Hanfu, the traditional Chinese garment [Getty Images]
Hanfu, the traditional Chinese garment [Getty Images]

Seo Gyeong-deok, a professor at Sungshin Women's University, criticized TikTok on Saturday for hosting numerous videos claiming that hanbok, the traditional Korean garment, originated from hanfu, its Chinese counterpart, calling the situation "serious."

Writing on his SNS, Seo said hanbok and hanfu are clearly distinct. "Hanbok appears in Goguryeo murals and is a two-piece garment with separate top and bottom, while hanfu is a one-piece robe — they are fundamentally different," he said.

He added that some Chinese internet users had been waging a sustained "cultural appropriation" campaign online for years, falsely claiming hanbok derived from hanfu. "Baidu Encyclopedia, China's largest portal, also sparked major controversy by describing hanbok as 'attire of the Joseon ethnic group,'" he said.

Seo attributed the distortions to a sense of "cultural inferiority" triggered by the global spread of hallyu. "As hallyu has spread and Korean cultural items like hanbok and the gat hat have gained worldwide attention, this kind of distortion has emerged from cultural insecurity," he said. "Rather than simply condemning China's misrepresentation, we ourselves need to take greater interest in hanbok and step up our efforts to promote it."

The controversy follows a separate incident in which sellers believed to be Chinese companies listed hanfu on Amazon, the global e-commerce platform, under the label "hanbok."

Some domestic online shopping platforms have also drawn criticism after searches for "hanbok" were found to return hanfu results alongside them.


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