@article{ART003281370},
author={Kim, Hyun-Jeong and Choi, Youngeun},
title={South Korean Women’s Hanfu Experiences: Chinese Digital Nationalism and Gendered Platform Governmentality},
journal={아시아여성연구},
issn={1225-9241},
year={2025},
volume={64},
number={3},
pages={9-62},
doi={10.14431/jaw.2025.12.64.3.9}
TY - JOUR
AU - Kim, Hyun-Jeong
AU - Choi, Youngeun
TI - South Korean Women’s Hanfu Experiences: Chinese Digital Nationalism and Gendered Platform Governmentality
JO - 아시아여성연구
PY - 2025
VL - 64
IS - 3
PB - Research Institute of Asian Women
SP - 9
EP - 62
SN - 1225-9241
AB - This study explores how the hanfu experience—a cultural phenomenon shaped by young Chinese women’s collective vision of cultural identity, beauty ideals, and digital image-making practices—has rapidly spread across borders via social media and gained growing popularity among South Korean female consumers. Young Chinese people have reconstructed the hanfu through curated integration of historical and contemporary fashion elements, using the garment to perform belonging within an imagined Chinese community—a process that has sparked ongoing debates about the homogenization of cultural diversity. The proliferation of “women in hanfu” images on digital platforms stems from three intersecting dynamics: Chinese youth’s nationalist reclamation of lost heritage, women’s neoliberal aspirations toward an idealized self, and the Chinese state’s strategic pursuit of global soft power. These forces have coalesced into the “hanfu experience,” a commercialized cultural form generating intricate layers of affect. While South Korean women appear voluntarily drawn to the hanfu experience by their fascination with glamorous Chinese wanghong influencers, such engagement operates as orchestrated participation within broader systems of surveillance and control. The digital economy serves as a site where state and platform actors continually appropriate women’s erotic, affective, and self-disciplinary labor for capital and power accumulation. Through this mechanism, China’s digital nationalism harnesses women’s gendered aspirations to extend geopolitical and cultural influence beyond national borders.
KW - digital nationalism;hanfu experience;wanghong;female image reproduction;transnational surveillance capitalism
DO - 10.14431/jaw.2025.12.64.3.9
ER -
Kim, Hyun-Jeong and Choi, Youngeun. (2025). South Korean Women’s Hanfu Experiences: Chinese Digital Nationalism and Gendered Platform Governmentality. 아시아여성연구, 64(3), 9-62.
Kim, Hyun-Jeong and Choi, Youngeun. 2025, "South Korean Women’s Hanfu Experiences: Chinese Digital Nationalism and Gendered Platform Governmentality", 아시아여성연구, vol.64, no.3 pp.9-62. Available from: doi:10.14431/jaw.2025.12.64.3.9
Kim, Hyun-Jeong, Choi, Youngeun "South Korean Women’s Hanfu Experiences: Chinese Digital Nationalism and Gendered Platform Governmentality" 아시아여성연구 64.3 pp.9-62 (2025) : 9.
Kim, Hyun-Jeong, Choi, Youngeun. South Korean Women’s Hanfu Experiences: Chinese Digital Nationalism and Gendered Platform Governmentality. 2025; 64(3), 9-62. Available from: doi:10.14431/jaw.2025.12.64.3.9
Kim, Hyun-Jeong and Choi, Youngeun. "South Korean Women’s Hanfu Experiences: Chinese Digital Nationalism and Gendered Platform Governmentality" 아시아여성연구 64, no.3 (2025) : 9-62.doi: 10.14431/jaw.2025.12.64.3.9
Kim, Hyun-Jeong; Choi, Youngeun. South Korean Women’s Hanfu Experiences: Chinese Digital Nationalism and Gendered Platform Governmentality. 아시아여성연구, 64(3), 9-62. doi: 10.14431/jaw.2025.12.64.3.9
Kim, Hyun-Jeong; Choi, Youngeun. South Korean Women’s Hanfu Experiences: Chinese Digital Nationalism and Gendered Platform Governmentality. 아시아여성연구. 2025; 64(3) 9-62. doi: 10.14431/jaw.2025.12.64.3.9
Kim, Hyun-Jeong, Choi, Youngeun. South Korean Women’s Hanfu Experiences: Chinese Digital Nationalism and Gendered Platform Governmentality. 2025; 64(3), 9-62. Available from: doi:10.14431/jaw.2025.12.64.3.9
Kim, Hyun-Jeong and Choi, Youngeun. "South Korean Women’s Hanfu Experiences: Chinese Digital Nationalism and Gendered Platform Governmentality" 아시아여성연구 64, no.3 (2025) : 9-62.doi: 10.14431/jaw.2025.12.64.3.9
