China softens its hard line against free hugs?
I was surprised to see this 3-par filler story appear from the China Daily (officially-sanctioned English language paper):
"A company in Changchun, Jilin province, encouraged 70 young people to give pedestrians of the opposite gender a big hug on the streets as a way to rid them of shyness or timidity when meeting strangers."
Back in November 2006, free hugs got people arrested - in Shanghai of all places.
Now gorgeous babes have been doing it in Beijing, there's even an organisation dedicated to promoting street hugging between foreigners and Chinese in China.
This is all pretty lame as far as subjects go. But one last thing: The China Daily article above seems to say a private company - not an international hugging organisation - hired or co-opted these 70 random "young people". Why? And why was it specifically the opposite sex the young people had to hug? See if i can't work my ol' Jilin contact list and find out...
1 comment:
Having watched the youtube, I can tell you they've done this all wrong. The fact that she's holding the sign, rather than having it pinned to her in some way, is an immediate impediment to the hug itself. So is the hat. The fact that they've chosen a nervous, boney horse of a woman doesn't help either. It'd be like getting a free hug from a dog urine soaked hills hoist. The Chinese who've walked right on by are right. Pass.
Isn't this free fucking hugs thing a little old now anyway? It was a kind of cute and funny idea the first time around, but it's become lamer every day since to become almost a black hole of lameness. There's this bloke who sits outside central park in perth with a street workers flurescent jacket on that says "FREE HUGS" on the back. Real fucking bogan. I've never seen him offer or receive a hug, and I'm pretty sure you'd be liable to have your teeth knocked out if you tried. Pretty much sums it up.
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