Double whammy: Chinese men set cash on fire to prove who’s richer, fined by cops

Two Chinese men had to cough up a 1,000 yuan (around Rs 10,000) fine each after they were caught burning money, literally, at a restaurant to prove who was richer, reports said.

The two were at a restaurant in Tianchang in southeastern Anhui province on January 24 to celebrate their friend’s new house. During the meal, the two men got into a heated argument over who had more money.

After one proposed a “cash-burning contest” to settle the dispute, they soon started taking out 100-yuan notes and set them on fire at the table.

“I thought we were going to burn 500 yuan at once. If you don’t have money, you’d better shut up,” one of the men was quoted as saying by South China Morning Post in a video footage.

They were tracked by the police and fined for “deliberately damaging or defacing Chinese currency”, a criminal offence in China, after the video went viral on social media networks.

So much for the show-off.