From China Daily:
It may be China’s most populous city, but Shanghai people are not ready to get up close and personal quite yet.
Just 20 minutes after the free hugs campaign arrived on downtown East Nanjing Road on Saturday, 11 huggers and several journalists found themselves in a nearby police station.
Their sign boards offering free hugs in both Chinese and English were confiscated. A middle-aged man who claimed to be the director of the station said public hugging was not right in a crowded place like Nanjing Road. He also said the organizers lacked the necessary certificate to hold an event in a public place. The director refused to give his name. [Full Text]
Read Reuters recent report: “China: Free Hugs in the Cities“, saying “A campaign inspired by a YouTube video hit the streets of Beijing, Changsha and Xian over the weekend, intended to cheer up strangers by offering hugs on the spot.”
Watch a video of “The Free Hugs campaign “. The Free Hugs campaign started in Australia, and its popularity spread thanks this music video, which has been flying around the internet for several weeks now.
