""The idea came from Professor Bu. We identified idol groups from the first generation until contemporary. And then with a vendor, we identified what's available out there.""
""Bu stressed that the merchandising and manufacturing of Korean stars, and later the K-pop stars audiences are familiar with today, have roots that date back to the stardom of silent-film narrators through the 1910s to the 1930s, who were idolized in Korean popular culture.""
""Through the 1980s and into the 1990s, Bu said, Korean television stars were plastered on fan merch sold to teens across the country.""
Harvard's Yenching Library is developing a collection of K-pop merchandise that spans from the 1990s to the present. This initiative is inspired by the 'Korean Stars' course led by Professor Chan Yong Bu. The course utilizes these objects to help students understand K-pop fandom dynamics. The roots of K-pop merchandising trace back to the idolization of silent-film narrators in the early 20th century and evolved through the 1980s and 1990s with the rise of Korean television stars and the first K-pop groups.
Read at Harvard Gazette
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