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Confucius Lottery Ticket, Pissing Some People Off in China

Many of you don’t know that there is a lively lottery business in China, but it’s true and here is some of the evidence.

From an item in the China Daily, one of the country’s leading English language media outlets, I hear the story of…get this, a Confucius lottery ticket.

He must be turning over in his grave.

BACK IN THE USA:

The Feb. 5 Mega Millions jackpot is set at $20 million.

The Feb. 6 Powerball jackpot has skyrocketed to $140 million.

Good luck, everyone.

Confucius, of course, is the ancient Chinese philosopher who prodded his fellow countrymen to seek their fortunes in a decent manner.

If he was alive he would now find his portraits and sermons printed on lottery tickets, the only form of gambling allowed by the Chinese government.

Late last month, lottery stands in east China’s Shandong province began selling Confucius-themed tickets that carry a top prize of 300,000 yuan ( or about $44,000 in USD).

But the tickets have drawn ire from netizens and columnists who claim that putting Confucius’ image on lottery tickets has tarnished the image of the wise man who lived more than 2,000 years ago.

Lottery officials were surprised by the criticism.

“The center is not trying to influence the sale of their lotteries (by using Confucius’ image),” Tang Nianbing, a manager from the Shandong’s lottery center, said.

He rejected accusations that Confucius’ images were used to promote sales.

The Shandong area was home to Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period, about 2,500 years ago.

Sales of the 10-yuan-per-ticket lottery have remained lukewarm.

Still, “It (the Confucius lottery) accounted for about one-tenth of total sales of all lotteries in the week,” said Tang.

Newly released lotteries often sell better than existing ones, but after a while their sales typically fall.

As of yesterday, only one second prize of 30,000 yuan had been awarded, according to Tang.

“The Confucius-themed lotteries are the country’s most real culture-centered tickets,” wrote Tang in an article before the introduction of the lottery. “Its cultural content will erect a milestone in the development of our country’s lotteries.”

In the interview with China Daily, he shrugged off criticism from outside the province, saying the use of Confucius’ image is no different from any other cultural-themed tickets, such as novel characters and antiquities.

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