This issue of Luan Dun magazine focuses on the popularity of the Korean drama "You Who Came From the Star" in China. The drama has been viewed over 14.5 billion times online in China and has sparked many trends. People are obsessed with the drama and have experienced strong emotional reactions to it. The drama's themes of an alien falling in love have clearly resonated with Chinese audiences. The magazine includes interviews with people discussing why they think the drama became so widely popular in China.

2. Having released Luan Dun for over 3 years, we think it’s time to make a small change. You will find at
the end of each magazine issue starting from this year, we will be interviewing people or experts based
on the main topic or theme captured in each issue, titled ‘Voices’.
For those of you who are new to this, Luan Dun is an on-going culture magazine on the weird and
wonderful that are shaping China today.
Our main topic this month is pointed towards the biggest phenomena that is taking over China at the
moment – the invasion of the most popular Korean drama in history. Though Korean fanaticism isn’t
new, this drama has changed China, literally.
Inspired by the drama itself, our feature designer of the month, Frank Ran, designed this issue around
the show’s key theme – alien & outer space.
Flip through the pages to find more about this new trend and obsession.
Enter full screen
and start our journey from a galaxy far, far away...
GREETINGS
FROM 2014’S FIRST LUAN DUN!

4. SNIFF IT
Hainan Airlines is the largest privately owned air transport company in China. Trying
to defy Chinese airline stigmas-poor service, frequent flights delays, etc-the airlines
managed to be one of the 7 airlines to receive a rating of five-star by Skytrax.
Recent pilot scouting program in Shanxi province is proof to their high standards and
expectations. Recruitment requirement include an average height between 170 ~180cm,
fluency in English, great personality, and most importantly, no body odor. The pictures
show recruiters smelling candidates’ armpits during screening process.
Images taken from Ministy or Tofu
_01

5. _02
Developed by the state-owned Aviation Industry
Corporation of China, this unmanned aircraft was given
a test-ride over Hubei province while spraying chemical
catalyst in the air to disperse fog.
Reports stated that the test was successful, and may
be used as a safe,low-cost solution to China’s haze.
We are uncertain if this solution is considered ‘safe’.
However, it is reassuring to know that the nation are
taking steps to solve the problem.
HAZARD ON HAZE
Image taken from Shanghai Daily

6. _03
Image taken from Shanghai Daily
March 5th is the official “Learn from Lei Feng Day” to commemorate
Lei Feng, a soldier in the People’s Liberation Army and known for his
selflessness, modesty, and devotion to Mao. He is now a cultural icon
representing earnestness and service, and “Learn from Lei Feng Day”
encourages the nation to do good for the community.
On this day, a journalist riding an electric scooter in Chengdu decided
to stage an accident by hitting the front of a car and fall off his bike. He
wanted to see if someone would come and help him given it was Lei
Feng Day however after 10 minutes of lying on the road with no help,
he got up and left the scene, probably very disappointed.
NO GOOD DEEDS

7. _04
KOREAN DRAMA
IS INSANELY POPULAR IN CHINA
The Korean drama “You who came from the star” is about an
alien lands 400 years ago in Korea and falls in love. Fast forward
to present, he meets his first love’s doppelganger — a haughty
starlet, and inevitably falls in love with her too. In China it’s been
viewed online through iQiyi over14.5 billion times.
The show has sparked all sorts of trends, namely one for chicken
and beer as it’s the heroine’s favorite food combination, here are
some interesting stories around the show and chicken&beer.
In Chongqing, a major city in Southwest China, a woman supposedly
dumped her boyfriend after he refused to buy her fried chicken in
the middle of the night because he wasn’t as romantic as the show’s
leading man.
Another story reported that a 50-year-old Chinese woman suffered
a heart attack from late night binge-watching and getting too
“emotional” over the storyline.
Allegedly, a manager in Fujian, a far eastern province of China, gave
his employees the day off just to catch the series finale.
When Chinese officials met in Beijing this week, the show was the
hottest topic of discussion. They debated why China hasn’t made a
show nearly as popular.

8. _05
In Chongqing, a statue of Mao is being prepared for a move from it’s
current location, a factory abandoned in mid 2012, to the city’s newly
built museum.
Meanwhile, in another city, another statue of Mao gets a good clean.
SALUTE TO THE GREAT
Image taken from Shanghai Daily

9. Image taken from Shanghai Daily
_06
China is beginning to embrace the fun side of things by dressing up for a cause,
and the costumes cannot get any better.
The city of Chongqing held a parade on Foreigner Street to create awareness for
the anti-smog campaign in late February, many participants include local as well
as expats living in the city.
POLLUTION PARADE

10. _07
In the wake of current discontent towards air pollution and recent Air
Quality Index rising above 500 in Beijing, its unsurprising to see students
from Peking University, China’s most prestigious university and also
known for its rebellious history, masterminding a ‘silent’ protest against
pollution throughout the campus.
MASKED INTELLECTUALS
Image taken from Chinasmack

11. A batch of puppies born in late February are gaining online traction for it’s
resemblance to baby panda’s.
At the moment, it is uncertain whether they are for sale or not.
IDENTITY CRISIS
Image taken from Shanghai Daily
_08

12. With living costs so high and increasing migrant workers moving around for
jobs (mostly in construction) there is only one solution that can solve their
problem: living in shipping containers.
Many demolition sites contain containers for rent with rental fee from 6 rmb/day
per container, this is around 0.99 usd/day per container.
Yes, you can stack them together to make a 2-story house.
CUPBOARD TRIBES
Image taken from Shanghai Daily
_09

14. This phrase comes from the hottest Korean Drama “You who came from
the star”, it’s the heroine’s favorite food combination, and her most famous
line in that show is :”first snow, how couldn’t we have chicken and beer?”
When Shanghai snowed a week after CNY, Korean restaurants throughout
the city were packed full of people lining up to buy Chicken and Beer.
Even China’s A-list celebrities bought into the trend. Gao Yuan Yuan, a
Chinese actress, posted this photo on her Instagram with the caption:
“First snow. Where’s my fried chicken and beer?”
Now if you are using baidu search or wechat to type beer and fried-chicken
in Chinese, all the interface will start to snow.
啤酒和炸鸡
BEER AND FRIED-CHICKEN
_10

15. _11
One of the hottest meme at the moment, Bu Ming Jue Li is actually
an abbreviation from a longer phrase that says: “I don’t understand,
but I think this is very impressive.”
Bu Ming = don’t understand
Jue Li = think this is very impressive
The meme is used to describe situations that are either phenomenal,
dramatic, or exceptional but unable to truly explain itself. For
example, the word is being used to describe the missing MH370 flight
where it’s the talk of the town but no one really knows what’s really
going on.
不明觉厉 BU MING JUE LI

17. After three year to focus on her marriage and family, Singaporean
singer-songwriter Stefanie Sun finally come back with her new single, "Kepler".
According to China Byte, the ballad, named after the brightest Kepler's Supernova
that appeared in the Milky Way in 1604, is said to be the singer's dedication to her
fans young and old, likening them to stars in the sky that may be far from one
another but are able to connect through her music.
The song is also Stefanie's way of thanking her fans for their continuous support,
enabling her to continue and make her realise that she was never alone. Stefanie
used to have a dynamic and talented girl’s image in the public, now she’s becoming
a real woman after she became a mom.
STEFANIE SUN:
KEPLER
_12

18. _13
Joanna Wang, talented singer and songwriter from Taiwan, her father is the
famous music producer Wang Zhiping, Joanna released her latest album in March,
this is her fifth album, Her album has achieved great success in the past especially
the “start from here” and “the adult story book”.
Midnight Cinema is also a cover album, it seems like she wants to show her
respect to the classic Hong Kong movie soundtrack such as the soundtrack from
“A better tomorrow”,”in the mood for love”
JOANNA WANG:
MIDNIGHT CINEMA

19. BLACK COAL, THIN ICE
Thriller film written and directed by Diao Yinan, it tells the story of the Ripper case
with Lunmei Kwai, Liao Fan, Wang Xuebing three people‘s love story of redemption.
The film won the Golden Bear award at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival
and the film's leading actor Liao Fan also won the Silver Bear for Best Actor. The
film received critical praises at the Berlin Film Festival, but audience reaction was
more divided.
_14

20. We Get Married (or Let’s Get Married) is a popular TV series in 2013. Yang Tao (played by
Gao Yuanyuan) is a 32 years old left-over woman. And Guo Ran is a 35-year-old man who
is fear of marriage. (left-over woman and man in China means the people who’s after 30
years old and still single) They meet and decide to get together. However, it seems things
wouldn’t go on such easily. There is still a long way to go.
This TV series’ total play volume on 12 video websites reached 4 billion times, which made
a record of Chinese TV series online play of 2013 and early 2014.
LET’S GET MARRIED
_15

21. A latest love and family TV comedian -[big Husband] discusses age gap relationships in
the context of Chinese society.
The fashion magazine editing director, Gu Xiaojun (played by Li Xiaoran) is a beautiful and
independent female. She fell in love with a university professor Ouyang Jian (played by
Wang Zhiwen),who is 20 years older than her. They decided to get married but true love is
never easy. They had to cope with various difficulties to reach happiness.
This TV series achieved the total play volume of over 1.4 billion at online video website,
which ensures its first audience rating among various TV series.
BIG HUSBAND
_16

22. WHERE ARE WE GOING, DAD?
“Where Are We Going, Dad?” is a Chinese reality TV show broadcast on
Hunan Television. Based on the original South Korean reality show Dad!
Where Are We Going?, the first season debuted on 11 October 2013 featuring
five fathers and their child as they travel to rural places, they are going
through challenges, kind of like the amazing race but between a father and
his kid, it’s an exciting and sweet show.
The series has become a massive ratings hit, attracting 75 million viewers per
episode to Hunan Television every week. It was adapted into a film, Where Are
We Going, Dad?, that was released on 31 January 2014.
Now these kids all become the new ads star, they both endorsed a bunch of
brands: Mengniu, Dettol, Chinese travel vertical site Tuniu etc.
_17

23. NICE is an Instagram-like application. It has more than 800K users and the number of
high quality UGC is around 18K per day. The highlight of this app is their users LOVE TO
SHARE! (SHOW OFF). This is a revolution tool to reform the bonding between brands and
its consumers. It allow you to show off your cool stuff and you are in a community where
everybody embraces the same value and action. You can build your own brand catalog
and find the users/KOLs share the same taste. You also can search the brand/item to find
the references you need before you purchase or put together a look.
NICE
_18

24. VOICES
Penni Fu, Design Ethnographer
‘You who came from the star’ enjoys sweeping popularity. This reminds me of the
prominent anthropologist Daniel Miller, who is a big fan of Korean TV drama. He may
debate abstrusely in the academic seminars as if he were the one who comes from the
star and sounds completely alien. While in the meantime, when he talks about his
favorite Korean TV drama ‘Winter Sonata’, his eyes simply light up. Korean TV drama
reveals the human side of us. As human being, we want to be who we are not. The
actress and actor become one’s ‘god’ and ‘goddess’, taking one into the fantasized
lifestyle (like a myth) while still connecting one with the social reality.“
Nicole Fang, big fan of Korean trend
"This drama is so popular, I think people in the US are also watching it, not just in
China. It is very different from other Korean drama, no one died from cancer, no
arguments between family members, etc. Alien being the theme is unique and fresh,
the actor having special powers and the actress playing a very silly role, it’s very
exciting and interesting. Most importantly, both leading characters are very good
looking! especially the female character, all her dresses, shoes, bags and cosmetics
are very fabulous, I want to buy the YSL lipstick she used in the show but that color has
already been sold out all over the world. I can also talk about how handsome the male
character is all day long…”
Why is the Korean Drama “You Who Came From The Star”
so popular in China?

25. THANKSAnd, welcome back to Earth!
EDITOR: Kate Lu, Charinee Chairasmisak DESIGNER: Frank Ran W+K Shanghai