Shao Jianhua sells meat pies with dried and pickled vegetables from a small shop close to the dormitory of Hunan University in Changsha.
After his photo appeared in a social media website, customers are queuing up outside his shop not for its Zhejiang-style meat pie, but a picture of the hawker, media reports said today.
The snaps have gone viral in China, according to the daqi.Com social media aggregator, but Shao insists people come for his pies.
Dianping.Com, a popular comment-driven Chinese food guide, agrees that diners also rate his pies highly, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post says.
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Some social media users have called on President Xi to meet his "twin brother", the paper reports.
Within hours, Shao's pictures got reposted by almost all major mainland media outlets, the Post said. But the photo album on NetEase, which broke the story on Wednesday, could no longer be accessed, it said.
Xi, 60, took over the reigns last year in the once-in-a- decade-leadership change, has quickly emerged as the most powerful leader in China as the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party, the President of the People's Republic and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission.