of the audiences might from UK too because the sources are titled with “uk” or “London”. In the article, Holly Williams writes that k-pop fans also meet each other through internet. Indeed, some of the k-pop fans will also build k-pop fans club or other communities on websites to gather together. In the k-pop community, fans will usually share k-pop information or plan k-pop activity. One of the popular k-pop fan page in United Kingdom is unitedkpop.com. The website includes k-pop news, culture, interviews, concert or other events information. In 2016, November, the information of a flash mob event is posted on the unitedkpop page. 

Key Concept#4: Sheep Effect

           In the first k-pop flash mob video, there are a crowd of k-pop fans singing or dancing with high enthusiasm. They are all facing toward the center of the crowd, which are the bellwethers. There are four girls dancing the choreography to the k-pop song in the center. The highest enthusiasm come from the center and spread to the edge of the crowd. In my opinion, the goal of this flash mob is to sharing k-pop fans’ high enthusiasm to each other. Comparing to enjoy the k-pop dance and music oneself, a crowd of k-pop fans can influence each other and bring the enthusiasm to a higher spot. First, the leaders of the activity perform in the center of the crowd to share their high enthusiasm. Then, the high enthusiasm spreads from the first inner circle to the edge of the crowd. People keep rising their enthusiasm in the crowd by following the leaders or the mass, although one in the crowd might have way less enthusiasm toward k-pop. Moreover, as the crowd gets massive, people at the outer circle can hardly see the dance performance happens in the center; however, people just behave by following the crowd. Individual following the behaviors of the mass spontaneously is called the sheep effect, as well as, herd behavior.

        “when people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other (Hoffer,1955). This tendency result in her behavior, where everyone is doing what everyone else is doing (Banerjee, 1992). People often infer information from the actions of others” (Yi-Fen Chen,2008).

The author, Yi-Fen Chen writes about the herd behavior that occurs in online book-selling market. Although the problem in Yi-Fen Chen’s article is different than the k-pop flash mob, the herd behavior situation in both cases is similar. One’s decision-making can be lead or influence by the decision of others. When people choosing book online, they have limited information about books because they cannot reach the books physically. Instead of the information of the book itself, customer can see the rating and sales volume in online bookstore. Herd behavior happens when the rating and sales volume influence customers’ book choice. One might purchases books online base on the evaluation from others but not look at the quality of the book. One might buy a book that is popular without liking the book. All in all, herd behavior result in one losing itself but following the mass. In the k-pop flash mob, one might have less enthusiasm toward k-pop culture but experiencing the high enthusiasm in the crowd. When the enthusiasm is high in the crowd, it is interesting to join and follow.

           As K-pop culture spread through internet from Korea to U.K., the positive connection and high enthusiasm circulate among K-pop fans in U.K. through K-pop flash mob events. First, although Korea has far physical distance from the United Kingdom, the popular culture can easily flow to U.K. through internet. Therefore, if one can access to the internet, one can reach the k-pop culture easily. Although the k-pop idols come to U.K. few time, the most of the time they stay in Korea. The K-pop fans in U.K. usually get in touch with the idol group through social media or fan club website. Most of the K-pop fan club have their unique name, which is created by the K-pop idol group. For example, the fans of BTS are called A.R.M.Y. There are related denotation and connotation meaning of the idol group name and fan club name. The connotation meaning usually has a positive emotional connection between idols and fans. There are also K-pop fans activities information on fan club website. K-pop flash mob is one of the K-pop activities. When K-pop fans gather together and share their enthusiasm in the flash mob, the enthusiasm becomes higher and higher due to the herb behavior. The k-pop fans get influence with each other and rise the enthusiasm to a higher spot spontaneously. The flash mob events also gain the connection between idol and fans through the theory of mimesis. When the K-pop fans covering the dance choreography from their idol, they gain the similarity between idol and themselves. The desire of imitating model is the desire of feeling connection. To gain similarity between one and model is to gain the connection between one and model. As the K-pop culture become more popular in U.K., the positive mimesis behavior and high enthusiasm will circulate into more and more communities in United Kingdom.

Citation (APA):

Cologne 1. (2014, March 19). Power of culture - Hallyu, the Korean wave. Retrieved March 19, 2017, from http://globe-one.com/power-of-culture-hallyu-the-korean-wave-4636/

Duran, A. (2006). Flash mobs: Social influence in the 21st century. Social Influence,1(4), 301-315. doi:10.1080/15534510601046569

Chen, Y. (2008). Herd behavior in purchasing books online. Computers in Human Behavior,24(5), 1977-1992. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2007.08.004

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Image Reference:

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[amikotong-blog]

Scoping and introducing methodology

My study is about the popular Korean pop music video. I will start by introduce k-pop music and its popularity in Europe countries. Then I will discuss that what makes k-pop music so successful.  The elements in k-pop music video are designed to catch audience’s attention; however, which specific element can attract Europe audience, and why? I will analysis Korean music video and its development in Europe countries during this ten years, 2006-2016. I will use the content analysis method during this paper study. I will look though the most popular music videos in Europe during this ten year, and analysis the elements.