A Chinese man who placed joss paper into a fortune-drawing money collection box at Japan's Sensoji Temple has sparked online outrage and criticism of bad tourist behaviour.

A video that circulated on social media in November showed the unidentified man putting a piece of joss paper, also known as "hell money", into the box on the desk where fortune sticks are drawn.

Visitors are required to put 100 yen (US$1) into the box to draw from 100 bamboo sticks in a tube. They then need to find the omikuji, or paper fortunes that match the number of the stick they draw.

His friend who appeared to film the video said he was "cheating the devils".

If the word "devils" is used in connection with Japan in certain contexts related to China, it is considered a derogatory term referring to Japanese invaders during the Second World War.

It was unknown when the incident happened or when they posted the video, as the original post cannot be traced.

But the man's behaviour and his attitude drew criticism from online observers, including those from China.

"He is an idiot, asking for blessing with hell money," one said.

"He spent hell money in exchange for happiness in hell," said another.

In China, people only burn "hell money" for the dead out of the superstition that the deceased will have a better existence if they have it in the afterlife.

It is considered bad luck to have hell money at home, let alone take it with you when you are travelling or use it to ask for good fortune.

"He is breaking the law by drawing the fortune without paying. He should be punished for this," a third online observer said.

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Public outrage over Chinese man placing hell money into Japanese temple donation box(https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3333557/public-outrage-over-chinese-man-placing-hell-money-japanese-temple-donation-box)