"Kimchi is Chinese Food" Chinese YouTuber Registered in Guinness World Records for Most Subscribers... Citizens 'Boiling'

Chinese YouTuber Lizzychi Sparks Controversy with 'Chinese Traditional Food' Hashtag While Making Kimchi
Lizzychi Has 14.1 Million Subscribers... Most Subscribed Chinese Language Channel
Netizens Outraged: "Unsubscribe Now"

Chinese YouTuber Liziqi, who sparked controversy by posting a video of making Baechu Kimchi with the hashtag "Chinese food." Photo by YouTube channel 'Liziqi (李子柒·Liziqi)' screen capture.

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Chinese YouTuber Li Ziqi (李子柒) has been listed in the Guinness World Records as the Chinese-language channel operator with the most subscribers, sparking public outrage. Previously, Li Ziqi stirred controversy by posting a video of making kimchi with the hashtag 'Chinese Cuisine.'

On the 3rd, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported in an article titled "Chinese Kimchi YouTuber Listed in Guinness for Subscriber Count" that Li Ziqi's channel recorded the highest number of subscribers among Chinese-language YouTube channels and was included in the Guinness World Records.

Guinness announced this through the Chinese social networking service (SNS) Weibo account the previous night, explaining that Li Ziqi's YouTube channel subscribers increased from 11.4 million in July last year to 14.1 million by the end of January this year.

Upon hearing the news, netizens have been urging to unsubscribe from Li Ziqi's channel and continuing their criticism. This is because Li Ziqi claimed kimchi as a traditional food of her country by posting a video of making kimchi last month with the hashtag 'Chinese food.'

Regarding this, one netizen said, "As the number of subscribers increases, Li Ziqi's influence will also grow stronger, but for someone like this to insist that our country's traditional food is Chinese culture is outrageous," adding, "Kimchi is not only a traditional Korean food but also contains many aspects of our culture. It is absolutely not Chinese food. If there are still subscribers to Li Ziqi, cancel your subscription immediately."

Another netizen also criticized, saying, "Kimchi is a basic dish on our country's table. Do Chinese people have kimchi on their tables?" and "Instead of insisting that kimchi is Chinese food, bring objective evidence."

Photo by YouTube channel 'Liziqi (李子柒·Liziqi)' screen capture.

Earlier last month, Li Ziqi sparked controversy by claiming kimchi as a traditional Chinese food. In a video titled "Life Series: The Life of Radish" posted on the 9th of last month, she soaked freshly harvested napa cabbage in salt to pickle it and coated the cabbage with a red seasoning made from chili powder and other ingredients. Li Ziqi also made a soup dish by putting kimchi into a boiling cauldron.

Notably, she tagged the video with hashtags such as #ChineseCuisine and #ChineseFood in the description, presenting the foods shown in the video as traditional Chinese dishes.

This led to online debates between Korean and Chinese netizens about the origin of kimchi. At that time, Chinese netizens commented, "Koreans are narrow-minded," and "Li Ziqi doesn't need to care about Koreans."

As the controversy grew, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged, "Emotions between Korea and China should not be harmed." Hua Chunying, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized at a regular briefing on the 20th of last month regarding the growing controversy over the origin of kimchi between Korea and China, "Neither side should harbor prejudice so as not to damage mutual feelings."

She added, "I am not an expert in the field of food issues. However, pao cai (泡菜) is a type of pickled fermented food and is not exclusive to a few minority countries or regions," and "China has pao cai, and both the Korean Peninsula and the ethnic Korean community in China call it kimchi."

She said, "These things have similarities, but each has its own characteristics in ingredients, taste, and cooking methods," and "Each country probably thinks that the pao cai issue should be handled through beneficial and friendly exchanges at a gourmet level."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.