TWICE officially debuts on 20 October with nine members - five Korean, three Japanese and one Taiwanese member.

 

Youngest member 16-year-old Tzuyu introduces herself as Taiwanese and her home country as Taiwan.

 

Tzuyu's profile on the TWICE website states her nationality as Taiwanese.

 

 

 

22 November 2015

TWICE's foreign members appear on the livestream of MBC "My Little Television" to learn more about Korean culture.

- Each member is given a Korean flag and a flag of their home country.

 

Chinese netizens spread a screenshot of Tzuyu waving the Republic of China flag, which is mainly used by supporters of Taiwan independence, and begin insulting and denouncing her on Weibo and other SNS.

 

 

 

23 November 2015

Huang An, a 53-year-old singer born in Taiwan and based in China, makes a Weibo post and accuses Tzuyu of supporting Taiwan independence.

- He has made several posts about other Taiwanese entertainers supporting Taiwan independence and have gotten them banned in China for certain periods of time.

- The post was then taken down; netizens speculate he was embarrassed that he mistakenly thought Tzuyu was filming a Japanese variety programme and berated her for loving Japan.

 

 

 

8 January 2016

Huang An makes second Weibo post and further accuses Tzuyu of supporting Taiwan independence.

 

More Chinese netizens and Chinese K-pop fans start to denouce her and begin online campaigns to boycott Tzuyu, TWICE and JYP.

- #boycottJYP, #TaiwanIndependenceTzuyu, #boycottJYPTaiwanIndependenceSupporterTzuyu becomes a trend on Weibo with the first hashtag getting 68 million hits as of 14 January 2016.

 

Korean, Taiwanese and international fans voice their support for Tzuyu and TWICE.

 

Taiwanese media begin to report about the issue.

 

 

 

10-12 January 2016

Chinese media ban and remove TWICE-related content.

- Beijing TV announces that TWICE recording for the their "Spring Festival Gala" show will be edited out.

- Kuwo Music removes all JYP artists' songs and MVs.

- Kugou Music removes all TWICE songs and MVs.

 

JYP makes changes to Tzuyu's profile on the TWICE website.

- The section which originally read "Nationality: Taiwan" is changed to "Birthplace: Taiwan". The same changes are made to the other members' profiles.

 

Chinese company Huawei removes a commercial showing Tzuyu endorsing the Huawei Y6 phone from its official website.

- Glory Zhang, chief marketing officer of Huawei's consumer business group, says in her Weibo that LG U+, which markets the Huawei Y6 phone in South Korea, has suspended all cooperation with Tzuyu and her management company on Huawei products after Huawei strongly advised LG U+ to do so.

 

 

 

13 January 2016

News surface that China's Anhui TV withdraws its invitation to TWICE to appear on its "Spring Festival Gala Evening" show.

 

GOT7's Jackson postpones appearance on Chinese show "Day Day UP".

 

JYP releases a statement on Weibo in the night to address the issue.

 

 

 

14 January 2016

Taiwanese presidential candidates Eric Chu and James Soong call on the Taiwanese to support their country, national flag and Tzuyu.

 

Korean makeup brand Innisfree makes official statement stating that Tzuyu is not an endorser of Innisfree and Tzuyu’s statements do not reflect those of the company.

 

iQiyi, the online broadcaster of Seoul Music Awards, blurs out TWICE’s album cover during the show's live broadcast in China.

 

The issue becomes an international concern as numerous news outlets from different countries (Korea, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India and more) cover the story.

 

JYP releases second statement on Weibo in the night to address the issue.

 

 

 

15 January 2016

Taiwanese presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen responds to the issue and supports Tzuyu.

 

JYP stocks fall sharply.

- JYP Entertainment first released a statement on January 13, and there is an obvious decline from the closing price of their stock on the KOSDAQ from the 13th to the 14th. The stock price continued to decline on Friday, closing at five percent lower than the opening value. As of 6pm KST on Friday January 15, stocks are trading at 4,140 won per share, a 235 won decrease from the opening value

 

2PM's Nichkhun cancels attendance for a cultural event in China.

 

LG U+ issues official statement that all television slots and YouTube advertisements featuring Tzuyu as their brand endorser have been suspended.

 

JY Park, founder of JYP Entertainment, officially apologises on Weibo for the issue.

 

JYP releases Tzuyu's apology video on YouTube and Weibo.

- The video causes a backlash in China where netizens claim Tzuyu is insincere about her apology.

- The video causes an uproar in Taiwan and many blast JYP, Huang An and Chinese netizens for making Tzuyu apologise.

 

JYP makes second change to Tzuyu's profile on the TWICE website

- "Birthplace: Taiwan" is changed to "Birthplace: China Taiwan".

 

Huang An makes new Weibo post about Tzuyu's apology.

 

 

 

16 January 2016

Taiwanese Presidential Elections day.

- Ex-president Ma Ying-jeou and all three presidential candidates express their regret at Tzuyu's apology video and stand in support of her.

 

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council voices support for Tzuyu.

 

Taiwanese entertainment company Jusky offers to buy out Tzuyu's contract and bring her back to Taiwan.

 

2PM cancels scheduled appearances in China.

 

Chinese government steps in to control the issue

- Netizens say mass deletion of posts on Weibo and Sina containing Tzuyu's name has started and "Tzuyu" has been banned from the sites' search functions.

- CCTV starts to broadcast TWICE's MV and live performances with extra focus on Tzuyu.

 

Taiwanese broadcasting media bans Huang An's music

 

 

 

17 January 2016

The issue attracts coverage from major international media outlets.

- Tzuyu has appeared on big news outlets such as The Washington Post, The Washington Times, NY Times, Daily Mail, CNN, BBC, Bloomberg and Reuters,

 

Huang An announces on his Weibo that he will be holding a press conference to discuss the issue.

 

JYP confirms Tzuyu and TWICE's participation in MBC "2016 Idol Star Athletics Championships" and denies receiving any offer to buy out Tzuyu's contract.

 

 

 

18 January 2016

Chinese state media voice support for Tzuyu.

 

Various Taiwanese figures support Tzuyu, a Taiwanese human rights lawyer and famous MC press charges against Huang An and against JYP for allegedly forcing Tzuyu to apologise.

 

The Center for Multicultural Korea denounces JY Park for allegedly forcing the 16-year-old girl to make the apology, which it calls a "serious racial discrimination and human rights infringement".

- "We will ask the National Human Rights Commission of Korea to investigate whether the apology was forced or not."

 

Huang An releases a statement regarding his actions to appease Taiwanese, subsequently deletes all 4,900 posts from his Weibo account.

 

LG U+ resumes using Tzuyu as their endorser.

 

TWICE members and Tzuyu makes first public appearance since the controversy as they head for recording of the "2016 Idol Star Athletics Championships".

 

 

19 January 2016

JYP announces overhaul of 'hallyu' export strategy and adoption of a new system to stem recurrences of controversies involving its members.

 

 

 

22 January 2016

iQiyi continues to censor TWICE's performance and their acceptance speech for the rookie award with advertisements during the Chinese live broadcast of the 30th Golden Disc Awards.

 

 

 

Thousands of Taiwanese plan to mob Huang An at the airport on the day he returns for his press conference.

 

Tzuyu becomes more popular after controversy.