People

High-five Campaign in China


● Lee Ji-hyun, Department of Tourism Management

Recently, China has had a hostile attitude toward South Korea because of the THADD missile system. In general, China has prohibited content produced in South Korea from being transmitted. Because of that, some Keimyung students started a campaign to change the image of Korea in China. I recently interviewed one of them.

1. Please introduce yourself.
My name is Lee Ji-hyun. My major is tourism management. Last semester, I went to Nankai University as an exchange student and conducted a campaign, High-five, with other Keimyung students in China.

2. Please introduce your activity.
Nowadays, China is limiting Korean products, so some other Keimyung exchange students and I organized a campaign to improve Korea’s image. We gave Chinese students high-fives and two hand warmer. The reason we gave two hot water bags was so a Chinese student could keep one and share the other with someone else. We thought we could share the warmth this way.

3. What inspired you to do this activity?
As an exchange student, I felt a sense of repulsion in China against Korea. Therefore, we did the activity to improve the perspective of Chinese students toward Korea, and give Chinese students hot water bags.

4. What was the most meaningful thing during the activity?
During the activity, there was a student who impressed us. The student gave both hot water bags to other people. That really warmed our hearts and made us feel like we were making a difference.

5. What was the most difficult thing during the activity?
It was difficult to prepare for the activity. It was difficult to communicate in Chinese. In addition, it was difficult to get approval from the school to conduct the activity. Despite the difficulty, it was a worthwhile activity.

6. How was the reaction of Chinese students to this activity?
The reaction of Chinese students to this activity was pretty good. Even though we prepared a lot of hot water bags, we ran out of them in 30 minutes. Furthermore, over 100 students sent us pictures with hot water bags through Kakao Talk.

7. What do you want to say to your school and other students about this activity?
If there are students who are going to go to Nankai University as exchange students, I hope that they will plan a meaningful event with activities that enhance Korea's image and promote Korea. Because this was the first time this student-led event was held, other Keimyung students and I voluntarily collected all the money required. Therefore, I think this campaign would be larger and have more impact if KMU supported it.