Embarrassing

Following a campaign initiated by Harry Potter star Emma Watson in London when she left feminist literature around the London Underground, several playful Chinese literature fans in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou began hiding books on the subway, only to find that passengers were wary of it. Some criticized the movement for just copying a foreign activity without considering Chinese conditions, while others were more concerned that books left during rush hours might be abandoned, clutter the subways and eventually be thrown away by cleaning staff. Some passengers told the media that the books would confuse them into thinking that the seat was occupied or that the book was someone’s lost property.