(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-07 08:54

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.

While a young pedestrian surnamed Zhang received a hug calmly from a woman on Tuesday, Wang, a 52-year-old man, was horrified on receiving one. He said it was "something unacceptable".

The company found that most young pedestrians like Zhang accepted their hugs as an interesting way of communicating with strangers while the elderly were not in favor of it.

(Procuratorial Daily)