The furniture factory named 'Yueya' in the city of Suzhou invited 10 couples to take part in the kissing contest. Photos and videos that are being widely circulated online show factory employees, some of them reportedly married, lowering their protective face masks to kiss through a clear pane of glass. The employees were all seen wearing blue boiler suits.
#China A furniture factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu had a "Kissing Contest" to celebrate the factory resuming work.
— W. B. Yeats (@WBYeats1865) April 19, 2020
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. pic.twitter.com/9BWWpBkaAs
According to Global Times, the kissing competition was organised to celebrate the resumption of work in the factory and China began easing restrictions imposed during the lockdown to contain the spread of the highly infectious coronavirus.
Mr Ma, the owner of the factory, said that the glass had been placed between participants to minimise risk of infection.
Mr Ma told local media: "Some of the participants were actually married couples who both work in the factory.
"This pandemic has made everyone very tense. They haven't been able to relax, and that might cause mistakes in the production process.
"That's why I arranged the kissing contest to make everyone happy.
"To avoid any accidents, we put a piece of plexiglass between everyone and disinfected it with alcohol several times."
The competition still attracted criticism on social media, with many pointing out that the participants failed to maintain social distance.
