“Chinese-style greeting controversy” Everglow Yiren signals her comeback by delivering an update to fans after 11 months 

Everglow Yiren, who was once under fire due to a Chinese-style greeting controversy, revealed her recent status 10 months after leaving for China. 

Everglow Yiren (Wang Yiren) left for China in mid-January. The reason was to continue her schoolwork. At that time, Yuehua Entertainment announced, “Yiren is scheduled to return to China from mid-January until the end of February for academic reasons. She’s going to take a break and spend time with her family members, whom she hasn’t met for a long time due to the Covid-19 pandemic”.

It was also around the time Yiren was embroiled in a controversy over her New Year greeting at a fansigning event. In particular, while Everglow members did the Korean-style big bow, Yiren kept doing her Chinese-style greeting alone.

This issue spread to online communities and caused a stir. Yiren faced a backlash from Korean netizens who pointed out that Yiren was looking down on Korean culture. Criticism intensified because of that Yiren used to share an article supporting the Xinjiang Cotton Campaign. However, Chinese media reported this case under the title, “A Chinese member of a K-pop group is praised for doing the traditional Chinese greeting in Korea”. Chinese netizens also voiced to defend Yiren, saying “It was a cultural difference”, “In Chinese tradition, we only kneel down to the heaven, Earth and our parents”, “She follows the Chinese tradition well”, etc.

Unlike her agency’s announcement of “until the end of February”, Yiren, who went back to China for “academic reasons” after the controversy, has not returned to her group even though it is already November. In the meantime, Everglow has been continuing their group activities, such as holding events and overseas performances, with five members, except for Yiren.

After spending more than 10 months on her schoolwork in China, Yiren has not joined her members but recently released an update on Everglow’s official SNS. She posted a photo revealing her whereabouts on November 17th with the caption, “It was a day with nice weather”.

This is the first time Yiren released a photo on Everglow’s official SNS account in about 11 months since her last activity on December 12 last year. She made an update, but fans and netizens still question whether she will immediately return to her group schedule. It is because some believe that Yiren may feel pressured about reuniting with her team due to the Chinese-style greeting controversy.

Meanwhile. Everglow debuted with the single album “ARRIVAL OF EVERGLOW” in 2019. Even before making her debut as a member of Everglow, Yiren made headlines with her appearance on “Produce 48”. 

Source: Nate