This book deals with a broad range of subjects, covering a brief history of Hallyu studies, its cultural policies, production and consumption of cultural products, and the evolution of this scholarship. It covers various countries and regions such as China, Japan, Hong Kong, Latin America, Tunisia, and Vietnam, all with different cultural backgrounds. As a result, this book can serve as a good guide for understanding the Korean Wave.

Pacific Affairs

In this instructive volume, Tae-Jin Yoon and Dal Yong Jin discuss the history of the Korean Wave, better known as Hallyu, and explore its recent trajectories. Combining media and cultural analysis, the novelty of this work lays both in employing a transnational framework to investigate the global appeal of Hallyu and in analyzing a variety of empirically rich cases from different parts of the world. This outstanding book brings great clarity to our understanding of global popular culture and the ways in which politics, society, and contemporary culture intersect and are shaped.

Nissim Otmazgin, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Hallyu—the Korean Wave—is one of the most significant cultural flows to have emerged from Asia in the last two decades. This excellent edited collection provides ample and compelling material to support such a supposition. Tae-Jin Yoon and Dal Yong Jin’s book is highly useful for students and researchers interested in cultural globalization and is a major contribution to global media studies.

Daya Thussu, University of Westminster

The Korean Wave: Evolution, Fandom, and Transnationality is a bold and greatly needed addition to Korean Wave, or Hallyu, scholarship. This rich and theoretically innovative collection significantly updates, deepens, and renders more complex this ever-growing field. Theoretical innovations in the study of cultural imperialism, hybridity, political economy, neoliberal globalization, intercultural media reception, and fandom, as well as ‘emotional economies,’ put this volume on the cutting edge. Particularly noteworthy are the explorations of Hallyu outside of Korea, the Korean government's explicit policies and plans for Hallyu, as well as attentiveness to contemporary colonialism, fandom, fan clubs, and media industries. This study is a must read for those wanting to ‘refresh’ their understanding of this expansive cultural phenomenon.

Kent Alan Ono, University of Utah