A factory in China figured the best way to celebrate its reopening following the corona outbreak was to organise a contest to help people kiss their worries away. Yep, a good ol smooch to dissipate all the lockdown-induced stress and replace it with the feel-good hormones instead. But since the Chinese government hasnt completely lifted off its imposed restrictions, it only made sense that the participants who were invited to kiss were separated by plexiglass to practise social distancing.
It all sounds like a recipe for disaster waiting to happen.
Yueya, the furniture manufacturing factory in the city of Suzhou in East Chinas Jiangsu province, invited 10 couples to take part in the bizarre kissing contest. Photos and videos from the event are being widely circulated online, showing factory members wearing boiler suits at one of the 10 stations, only separated by a clear pane of glass to avoid the exchange of saliva.
Some of the participants are reportedly married.
#China A furniture factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu had a “Kissing Contest” to celebrate the factory resuming work.
The organisers said this event can help the factory workers relax & there’s a transparent glass between the kissers.
Allegedly some of the participants are not couples.
2911:02 AM – Apr 20, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy280 people are talking about this
According to 7 News, a video of the contest has been viewed over 10 million times on Chinese social media platforms and has sparked outrage online.
A viral video seen 10 million times in 48 hours shows the moment a Chinese factory holds a bizarre social distancing kissing contest. #7NEWS https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/bizarre-social-distancing-kissing-contest-sparks-outrage-c-988907 Bizarre social distancing kissing contest at Chinese factory sparks outrageViral footage seen 10 million times reveals the moment a workplace holds a bizarre contest amid the coronavirus pandemic.7news.com.au6:49 AM – Apr 21, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacySee 7NEWS Sydney’s other Tweets
Many users criticised the factory unit for their reckless decision that eschews social distancing guidelines in the time of coronavirus. On Weibo, known as Chinas Twitter, a hashtag about the questionable event has been viewed over 140 million times.
Mr Ma, the owner of the manufacturing facility, reasoned that the glass had been positioned between the participants to minimise threat of an infection. He pointed out to the local media that some of the participants were married couples who worked in the factory, and the stress of the pandemic might cause mistakes in the production process.
Thats why I arranged the kissing contest to make everyone happy, Mr Ma concluded.
Although Mr Ma was of the opinion that placing a piece of plexiglass between the participants and disinfecting the said prop with alcohol multiple times, was the bare minimum safety measure needed, social media criticised this whole act on noticing that his employees seemingly failed to maintain the recommended distance of at least 3 feet.
Despite the employees seeming in high spirits as seen in the footage, the online community called the event tasteless while the rest of our emotions can be summarised in one tweet:
Blue-eyed wolf5DN1L@alexangel8577Replying to @WBYeats1865 @freedom_HKong
-_- speechless……
87:15 AM – Apr 20, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacySee Blue-eyed wolf5DN1L’s other Tweets
The irony wasnt lost on some others.
Kissing contest in China? A country where some high schools forbid “falling in love” in their rules – So funny https://twitter.com/WBYeats1865/status/1251956825487847424
W. B. Yeats@WBYeats1865#China A furniture factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu had a “Kissing Contest” to celebrate the factory resuming work.
The organisers said this event can help the factory workers relax & there’s a transparent glass between the kissers.
Allegedly some of the participants are not couples.5:56 PM – Apr 20, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacySee Jessie B.’s other Tweets
Titus Andromedon expresses the WTF energy just right.
jack@jackpepesadReplying to @WBYeats1865
This article was first published in Arre