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Walking with a cabbage sprout on a leash has become very popular among young Chinese people
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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This summer, young people on the streets of Beijing walked cabbages on leashes instead of pets. As it turns out, this behavior was caused by a desire to draw public attention to the problems in modern China.
At first glance, a cabbage on a leash may seem like an unconventional way to meet someone on the street. As journalists found out, walking with cabbage helps some teenagers cope with emotional stress and worries. One of the cabbage walkers, 17-year-old Liu Chen, claims that he passes his negative thoughts to the cabbage during a walk and returns home refreshed. Another young man noted that the cabbage understands him more than his own parents.
However, in reality, the cabbage on a leash is a large-scale flash mob, which was organized to support the art of one contemporary artist Han Bin, in particular his series of symbolic photographs "Walking with Cabbage". The idea itself was born in 2000, during which time the artist created a number of photographs in Times Square, the Champs Elysees, the Great Wall of China and other famous places on our earth.
With his project, the artist sought to show quite important problems of modern society, and not only Chinese. On the one hand, the artist displayed social values. In China, cabbage is the most accessible product and once the reserves of this vegetable spoke of prosperity, stability, comfort. Today, cabbage is no longer considered a sign of wealth among the rich, but among the average residents of China, cabbage has not lost its value.
By tying up the cabbage, the photographer wanted to point out the existing social inequality and the disrespectful attitude towards food and the work of workers of some sections of the population.
In one of his essays, Han Bin wrote that humanity was told to move from the “delusional fantasies of the past” to “mad economic modernization.” As a result, this path led to the severe decline of some regions and the ostentatious pampering of others. But at the same time, the world that existed for five thousand years is gradually disappearing under avalanches of rubble. Han Bin, with his cabbage on a leash, seems to ask the whole world to stop, look and think about what this life will lead to and what price will have to be paid for it?
Another side of the social project of the contemporary artist touches upon the issues of personal freedom. Every person deserves to be perceived and treated normally, even if he is significantly different from the steely people around him. It is for this purpose that the young artist walks with a head of cabbage on a leash along country roads, central city streets, while demonstratively not paying attention to the reaction of the crowd, passing onlookers, journalists and cameras.
Han Bin is confident that sooner or later the day will come when every person will be able to freely choose an occupation for themselves.