Korean drama fuels record number of Chinese partying with chicken and beer

By Woo Jae-yeon WOLMI ISLAND, INCHEON, March 30 (Yonhap) -- It was a crisp, luminous afternoon of early spring. The ocean glittered under the sunlight. Of course, there was no sign, whatsoever, of snow. Thousands of Chinese tourists, many of them fans of a South Korean drama, however, poised to emulate what the main actress from "My Love from the Star" had to do when it snowed: eating "chimaek" -- "chi" is short for chicken and "maek" for "maekju," or beer in Korean. The runaway hit Korean TV series is a romantic comedy about a sassy Korean actress and her extraterrestrial boyfriend. The drama, which aired on South Korea's commercial network SBS from Dec. 18, 2013, to Feb. 27, 2014, soon captivated China, and fueled a craze in the country for the food combination loved by Cheon Song-yi, played by Korea's A-lister Jun Ji-hyun. On Monday afternoon, organizers in windbreakers were busy with what they had never imagined they would be doing: setting up dinner tables for 4,500 Chinese guests. For the mission, 705 six-seat outdoor tables were arranged along the coastline of Wolmi Island in Incheon, some 50 km southwest of Seoul. Placed on the tables were boxes of crunchy and savory fried chicken and potato chips, canned beer and coke, and a box of assorted rice cakes. Nearing sunset, the golden sunlight was slanting onto the white and gray tables, softening edgy, nippy air of an early spring evening. By around 6 p.m., endless lines of gleeful Chinese tourists, escorted by guides who held up high poles with each team's number, swarmed en masse to the venue that was encircled with security officers, as locals and other tourists occasionally gave curious sidelong glances. The Chinese were part of China's Aolan International Beauty Group, or Aurance Group, a cosmetics and health supplements company based in the south China province of Guangzhou, that sent a whopping 6,500 employees and valued customers to Incheon and Seoul for a week-long tour. They were the single largest group of tourists to ever arrive in Korea by plane. The arrivals, due to the group's size, were arranged to take place from Sunday to Tuesday in hundreds of flights. Their itinerary included a mass visit to the filming locations of the popular 21-episode show. On Sunday, they were ferried to Seoksan in the international business district of Songdo in Incheon where they had a chance to take a photo in front of a real-size cardboard cutout of the drama's couple. Su Jiayi, a 22-year-old employee from Guangzhou, was one of the batches who visited Seoksan on Sunday. "The show was so romantic. I wanted to become a girl like Cheon Song-yi who had a boyfriend like Do Min-joon," said Su, giggling and nibbling away at fried chicken at her table far back from the main stage where music blared through the speakers and colorful lights hit the floor. She said she got completely hooked on "chimaek" after she watched the drama, so much so that she frequented a chicken restaurant located in the Korean street of her native city 2-3 times a week. She was excited to sample more Korean foods for the remainder of her trip, she said. Her friend Wang Yutong, who sat next to Su, chipped in, "I think being able to taste each other's food is a great way to communicate and better understand each other." Having recently started watching "Descendants of the Sun," the latest sensational hit Korean drama, Wang fumbled in her purse to flaunt what is widely known in the Internet as "Cheon Song-yi lipstick" by French cosmetics brand Yves Saint Laurent (YSL). "Next time I come here, I will come by myself and want to go shopping for makeup products and cosmetics," she said. In Korea, pairing fried chicken and a glass of beer has long been one of the most favored food combinations at after-hours functions. A dazzling variety of chicken, from soy sauce to honey butter flavored, is on offer. For the event, 1,500 "Crispy Chicken" dishes and 1,500 "Barbecue Chicken" dishes were prepared, said Kim Ye-seul, an official from Incheon-based chicken franchise Ho Chicken, which spent an estimated 120 million won (US$103,145) to sponsor the party. "We asked each franchise in the city to cook 100 chicken sets and delivered them here by this morning... We haven't spent much on marketing and thought this would be a really good opportunity to let our brand know," she said, looking clearly upbeat about a business opportunity, if any, the event might lay in front of them. Liu Jiaqi from the Shanghai branch of the company said that she has never attended this kind of massive outdoor party before and that she enjoyed the chicken very much. "This is my first time being here and I am so excited to eat traditional and authentic Korean foods. People all smile and greet us warmly wherever we go," said the 21-year-old, pulling her jean jacket tighter as darkness fell. "It would be more helpful to enjoy the event if staff could speak Chinese," she added. On the main stage, a welcoming toast was proposed, followed by a surprise ceremony to bring out people whose birthday falls during the travel period. Some 15 people sprang up to the stage to receive a bouquet of flowers while congratulatory music played. As the night descended completely, people started to disperse into the streets of the island, looking for shelter from the cold. Anxiously standing next to the stage, Lee Jae-sung, manager of the tourism promotion team of Jung-gu district office of Incheon, the jurisdiction of which covers the event area, gave a sigh of relief as he watched the event finally came to a close without a major hitch. The event seemed too big for the district office to handle smoothly in terms of logistics like infrastructure and personnel, said Lee, citing "last-minute changes" requested from the tour company that gave him a headache. "We have about 200 police officers and 150 civil servants mobilized in order to keep order and be ready for any security emergency," he said. Based on the experience this time, he said, the office would make improvements wherever it can to do better next time. "Our goal is to make Wolmi Island a must-visit destination if anyone wants to try chimaek," Lee said, before heading off into the party venue that started quickly emptying out. jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr (END)