Teens In China Are Putting Cabbages On Leashes And Taking Them For Walks

[garbon]

I assume this is a misrepresentation of the photo, but I liked the story anyway. Particularly the quote as to why.

Teenagers in China are taking heads of cabbage out for walks in an attempt to fight loneliness, according to Metro.

In a story I'm still not 100 percent convinced is true, young people are attaching produce to improvised leashes and dragging them around in public. I racked my brain in an attempt to rationalize this and it was a miserable failure, but luckily psychiatrist Wen Chao has a theory as to why cabbages are the new hotness among young people in the country:

"The idea is simple – you feel as lonely and as simple as a cabbage, so you begin to act like one and befriend one."

Whatever you say, Wen; you're the doctor. Teens say that the walks help them clear their minds and the cabbages serve as conversation starters to help them meet other like-minded people (as well as conveniently serving as a giant red flag to those who want to avoid the kinds of people who take cabbages for walks).

Those interviewed also said they preferred the vegetables to something like a dog because they don't bark and you can throw them away whenever you wish.

I tried to add something else, but I couldn't say anything that topped this picture:

[Admiral Yi]

Hipsters. 

[dps]

I don't think those are cabbages.  Those are shih tzus with their fur dyed green.

The one in the foreground seems to be missing its front legs.  Poor thing.

[Jacob]

You got a link, garbon?

[garbon]

You got a link, garbon?

Ah sorry about that.

http://elitedaily.com/humor/teens-china-putting-cabbages-leashes-taking-walks/

and here's what it references:

http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/02/chinese-teens-taking-cabbages-for-walks-to-get-over-loneliness-4716551/

[Jacob]

Thanks

Teenagers being silly, but thanks to the internet we can marvel at it across the world.

[Razgovory]

So did someone just find a funny photo and then write a story a strange story to fit it?

[derspiess]

Do their moms shame them by telling them there are starving kids in the US who would be glad to eat that cabbage?

[garbon]

So did someone just find a funny photo and then write a story a strange story to fit it?

Presumably.

[garbon]

Do their moms shame them by telling them there are starving kids in the US who would be glad to eat that cabbage?

[Norgy]

Some of my best friends are cabbage. Napa cabbage.

[garbon]

Performance Art!

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/05/07/performing-with-produce-the-man-behind-chinas-cabbage-walkers/

Performing With Produce: The Man Behind China's Cabbage Walkers

Sometimes life imitates art, and sometimes art – processed through the sausage-grinder of the 24-hour news cycle — gets confused for life.

Earlier this week, a handful of Western media outlets reported on a strange new trend: teenagers in the world's most populous country walking cabbages on leashes as a way to battle ennui and loneliness. "I have more interest for my cabbage than I do my parents. I feel it understands me," one teen told the photo agency Europics in a quote reproduced by the Huffington Post.

In reality, the "Cabbage Patch Kids," as the Austrian Times dubbed them, were neither new nor part of a trend. Instead, they were participants in a performance art piece staged at a Beijing music festival by an artist, Han Bing, who has been walking cabbages – as well as bricks and other vegetables – for more than a decade.

After realizing it had been taken in by Mr. Han, the Huffington Post ran a correction. "It's unclear whether the teens really saw some therapeutic benefit to the cabbage walking, or they were just messing with reporters," it said.

Once China Real Time managed track down Han Bing, the artist explained his aim was not to fool anyone, but rather to evoke freedom. "I don't have control over how (the media) interprets" the event, he said.

We also asked him about the meaning of the cabbages, how people in different countries have responded to them and how he compares himself to Ai Weiwei, another Chinese artist known for striking performances.  Edited excerpts below.

...

[Jacob]

Nice work, Chinese performance artist! :woot: