“If Korea’s samgyetang and its recipe were introduced to China, many people would enjoy it.”
— Chinese Premier Li Keqiang
If China’s own premier has acknowledged samgyetang as a Korean dish, yet the country’s leading online encyclopedia contradicts this statement, how can anyone trust China’s claims?
On March 29, 2021, Baidu Baike, China’s prominent online encyclopedia, categorized Korea’s samgyetang as a type of Guangdong and home-style cuisine.
The description on Baidu Baike further states:
“This long-standing Guangdong-style soup dish, made with ginseng, young chicken, and glutinous rice, was introduced to Korea and became one of its representative royal dishes. Koreans enjoy it as a health food during the summer.”
Despite asserting that samgyetang originated in Guangdong, Baidu Baike provides no historical records or evidence to support this claim.
The assertion that samgyetang originates from China’s Guangdong Province is factually incorrect. Samgyetang is a modern Korean dish, in which a whole chicken is stuffed with ginseng, glutinous rice, and jujube, then slow-cooked in an earthenware pot.
According to Korea’s Rural Development Administration, traditional Korean chicken dishes during the Joseon Dynasty were primarily dak baeksuk (boiled chicken soup). It wasn’t until the Japanese colonial period that powdered ginseng was added to boiled chicken as a luxury dish among the wealthy. The present-day form of samgyetang became established in the 1960s and gained widespread popularity in the 1970s.
The likely reason behind China’s claim is that Guangdong cuisine features many types of soup-based dishes, particularly “lao huo liang tang” (老火靓汤), a well-known soup in the region. However, most Guangdong-style soups involve cutting the chicken into pieces before boiling it with medicinal herbs—fundamentally different from samgyetang, where the whole chicken is stuffed and cooked in a pot.
Additionally, while Korea has classified samgyetang under the international HS code system (a global trade classification framework), China has no official classification for the dish. According to a report by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, samgyetang is internationally recognized under HS code 1602.32.1010 as a distinct Korean food product.
In 2015, during his visit to Korea, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang explicitly recognized samgyetang as a Korean dish, stating:
“If Korea’s samgyetang and its recipe were introduced to China, many people would enjoy it.”
If China’s top leader has acknowledged samgyetang as Korean cuisine, yet Baidu Baike continues to misrepresent its origins, how can the credibility of Baidu—or China’s historical claims—be trusted?
This is not the first instance of Baidu Baike misrepresenting Korean culture. In 2020, Baidu falsely claimed that “kimchi originated in China.” Following international backlash from Korea, Baidu eventually removed the claim.
Since late 2020, China has intensified efforts to claim Korean cultural heritage as its own, falsely asserting that kimchi, ssam (lettuce wraps), gat (traditional hats), hanbok, and pansori all originated in China. This campaign is not limited to Korea—China has attempted similar cultural appropriation with other Asian nations.
At the core of these efforts lies China’s broader strategy to incorporate the history of Korea—from ancient Gojoseon to the Joseon Dynasty—into its own historical narrative.
From 2002 to 2007, China’s Northeast Project (“Dongbei Gongcheng”) sought to reframe the histories of Goguryeo and Balhae as part of Chinese history. Today, China continues to propagate this false narrative in museums, textbooks, encyclopedias, and international institutions around the world.
This pattern of historical revisionism has now expanded to cultural dominance, as seen in China’s baseless claims over Korean cuisine and traditions.
China’s cultural distortion is not just a Korean issue—it is a growing threat to historical truth and regional stability. The international community must stand against China’s attempts to rewrite history and appropriate the cultural heritage of neighboring nations.
We demand the following actions:
- Baidu must immediately correct its misrepresentation of samgyetang as a Chinese dish.
- The Chinese government must hold Baidu accountable for contradicting its own premier’s statement that samgyetang is Korean.
China’s distortion of history and culture is a direct challenge to global historical integrity. If left unchallenged, this cultural hegemony will pose a serious threat to international peace and cooperation.