Enterprising merchants are selling 'hell notes' featuring popular Korean actor Song Joong Ki
Talk about getting immortalised. Thanks to his explosively popular drama series, South Korean actor Song Joong Ki will find many Chinese people burning dummy money with his face printed on the notes this month.
Images of Soong's mug printed on "hell notes" have started to emerge online. The paper money is typically burned as offerings to the dead during the ongoing Qingming festival, where the Chinese sweep graves and pay respects to ancestors.
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In Chinese, the 31-year-old actor's name also sounds like "papers for the departed."
Soong, who stars in "Descendants of the Sun", is a new star in China because the romantic drama has taken Asia by storm since it started to air in late February. To date, the 16-episode series have been viewed over 1 billions times in China alone.
The Korea Times reported that "Descendants of the Sun" is the most popular search keyword on Chinese social network, Weibo.
Chinese fans are enamoured with Song -- whom they call "qianmin laogong" affectionately -- because of his portrayal of a devoted special forces officer in the drama.
So with Song's star on the rise, merchants are taking advantage of his popularity to drive business.
According to My Paper, the joss papers bearing Song's image are denominated as 50,000 won ($43) -- the biggest note in South Korean legal tender. The actual dollar value of the notes is much lower, and varies based on the seller.
This is a timely move seeing as Qingming Festival fell on Sunday and will continue to see people burning offerings for up to 10 days after.
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