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hi Pat,

i hope everything will turn out fine in thailand. i do hope peace will always reign even in

the midst of all these political transitions.

are u referring to the voting in chosun? i think no end date was indicated in the poll

so you still have a lot of chance to cast your vote for yong joon :) fighting !! :P

Hi Frances,

Thank you for your warm hope.

Yes, I refer to Chosun. Can I vote for YJ still? Wonderful I do it now.

Thanks a million,

Pat

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VOD posted by thaifan in youtube

11-minute clip taken from the supplement disc of April Snow DVD ~

costume fitting of byj & syj, photo shoots w/ their respective 'partners' in the story,

first dinner w/ the production crew & prayer ceremony led by the 2 main actors

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thanks frances for all your post today :D i logged to soompi this morning but it was unaccessible then i got busy with work.

it seems that yong joon didn't go to krygyz. another delay :D i hope that he goes to krygyz after the 11th of october :P [crossing my fingers]

i wonder from what drama the gif wherein yong joon threw a pail of water was from?

oh have you guys read in the news section that April Snow will be in the 2006 Korean Festival in London? I know that there BYJ fans in UK I hope that they'll get to see AS.

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oh have you guys read in the news section that April Snow will be in the 2006 Korean Festival in London? I know that there BYJ fans in UK I hope that they'll get to see AS.

hi liezle, its so quiet today in bae sites.... :o

after edinburgh in scotland, its london's turn to see april snow :)

koreavr3.jpg

official site ~ http://www.koreafilm.co.uk/index.htm

the festival will run from sept 27 to oct 1 at the odeon covent garden.

3 films will be screened twice & it includes April Snow w/c are on sept 27 and 28

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thanks bb for the info on the gif. FL is already available in our country but it's in chinese and english. but i learned from friends that the one in english subs is very bad.

***

[screencaps] April Snow Director's Cut

source : http://cafe.daum.net/byjgallery -- by vento

posted by tigger mom in BYJ's Quilt

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[excerpts]news about Hanryu Expo. from gaulyeoja's posting

korean to english translation by annamarie in kob

Posted by gaulyeoja. from YonHapNews

"News about Hanryu Expo"

"On November 11th, 2006, a place to meet fans and Hanryu stars, the grand opening ceremony of the Jeju Hanryu Expo 2006 is scheduled to be held at Jeju International Convention Center...

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[Trans] BYJ's thank you message at yesterday' presentation

chinese to english translation by cam

source : http://ent.sina.com.cn/s/j/2006-09-24/20291261609.html - Sina Entertainment News

2006 grand ceremony of Hallyu's popularity in China

On the evening of 24th September, 2006, the ¡°2006 grand ceremony of Hallyu's popularity in China¡± was held in the golden grand hall of the ¡®Great Hall of the People¡¯ in Beijing. Nearly 200 guests, including leaders from both China and South Korea, celebrities from private enterprise, financial markets, renowned entrepreneurs, entertainers and the media.

The vice president of the 9th National Consultative Conference Zhao Nanqi delivered the opening speech. The former vice minister of Foreign Affairs, a representative of the Ministry of Asian Culture, the head of the South Korean tourism and others were among the attendees. The evening was broadcast live from Sina.

The evening was carried out in an auspicious and cheerful atmosphere, there were 25 awards including:

* ¡°The top 30 most influential figures¡±

* ¡°The top 10 most influential brands¡±

* ¡°The top 10 most popular TV/movies¡±

* ¡°The top 10 most popular entertainers¡±

* ¡°The top 10 most popular singers¡±

* ¡°The top 10 most popular songs¡±

The winners were: Hyundai, Samsung electronics, Kumho Asiana group, Asiana Airline, Lotte, SM, H.O.T of SM entertainment, TVSQ, Shinhwa, Super Junior, N.R.G, Bae Yong Joon, An Seung Ho, Jang Woo Hyuk, Jang Seo Hee and Chae Yeon.

The 12 members of the well known S Korea band Super Junior accepted their award on stage and expressed their gratitude to the fans in China for their support. Managing agencies of TVSQ, BOA, Kanta, Jang Woo Hyuk and N.R.G accepted awards on behalf of the celebrities. Bae Yong Joon and An Seung Ho could not be present due to schedule clashes. They also delivered their speeches via their respective agencies in S. Korea.

The voting started from 7th of July 2006 to 31 July and attracted one million voters from more than 20 different countries and regions such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, S. Korea, Japan, Singapore and USA. Voting was limited to once per IP address and the same mobile number can only vote once. There were over 15 million votes collected over the net and SMS, achieving the highest voting record in China. At the same time, in order to guarantee the security of the process, the voting was using the net as their evaluation basis for the first time.

¡¡¡¡

This event, has the themes of

* "strengthening cultural exchange between China and S Korea,

* promoting economic development between China and S Korea,

* broadening the friendship of Chinese and S Korean people and

* the co-prosperity of China and S. Korea".

The event was run by the Association of economic development of China and S.Korea (part of Department of Foreign Affairs), the Bureau of Statistic and Economic Development Committee of China and S. Korea, Tian Yi creation and Design, Model Media and many other sponsors. Proundly supported by China Central TV, Hunan Satellite, Eastern Satellite, Beijing TV, ShanXi Satellite, HuaYu Satellite, Sina and nearly a hundred other authorized broadcast bodies. The events were divided into 8 different ceremonies, with 25 series such as ¡®Influential¡¯, ¡®Impression¡¯, ¡®Enterprise¡¯, ¡®Entertainment¡¯, ¡®Music¡¯, ¡®Sports¡¯, ¡®Imaginary¡¯ and ¡®Games¡¯ .

source : http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=135477554

BYJ's thank you message

Hello, my name is Bae Yong Joon,

Firstly, I regret that due to my busy shooting schedule that I am unable to attend this special presentation. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone for the love and support you have given me.

I understand that this event commemorates the profound significance of the cultural exchange between China and S. Korea. Best wishes for the continued development of mutual cultural exchange between both countries and for the development of mutual cultural exchanges in Asia as a whole.

May I congratulate all the winners and thank you all once again.

Wishing you all the very best of health and happiness.

Yours sincerely,

Bae Yong Joon

more photos are available here http://ent.sina.com.cn/s/j/2006-09-24/20291261609.html

BOF, please listen to the voices of Bae-fans in China

source : #34907 KOB

It appears "Snowman" (Zhang Lei - the organiser of YJ's Nov 05 Beijing visit) accepted the awards on behalf of BOF and read out YJ's thanking message on stage.

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[Donga Article] Korean Pop Culture's Impact on China

posted by frances in Quilt

from korean news portal dongA.com ( english donga)

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?...d=2006092687418

September 26, 2006 07:02

The China-Korea Economy Development Association has released a new top-ten list. The new pop star rate is based on internet polls and telephone research along with reference data from internet portal engines including Xin lang and Sou hu.

The association also held an awards ceremony in Renmin Grand Hall in Beijing in the afternoon of September 24 for honoring the winners across eight categories and twenty-five sub-categories.

The study revealed that the top-ten pop stars among Korean pop culture buffs, so called Haohanju, are Rain, Jeon Ji-hyeon, Lee Jun-gi, Song Hye-gyo, Jang Na-ra, Bae Yong-jun, Lee Young-ae, Jang Dong-gun and BOA.

As for the most respected business people within the top ten, Chung Mong-joon, Lee Kun-hee, Park Sam-gu, Yoon Jong-ryong, Kim Ssang-soo, Lee Su-man, Liu Yun, Roh Jae-man, Woo Nam-gyun, and Park Geun-hee are mentioned.

Lee Chang-ho, Lee Seh-dol, Cho Hun-hyeon, Ahn Jeong-hwan, Lee Cheon-soo, Choi Cheol-han, Yoo Chang-hyeok, Yoo Seung-min and Park Young-hun are singled out as the most popular Korean sports stars in China. Chinese people like soccer and Baduk, the Korean stone checkers, so much that they disproportionately picked up six of Baduk players and three soccer stars. Presumably, Yoo Seung-min is named because he is well known in China as a table tennis winner of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, defeating Wang Hao, China's promising ping-pong player.

In terms of top-ten symbolic words, Chinese people associate Korea with Korean soap operas, patriotism, Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, Bulgoggi, the Korean roast beef, plastic surgery, idol group singers, Seoul, Korean dishes, Kimchi, and the movie 'My Sassy Girl.'

The most beloved or respected Korean companies in China are found to be Hyundai-Kia Motors, Samsung Electronics, LG Group, SK Group, AmorePacific, Kumho-Asiana Group, Korean Air, Lotte Group, KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), and SM Entertainment.

Bae Yong-jun, Lee Jun-gi, Kim Jeong-hun, Kang Ji-hwan and Song Seung-heon are the hottest Korean actors, while Jang Seo-hui, Song Yoon-a, Lee Da-hae, Choi Ji-woo, and Yang Mi-gyeong are the most popular Korean actresses in china.

The most popular songs are 'Hope' by H.O.T and 'Rising Sun' by TongVangXinQui, 'Once in a life time' by Shinhwa, and 'It's raining' by Rain.

'Ahead of the Year of Sino-Korea Cultural Exchange'scheduled around next year, the study is to provide useful references to prepare for the event in detail especially to choose the best items for cultural exchange. I hope the two countries will establish closer cultural ties across the board,¡± said, Zhang Hai Yong, vice chairman of the China-Korea Economy Development Association, the host of the ceremony and the research.

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This news came out yesterday regarding "Legend" or TWSSG shooting in Kyrgyz

This is a summary of the posting by Gwon Oh Kyung

translated by annamarie in KOB

nopredict200609250713200.jpg

Due to complicated planning and process of filming of the Legend, the location film in Kyrgyzstan has been delayed. Good thing is for our Yong Joon to be able to spend Choo Suk holiday in Korea with his family. But, he may be busy filming the Legend even during the holiday.

The stars including YunTai Yun and Jo Yun left to Kyrgyzstan as planned, Yong Joon will join them In October.(dates have not been forcasted, noted as mid October only).

***

Additional translation of the article: "Bae Yong Joon requested to be absolutely perfect in every aspect of the filming of the Legend. Bae Yong Joon expected the flawless in many aspects of the filming in addition to incorporate the work consolidated with other stars such as Moon Sori, Choi Min Soo, Park Sang Won."

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Guest happiebb

BOF, please listen to the voices of Bae-fans in China

source : #34907 KOB

It appears "Snowman" (Zhang Lei - the organiser of YJ's Nov 05 Beijing visit) accepted the awards on behalf of BOF and read out YJ's thanking message on stage.

feel like i've to help clarify two things.

one, snowman did not receive the award on YJ's behalf.

she went onstage as a representative of the chinese fans to read out his TQ letter.

two, the organizers had asked her to go onstage to read the letter,

bof did not have anything to do with this.

i'm not taking sides,

and i'm not passing judgement about what she did during the beijing trip last nov,

but i think it's important that we get our facts right.

sadly, whoever posted those things on kob

did not follow to set right the 'so-called facts' they had posted which were wrong to begin with.

sighs...

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hi bb! [liezle sighing too]

i feel sad reading misunderstandings in kob especially from non-korean family. though this kind of stuff only happens once in a blue moon, i wish that this will be the last since there are media lurking there. i hope that people involved in the misunderstanding will talk and iron things out. btw, i believe 100% that bof has nothing to do in choosing who the person will read byj's message.

soompi is still kinda slow :( but it's better than not accessing it though. i'm sure the admin are doing their best to bring soompi back to its normal speed.

the showing of AS has already ended in france, and it surely made its mark there. camille, our baesister in france shared in Quilt some very interesting figures comparing AS to korean films released in france and 2 more reviews. enjoy :D

***

April Snow News from France

Posted by camille / http://toujours-byj.blogspot.com/

Since last Wednesday September 20th, the screening of April Snow in France is finished.

Although I’m a little sad, I’m still very proud because more than 5 months of screening is really fantastic.

To have some fun, I made a small comparison between April Snow and some Korean movies in French box office. The comparison is made on the number of spectators who have watched these movies at their first day released in Paris as well as the total in France during their first week screening.

comparaison2ch2xt7.jpg

We can see that April Snow was doing well, considering the small number of theatres where the movie was showed, compared to Taegukgi for example which had a very important campaign of publicity when it was released with large posters in Parisian subway.

And to finish, I would like to share with you 2 others AS reviews from French movie-goers.

Have a nice week ahead.

***

From http://shortcakes.blogs.allocine.fr/shortc...-april_snow.htm

Written by Shortcakes on Sunday August 27th 2006 -00:36 - Note 3/4 stars

Translated from French to English by camille

April Snow

April Snow is a Korean movie realized by Jin-Ho Hur who remains modest and touches us by the simplicity of the setting and the dialogue. Indeed, the director shows a lot of feelings by a slow rhythm (perhaps too much for some people). The two principal actors, Ye-Jin Son and Yong-Jun Bae, have contributed a lot to this because each of their gestures is a suggestion, a thought. Their acting is all in subtlety, fluidity and sensitivity. The subject of this film is love in betrayal thus we leave the theatre appeased. The Korean cinema really did not finish to surprise us.

http://sablier.hautetfort.com/archive/2006...atin-calme.html

From Fuligineuse’s blog – April 24th 2006

Translated from French to English by camille

Snows in the country of the Morning Calm

Without noise, under the mirror of deep and calm lakes,

the cygne chases away the wave with its wide palms,

And slides. The down of its flanks is like

the snows of April which crumble by the sun’¦

From the poem « Le Cygne » of Rene Francois Sully Prudhomme

An Asian film, where the two heroes, confronted to the revelation that their respective spouse have an affair, end up comforting themselves together Yes, but it is not ‘In the Mood for Love’, today it is ‘April Snow’

A man speaks to his wife hospitalized in a deep coma ’Yes, but it is not ‘Parle avec elle’, today it is ‘April Snow’. (camille :Parle avec elle is a Spanish movie of director Pedro Almodovar - original title : ‘Hable con ella »)

The beginning: In-Su, young lighting engineer of spectacles, and Seo-Young, housewife, come from Seoul to a hospital in province, because they have just learned that their spouse had a serious car accident. (Separately; they do not know each other). Whereas their spouses are plunged in a deep coma, In-su and Seo-Young discover that they maintained an extra-marital relationship.

April Snow is the third feature film of the Korean director Jin-Ho Hur. He had realised before ‘Christmas in August’, introduced at Cannes festival in 1998. The Korean title of the movie is ‘oechul’ which means ‘to enter and to leave’. The director justifies his choice like this: ‘We can leave a city, enter in a small city which we don’t know. We can also leave a world in which we believe (for example we trust our partner, their fidelity). But the translations in other languages did not give these feelings.’ For the international distribution of the movie, Jin-Ho Hur then chose the title ‘April Snow’ because this translation corresponds to the general tonality of his film.

In ‘Christmas in August’, the director treats love at its beginning whereas in ‘One Fine Spring Day’, he shows the end of a relation. April Snow shows a different state of love: ‘When someone loves, he feels various emotions. Even if two people trust each other, betrayal exists sometimes. How can we understand the anger which occurs then? Should the situation be accepted? Does the couple have to be destroyed? These are the questions that I wanted to explore’, explains Jin-Ho Hur.

He does it with delicacy and realism at the same time. The characters are credible, often uncertain about their own emotions. Only a little inconvenient element, a music rather soppy and too overwhelming. At the end, a beautiful movie. (As I wear glasses, I was charmed to see the protagonist who is a young and handsome man to wear it too’)

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thank you so much again bb, this is quite a long translatio. and of course thanks too to close2yj for making this long article. dry and boring article? nah, of course not!

WLS - a legend is born [part 2/2]

it's time to resume YJ's Trail, the last time i stopped at WLS Part 1. so, today we're moving on to Part 2. but before you start reading on, i've a suggestion. do read close2yj's postscript at the end first.

and as usual, the pics have been added by yours truly, hee... [liezle : please go to http://www.happiebb.blogspot.com for more photos]

Original in Chinese: Close2yj / 俊心咏恒 loveyongjoon

Translated into English: Happiebb / bb's blog

Winter Sonata – A Legend is Born [Part 2]

byj20in20wls201hl3.jpg

Winter Sonata is about a beautiful love story that spans over ten years. Ten years ago in Chun Cheon High School, a boy named Jun Sahng and a girl named Yujin met and their love was just like the first snow. But as fate would have it, love at its most beautiful and pure, just before Jun Sahng wanted to tell Yujin how he felt about her, fate made him disappear on the road, the night before the dawn of a brand new year. Then after the passage of ten long years, on yet another cold wintry night of first snow, Yujin who was hurrying to her own engagement party saw the same familiar face that had haunted her days and her nights, the face that had appeared ever so often in her dreams. She saw his face amidst the falling snow. So, the unseen hands of fate bridged the gap of those ten years and suddenly the earlier years of her first love converged in the present days of adulthood. And once more, the love song that spoke of so much love and sadness was awakened.

Seemingly a somewhat old-fashioned story of clichés huh? There’re simply too many coincidences and unexplained happenings. But yet, through this story, we can still see and experience and feel so many different emotions, so real and so deep, like first love and memories, like life and death, like the generosity of love, like tolerance and loneliness… All of these contained so much inner pain and surreal beauty. The youthful days of playing in the snow, the bright smiles in winter, the footprints of love in the snow, the jigsaw puzzle of life, and of course, polaris that’s forever… and many more. When put together, what did these bring to us? What did they represent? It’s faded dreams, something that we all had, but had long abandoned in the memories of that pure first love.

Topics about pure love, about eternity, forever and ever… people take to them so easily, and they can touch our hearts so easily. Maybe all our lives, we’ve been saying goodbye and yet remembering those faded memories of first love. In each of us, our inner hearts all possess a lonely soul from the Kingdom of Shadows. And we all need that special someone to break down the outer shell that’s hardened by the everyday storms. We all need someone to touch that soft spot in all of us with his or her tender and perfect love. If you still have that soft, sensitive spot in you, then yes, surely you will be moved by Winter Sonata.

Can’t help but admire PD Yun Seok Ho for his artistic talent. The way he had captured those moving scenes, the way he had created those countless perfect backdrop was just poetry in motion. Whether it’s the golden lane, the quiet lake, or the foggy evening light, the blue skies with flying seagulls… Under PD Yun’s talented eyes and hands, they were all presented before our eyes with such breathtaking beauty. Not to mention the snowy scenes, sometimes tranquil, sometimes serious and bleak, and at other times, even bright and full of life… All the scenes and backdrop became one with the story, they too told of the pain and joy of the characters, the love and hatred of the roles. The whiteness of winter was not at all boring and nondescript, in fact it brought a certain purity and clarity to us, and also set a perfect backdrop for all the other colours to showcase their brightness and beauty.

PD Yun also has some strong background in music, and music too was a critical contributing factor to Winter Sonata. My Memory, First Time, From the Beginning to the End… Who can forget these tunes? They resound in our heads together with the images from the drama, as if angels singing to us from the heavens. And whenever we think of these tunes, we would recall those wistfully beautiful memories…

In all fairness, Winter Sonata did not exactly have a creative storyline, but there were lines in the drama that were so delicately sensitive and so, so moving. They touched all our hearts, didn’t they?

“To people in love, the best home is in each other’s hearts.”

“You’ve never really loved someone, have you? When someone who’s just beside you, who’s just in your life suddenly disappears… That sort of feeling… When everything else around you has not changed, but there’s just a certain someone missing beside you… Can you understand that feeling? And is it so unforgivable to feel sad and pained about it?”

“No matter how long, we will never ever forget someone who’s already etched in our hearts.”

“Misunderstandings need not be forgiven.”

“The best gift to someone dead is to forget him.”

“The scenery here’s so beautiful, but what do you see? You see only sad memories. To shut your heart so tightly like this, can you really love someone? You’re the person who’s living in the Kingdom of Shadows, aren’t you?”

“When all the other stars have shifted positions, the Polaris will still remain in its place. When others misunderstand you, or can’t forgive, you, or leave you even, so long as I’m still here, not moving from my position, you will not lose your way. Can you trust me?”

“I love a woman so deeply, I love her so much. I hope to be by her side until we both grow old. I want to have children with that woman’s eyes. For that woman whom I love and for our children, I want to be their gentle hands and strong legs.”

Lines like these and many more can be found in the drama. Forgive me I can’t list them all. These lines that are devoid of flowery literature, so simple and unadorned… but every single word shone with such brightness that we’re all touched and they’re all so unforgettable. (bb: one more, one more! one that camille would know very well, haha! love needs no reason!)

And of course, how can we talk about Winter Sonata and not mention the cast. Bae Yong Joon and Choi Ji Woo are very compatible in terms of physical appearance. Just by standing together, they already make a nice picture. I guess we could say they’ve great on-screen chemistry. Their sensitive and sincere portrayal was so convincing. The cute pureness of their youth, the sensuality and grace of their adulthood… They brought to us two loves that were so different in essence, but both equally enchanting and moving.

Especially Yong Joon. We can see the beginning of his acting style of ‘still water runs deep’, kind of to allow himself to mould to the shape and character of the roles. He became the very character in the drama. In Winter Sonata, Junsahng, the Min Hyung before he regained his memory, and the Min Hyung after he regained his memory…

It was as if he had played three different characters.

No matter if he’s playing out the loneliness and sensitivity of the young Jun Sahng, or acting out the confusion and interest in Yujin when they met again, or when he’s showing restraint of his love for Yujin, or afterwards when he regained his memory, the sense of loss, the struggle, the pain, and various conflicting and confusing emotions, he played them all with such depth. Everything he emoted tugged at our hearts and moved us. Again and again.

All of these, contributed to and created the perfect beauty of Winter Sonata. The drama brought us so much, in terms of visual, audio and even in terms of depth of emotions. Everything left a deep and lasting impression. It surpassed and overcame the common flaws of modern day TV dramas: weak storyline and unrealistic development. It brought artistic life to a simple love story, a fairy tale even. And this is the everlasting magic of Winter Sonata.

bb: click here and here to read more about how WLS has started the pure love craze in japan. click here to read wuri yong joon's interview on asiaweek, he too talked about pure love. and our dear fumi also talked about pure love in his analyzing yonsama series, click here and go read part 14.

That was a winter that allowed us to bring back the dream. It made many people forget, at least temporarily, the hustle bustle of life, or the mundane bits of everyday life, as we allowed ourselves to fall into this beautiful illusion. We were so, so willing to be comforted by this lovely dream. Even long after we had turned off the TV, many of us were unable to step out of this whole Winter Sonata aura of sadness, of love. Winter Sonata was first aired in Korea on KBS on 14th January 2002, ending its run on 19th March 2004. The drama accompanied many during the long and cold winter months, and during that time, it created such a wave in Korea.

When it was aired in early 2002, the Korean TV stations were mostly airing period dramas. In fact, for the preceding two to three years, the period dramas were the ones winning the viewership game. In particular, the long epic Women of the Palace (Yeoin Cheonha) was still being aired and enjoying an average of 40% viewership. (bb: that’s actually very high, just in case you didn’t know. Btw Women of the Palace was all of 150 episodes! And when it was aired, there was so controversy about how ‘revealing’ the women were… they were being accused of that to up viewership, hehe!)

women20worldiy6.jpg

But when Winter Sonata started airing, a viewership war erupted on the TV stations every Monday and Tuesday nights. That was quite a battle. Its first episode recorded 16.3% and its second episode 16.6%, and brought the ever-high Ladies of the Palace down by some 7-8%. It also affected the much-anticipated MBC drama Sangdo (bb: its literal translation is actually Business Ethics. hee, kindda funny title for a period drama.)

sangdoxi3.jpg

As the story unfolded, when coming to the point where the main leads met again after ten years, the viewership had already reached 27.2%, claiming the top spot. Because of the wild popularity of Winter Sonata, the production team even considered extending the drama by more episodes. But because both Yong Joon and Choi Ji Woo had already lined up work in their schedules after the drama, the extension could not materalise.

And it was also because of the strong protests by the audience that Winter Sonata did not see the sad ending a la Autumn in My Heart.

Instead, it gave everyone a ‘happy ending with a hint of regret’.

The success of Winter Sonata brought new light and a ray of hope for modern day dramas, which were then overshadowed and overpowered by period dramas. Egged on by its success, production teams once again started to work on modern day TV dramas. Winter Sonata could be said to have changed the scene and direction of Korea’s TV dramas in early 2002.

Another thing, when this drama was being aired, the trends, music, places and things mentioned or highlighted in the drama also created much hype. In fact, some of the trends created had such an astounding effects on the public.

“Winter Sonata” became the top in terms of search phrases on the Internet, and its official site saw an average of 10 million hits (bb: or it could be page views, it’s not clear), causing the server to be down quite frequently. The songs in its OST also made it to the top few spots when it came to music download. When the drama was being aired, its OST has being ordered at a rate of some 20,000 to 30,000 per day, and it easily broke the 250,000-mark in a matter of days.

The hairstyles and dressing of Yong Joon and Choi Ji Woo also became benchmarks for trends. Young people were emulating Min Hyung’s hairstyle, his eyeglasses and his scarves.

And here, we’ve to mention Miss Hong, the stylist who has been working with Yong Joon for many years. It was she who had persuaded Yong Joon to take the bold challenge of wearing brighter colours and adopting a trendier look, including the dyed hair. Yong Joon had always favoured simpler styles with quieter colours and he did not even like to wear much accessories. Miss Hong had bought that famous blue striped scarf at a cheap price of just 2,000 won (US$2) from a stall at the bus terminal and she also introduced the Paul Smith glasses and the golden ‘windswept’ hairdo. All these helped create the stylish and sophisticated Lee Min Hyung, which became the icon of style.

bb: this is THE scarf!

scarfal2.jpg

[liezle : for more photos please check bb's blog]

bb: yea, people started tying two scarves instead of just one... but hehe, you need to be tall and pretty slim to carry off the thick bulky scarves man... otherwise, you end up looking like a frog, yea, neck-less! and, just look at some of the many, many scarves wuri yong joon wore in the drama! hehe, there was even a joke going around on the internet that yonsama knows 80 different ways to wear a scarf!

KBS and PD Yun’s production company created an unprecedented economic effect with Winter Sonata. According to a Chosun Ilbo report on 6th March 2002: The production of Winter Sonata cost 4 billion won (US$4m) but even before the drama ended its run on TV, they had already recouped more than twice the production cost. The commercials drew some 5 billion won (US$5m) and the OST another 2 billion won (US$2m). They further raked in another 6 billion won (US$6m) from selling the drama rights to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Southeast Asian countries. All these, and plus the related income from the website, the merchandise sold at the shooting sites amounted to more than 8 billion won (US$8m).

Chosun Ilbo had then predicted that the drama could make three times what it had cost to produce. But the truth is the estimate was far, far, far too conservative. I guess no one could have foreseen that one single drama, Winter Sonata could be singing from 2002 all the way to 2005! From Asia to Africa, to the Middle East, from Korea, to Taiwan, to Japan, to Egypt, even to Iraq. The lonesome Jun Sahng and the perfect lover Min Hyung had stolen so many hearts, so much so that people were all flocking to Korea to look for him.

In 2002, Winter Sonata was first aired in Chinese areas such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, and it had started a new K-drama craze. Taiwanese fans who had already had a taste of the BYJ magic through Frank Shin were further fuelled and the base just grew stronger. And it was also about that time that China saw the start of some fiercely loyal BYJ fans who are active even up to now. And the fever also swept Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and others, places where they don’t even know what winter is really like. And even now, Winter Sonata is still the K-drama that most people know or at least have heard of.

In April 2003, just when this drama was slowly forgotten as newer dramas took its place in Korea, Winter Sonata was aired in NHK’s satellite TV channel in Japan. And it did something that no other K-drama had ever done, yes, it was a runaway success. The Japanese too began to be mesmerized by the magic of Winter Sonata, and it created so many conversation topics and broke so many records in Japan, the response was just too hot for words. And that also brought the influence of Winter Sonata to its peak.

Winter Sonata was first aired on NHK’s satellite station from April to September 2003. NHK started to receive a high volume of telephone calls and emails and letters from viewers, all expressing their love and appreciation for this K-drama.

NHk repeated broadcast of this drama from mid December 2003, but it still could not satisfy the heated response of the viewers, it finally decided to air the drama on its usual ground channel from April 2004. Although it was already its third airing in Japan, and despite the late slot of 11pm every Saturday night, Winter Sonata still broke the viewership records of foreign dramas in Japan, and it even did better than a local serial that was being aired at the golden timeslot. Its final episode was aired on 21st August 2004 and that’s also the day it reached its highest rating, 22.5%. It was amazing that it still managed to maintain this high viewership despite the Olympics craze.

The Winter Sonata TV novel published by NHK saw reprints, and the drama also became course materials for teaching the Korean language in Japan. The DVDs and related products were hot sellers from 2003 through to 2005, even the high price of 21,000 yen (US$180) did not affect sales. Just from selling DVDs and VCDs alone, NHK recorded sales of some 4.5 billion yen (US$38.6m) in 2004 alone, and in the first half of 2005, sales reached a new high of 3.157 billion yen (US$27m). Winter Sonata helped NHK end its perpetual loss of 14 years running; it helped NHK turn from a loss-making outfit to actually churn out a profit of 11.5 billion yen (US$98.8m).

And the copyright holders of the drama, KBS and PD Yun’s production company, revealed on 10th Aug 2004 that from Winter Sonata alone, KBS had raked in 6.5 billion won (US$6.5m) from 2002 to the first half of 2004, whilst the production company achieved sales of some 16 billion won (US$16m), other related merchandise recorded sales of 50 billion won (US$53m). With the passage of time, these numbers would only be growing bigger.

The Winter Sonata effects did not stop there. According to a report released by the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, when NHK aired the drama on its ground network and when it aired it for the fourth time on its satellite channel, more than 38% of the Japanese population watched it. And amongst these, about 26%, equivalent to some 10% of the entire population changed their negative opinions about Korea.

bb: click here and here to read more about the survey.

The Japanese started to look upon Korea, its so-near-yet-so-far neighbour, with more serious and with more favourable eyes. They wanted to learn more about the Korean culture, and learning the Korean language actually became a trend.

Korea also became a hotspot for Japanese travelers, with many flocking to places such as Nami Island, Chun Cheon, Yong Pyeong Ski Resort and others. Winter Sonata opened the doors and paved the way for Korean dramas and for Korean stars in the Japanese market. Japan is no longer outside of the sensational Korean wave that has erupted in so many places. They no longer just looked on with cool and clinical eyes; instead with never before passion, they embraced the coming of the Korean wave.

And this is the miracle created by Winter Sonata.

here are two old but rather good reads about WLS

wls fever

why is wls such a big hit in asia

Writer Close2yj’s Postscript:

This second part of WLS is very dry and boring, especially after writing Part 1 which was so fully of beautiful memories. I had no choice but to search, read and collate the news reports from 2003 to 2005 to complete this part. The writing in this part is really dry and can’t be described as beautiful at all. I’ve always not been particularly sensitive towards reports of this sort, so it was quite time-consuming and difficult to go through the materials and make sense of them.

The Little Prince said that when you want to describe how nice a house is… If you say, “It’s a beautiful house made from bricks the colour of rose, and there’re geraniums on the windows and there’re pigeons on the roof…” The adults will not be able to imagine how beautiful the house is. But if you tell the adults that it’s a house that’s worth a hundred thousand French francs, then the adults will exclaim, “Wow, what a lovely house!”

Yea, I guess that’s the reality for us. So dry, so mechanical, and we often have to resort to good old numbers and figures to illustrate and prove things. That’s to show our objectivity and how factual and real things are. But so often, we forget: What can be more real than the very things in our hearts?

The miracle of Winter Sonata is itself. Bae Yong Joon, his very name is an absolute and an existence in itself, we do not need the ceaseless outside chatter to prove his worth.

Just like a big, strong tree full of green leaves and sturdy branches. There’s no need to count the number of leaves or branches to prove its life and vitality. We only need to listen to the happy chirping of the birds in its branches, to hear the natural bristling of the leaves in such harmony with nature when the storm comes. Then, we can see how the tree has become one with nature, and how it’s walking alongside life itself.

So from this angle, perhaps I was silly to go through the facts and the figures. To people who already know the value of Winter Sonata, you can skip this entire part. And I’ll be delighted that you’ve found this part or my work worthless, because you have already understood.

You already get it.

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