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The “G-Dragon building” in Beijing

Jimin’s Chinese fan base, Park Jimin Bar, placed an ad in the world’s biggest mall in Dubai for his birthday last year. But G-Dragon’s Chinese fans actually did one better four years prior: they turned a building in Beijing into a “G-Dragon building” for the week leading up to his birthday, by posting huge photos and birthday messages all around the structure, as well as hosting an exhibition.

Pressna reported that, as his birthday is August 18, there were 818 different photos and messages from fans filling the building. Meanwhile, its exterior was emblazoned with a huge screen featuring a birthday celebration video – which was played at midnight on August 18, of course.

The front page of Sports Seoul newspaper

You might usually expect the front page of a newspaper to be dedicated to breaking news, but in 2016, Chinese fan club G-One decided that their idol deserved to grace the cover instead. And they didn’t just put him on any newspaper, but bought a cover ad for Sports Seoul, one of the most popular newspapers in South Korea. The group posted photos of the project on their Twitter account.

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Forests in Jeju Island and Seoul

G-Dragon had an extravagant birthday in 2016 indeed! The same year, G-Dragon’s official fan site Always-GD and Seoul-based crowdfunding site Tree Planet joined forces to get him a gift. And it wasn’t a designer outfit or flashy bling – but a forest bearing G-Dragon’s real name, Kwon Ji-yong. According to The Korea Herald, plans were made for the fruit of the forest’s 50 citrus trees to be harvested and donated to charity.

But that wasn’t G-Dragon’s first forest. Another was actually named after him back in 2014, also for his birthday. This forest consists of 50 citrus trees as well, and is located in Seoul. According to Daily K-pop News, fans who took part in the project shared, “[We are] so happy that we could have a place to share memories with G-Dragon.”

Donations, donations, donations

G-Dragon’s fans were not to be outdone. According to Always-GD’s Twitter account, his supporters donated around US$100,000 (130 million won) to good causes between 2013 and 2016. For his birthday in 2016, donations were made to charities that he supports, such as Unicef, reported Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service.

Another memorable occasion was his birthday in 2015, when fans donated around US$7,000 (8.18 million won) to SeungIl Hope Foundation, which was established to help ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) patients. Sean of Jinusean – a hip-hop duo signed to YG Entertainment like Big Bang – posted an Instagram photo of the donation certificate.

The donations were made just two months after G-Dragon posted an Instagram photo of his ankle bracelet promoting the ice bucket challenge, a viral 2014 challenge conceived of to promote awareness of ALS.

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Birthday messages on public buses

If the goal is to let as many people as possible know about your idol’s special day, taking out ads on public transport is a great option. Just as fans of BTS’ Jungkook are planning an advertisement at a Korean bus stop for his upcoming September birthday, according to Sports Kyunghyang, G-Dragon’s fans opted to put birthday messages on public buses back in 2016.

One of his fan clubs, Baidu G-Dragon Bar, chose Seoul public bus number 271, which travels through the centre of the city, around the Hongdae area, according to KMIB. Always-GD, on the other hand, actually booked an entire bus – without passengers – to use as an advertisement.

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