‘Love doesn’t come from begging’: jilted Chinese man spends night in rain on his knees outside ex-girlfriend’s office to beseech her to take him back
- Rejected boyfriend spends night on his knees with a bunch of flowers outside workplace of woman who ditched him
- Passers-by and police try in vain to get him to stop but man continues his lovesick vigil for 21 hours before giving up
A lovesick Chinese man who spent a whole night on his knees in the rain outside his former girlfriend’s workplace begging her to take him back has caused a stir on mainland social media.
The jilted boyfriend knelt outside the entrance of the woman’s office building in Dazhou, in China’s southwestern Sichuan province, from 1pm on March 28 until 10am the next day with a big bunch of roses.
A video of his extreme 21-hour lovelorn plea has been viewed 150 million times on Weibo.
As he begged his ex-partner to take him back, local residents gathered around him and urged him to give up his efforts, the video media outlet Jiupai News reported.
Throughout the time the man spent on his knees his ex-girlfriend was nowhere to be seen, the report said.
“Many of us tried to talk him into leaving,” a man, surnamed, Li was quoted as saying.
“It’s not necessary to keep on kneeling. The girlfriend is not willing to show up but you are still here, losing face,” Li said.
Li said it was raining throughout the time the man was there, adding that he left at 10am on March 29 “probably because he could not bear the cold any longer.”
Police said they received reports from passers-by about the man and also tried to persuade him to leave.
“He said his girlfriend broke up with him a few days ago. He wants to seek her forgiveness and he hoped she could date him again,” the anonymous officer was quoted as saying.
When officers tried to move him on, the man reportedly said to them: “Is it illegal for me to kneel down here? If it is not illegal, please leave me alone.”
The lovesick man’s actions have caused a major stir on mainland social media.
“A person taking these kinds of extreme is horrific,” one person said on Weibo.
“Girl, stay far away from him,” a second online observer advised the ex-partner, while another added: “Love doesn’t come by begging.”
Another person commented, “He is just moving himself. This is not love, but moral hijacking.”
Stories about people going to extremes when they fail in love are not uncommon in China.
Last year, a man in Shenzhen in southern China was arrested for throwing a vase from the 15th floor of a building after a woman refused to be his girlfriend.
The man told police that he initially thought of committing suicide, but was afraid to jump, so he threw a vase instead.
In another case, a man took a woman who had just ditched him on a reckless drunken drive the wrong way up a busy street in Zhuhai, also in southern China.
Even after being caught by police, the man begged her to stay with him, only to be rejected firmly by the woman.
