Kissing contest immoral

A departmental store in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, recently hosted a kissing competition in which more than 40 young couples took part. According to the rules, the couple locked in a kiss for the longest time would be declared the winners, and the award awaiting them was a smartphone. Although the competition drew a lot of media attention, it did nothing to promote social morality. The commercialized kissing competition set a bad example for young people and aggravated the moral decline. Efforts to promote social and moral values would suffer a serious blow if such kissing contests became a fashion, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:

The city of Changsha, capital of Hunan province, organized a similar kissing competition in which 1,000 couples took part. Kissing is a way to express love. It is natural for a couple to kiss even in public places. But it's ridiculous for couples to lock in a kiss in a street under the direction of the hosts of a competition just to win a smartphone.

Such vulgar kissing contests represent neither romance nor love, because the hosts encourage even strangers - from the same gender if possible - to kiss each other. Such shows go against the established norms of Chinese culture.