Super Junior's Chinese sub-unit Super Junior-M (
华语部分) debuted 2008 with Chinese members Hankyung (
韩庚, left 2011) and Zhoumi (
周觅), plus Korean members singing in Mandarin — a model that shaped subsequent K-pop China strategies. Hankyung's departure lawsuit against SM was a landmark moment in Chinese idol-industry awareness of Korean trainee contracts.