Free hugs will get you arrested
 

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- The Chinese appear not to have warmed to a "free hugs" campaign aimed at cheering up strangers by hugging them on the street, with some huggers even being hauled away by police for questioning, media said on Monday.

The campaign hit the streets of Beijing, Changsha and Xi'an over the weekend, with participants opening their arms to embrace passers-by and brandishing cards saying "free hugs," "care from strangers," "refuse to be apathetic," the Beijing News said.

In the capital, police moved in and took away four huggers briefly for questioning, baffled by their wacky, Western-style activities on a busy downtown shopping street.

In the ancient capital of Xi'an, home to the terra cotta warriors, no more than 20 people, mostly children, had volunteered for the free hugs in two hours.

"Passers-by showed interest and curiosity, stopped and asked, but most of them walked away after hearing the explanation," Xinhua news agency said, quoting a local newspaper.

"Embracing is a foreign tradition. Chinese are not accustomed to this," a man named Li, a Xi'an citizen, was quoted as saying.

The ancient city of Changsha, capital of Hunan province, fared better, a local affairs Web site reported.

"Though some people refused (to be hugged), I hugged 20 people in one minute," one girl was quoted as saying.

The Free Hugs campaign started in Australia and gained fame with a music video this year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's kinda wacky....but the thought is nice anyway.

I've been kind of sad lately thinking about all the anger and hurt in the world...all the things people do to intentionally hurt others because of stupid differnces. And here, people are trying (although it is weird to me what they were doing) to do something nice, and they get arrested.

*sighs...and goes back to being sad about the state of the world today*

And igonored... and called a hippy.... the list goes on.

We live in a sad, violent world, and when people want to make it better, they constantly get pushed aside. Sesame Street has tried this for years, making co-productions for other countries, to try to educate kids to love one and other, and not blow their bloody li'l heads up. Doesn't exactly work, but they try anyway.

I just posted the hug campaign on my forum, so let me just repeat myself, for the most part:

I can't believe this story.

In Sydney (YouTube)
In Philly (YouTube) ... And Oct 2006 Philly news story.
In NYC (YouTube) - And news story from NYC, 2004
In Tel Aviv (YouTube)
In Spain (YouTube)
In Venezuela (YouTube)

All over the world!

--
Honestly, I'm never surprised when someone in China is arrested. For anything. :ohwell: I hope they didn't get in too much trouble.

"Embracing is a foreign tradition." Hello... what? I've never heard that before. I have lots of first and second-generation chinese friends. Hugging on the street is not exactly an American thing either. Americans are very prudish, generally.

Aw, Katie, don't be sad about the world.

*holds up FREE HUGS sign*

I don't want people to just come at me and hug, i have my own personal space

*reads the sign, contemplates for a few seconds, then walks away*
:P j/k
*hugz 4 j00*
Ya dang protester, you... :goof:

i'd only accept a free hug if it was from a chick... (and even then the missus might have something to say about that!)

Hmm... I do like my personal space, but...


....



*runs around and hugs everyone in the thread*



Ha! You've all been hugged!!



Peace.

Amen to that. Just imagine - a complete stranger rushes to you on the street craving for a close physical contact. That could be embarassing for most people.

They're just holding the sign. People have to go up to them to get their hug, not the other way around.

*hugs JD & gobo* :D

I still don't trust those huggers. They're suspicious and they surely want to pinch my wallet while hugging.

*rifles through wad of cash*

No way dude. I'm 100% trustworthy. Joy, peace, love...

Ack! A Hippie!

*scrams*

*hugs a tree* :D

"Let's all go hug random people!"
"Sorry, we are a loveless world. You are going to be arrested."
"Isn't this Sun-shiney-happy-land?"
"Nope."
"Damnit, I knew we took a wrong turn..."

For no reason at all, this story reminds me of that random snippet of conversation I was having with some friends :lol:

Somebody give me a hug.

Now.

(((Ben!)))

:goof: y'ok Ben?

I agree on both counts. I would DEFINATELY not feel right if a dude hugged me, and if there are children involved that would make me feel dirty or awkward. But if a woman did it, I couldn't complain.

*holds up FREE KISSES (only for ladies 18 years and older) sign*
;) While this may have been conceived as a joke, it just might work... :goofygri:

oh, i thought they walk at you and start to hug and such. i could have stabbed them as muggers!

now we got this hugging campaign going on in finland, people are not getting arrested though

Funny. I just walked past two doing a hugging campaign in Denmark today (both a man and a woman, so people could actually choose :lol: )