We’re in Guilin for the moment, headed to Yangshou tomorrow to do some volunteer work with rural kids and cruise the Li River. Just a few hours ago Tom was reading The China Star, an English language newspaper that the Sheraton slipped under our door. On page 5 under the story “Experts refute new bird flue strain claim” he found an unusual headline: “Huggers end up in police custody.” You might remember that on our one day in Korea, Dax and McKane accommodated a young man advertising “Free Hugs” on a poster he carried through the famous Insadong. This guy was apparently part of an international free hugs movement which was spawned on September 22 when someone from Sydney posted a video of himself doing the same on YouTube. When Chinese youth in Shanghai and Nanjing tried to replicate the campaign three days ago, they were arrested. Bummer. Different country.

The story led us to check out YouTube, and lo and behold, we found that our Korean hugmeister had posted a video of his own….and we’re in it! Check it out.

See, it pays to be loving. As one of the Chinese huggers asked, “Why can’t we melt the coldness in people’s hearts with our hugs?”

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