| Jungkook from K-pop boy band BTS. Yonhap |
By Dong Sun-hwa
Star Hankook, The Korea Times' sister publication, released its [HI★CHINA Ranking] Tuesday, disclosing the five hottest Korean celebrities most loved by the Chinese.
No. 1 was Jungkook from K-pop boy band BTS, who has topped the list five weeks in a row. Other members of BTS, V and Jimin, were ranked No. 2 and 3 respectively.
Sehun, a member of K-pop boy group EXO, was No. 4, followed by actor Kim Soo-hyun, who has been doing mandatory military service since October 2017.
[HI★CHINA Ranking] uses three sources to measure the popularity of Korean stars.
The first criterion is "Fan Universe" ranking from Chinese SNS Sina Weibo, which sums up a celebrity's activity index and number of followers.
A weekly chart from Baidu, the most popular search engine in China, is the second standard, followed by the Korean-Japanese chart from Chinese voting site "123 fans."
Each is differently weighed according to the way of voting and method of calculation.
| V from K-pop boy band BTS. Yonhap. |
| Boy band BTS member Jimin. Capture from BTS's official Twitter |
| Sehun from K-pop boy band EXO. Courtesy of SM Entertainment |
| Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun. Courtesy of Keyeast Entertainment |