Taiwanese girl kissing 100 French guys at Paris France

If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s time you do. If this won’t put Taiwan in the center of world attention, nothing will. Turns out a 27 years old Taiwanese girl – Yang Ya-ching (楊雅晴) – studying music in Paris-France has embarked on an interesting photo essay – 100 photos of her kissing different French guys. (You can find her Chinese blog here).

Kisses yes/no, beautiful/not-beautiful, moral/immoral  debates aside, most of those photos are terrific photography that show the best of Paris. Take a look at the photos, some links with online discussions of this phenomenon will follow below :

Taiwan News reports with “Kissing quest makes Taiwan woman a website sensation” :

A Taiwanese woman’s ambition to kiss 100 men in Paris has become an overnight web sensation after she provided details of the quest on her much-visited blog. Yang Ya-ching, a 27-year-old music major living in the French capital, has so far notched up 54 smooches, she said on her blog, which features photos of some of the encounters. Collaborators in her project included a factory worker, a model, an Italian tourist and even a soldier visiting the capital of romance for Bastille Day. "I came up with the idea three years ago," she said on her blog. Yang, who plans to write a book about her kissing experiences, has attracted 1.97 million visitors to her blog, including more than 224,000 yesterday alone.

Taipei Times has more with “Taiwanese to kiss 100 men in Paris” (bold not in original):

A Taiwanese woman studying music in Paris has created a sensation in Taiwan after she launched a project to kiss 100 men in the City of Lights.

Yang Ya-ching (楊雅晴), 27, came up with the idea of kissing 100 strangers three years ago, but did not act until this summer vacation, local media reported yesterday.

Yang thought that two years of studies could bring her a degree, but she wanted to do something that could give her a lasting memory of Paris.

So during this summer vacation, she kicked off the Kiss 100 Men in Paris Project, hitting the road with a photographer to record the kisses, media reported.

On July 13, she succeeded in soliciting a kiss from the first man, a worker installing an outdoor advertisement board. After hearing her explanation, the man granted her wish and the kiss was like “an autumn leaf falling into my pocket by accident,” she wrote on her blog.

Since then, Yang has kissed 54 men across Paris, including a street sweeper, a model and a foreign tourist. Kiss No. 3 came from a French man who teaches in Africa. He liked her and invited her to visit him in Africa. The man who gave her kiss No. 48 bit Yang’s lip.

Yang said she intends to write a book on her project, with photos of her 100 smooches.

By yesterday, 1.1 million people had visited her blog and many had left messages.
Some praised her courage and envied her, while others criticized her, calling her a slut and saying her project was just an excuse to kiss handsome young men.

And the good hearted folks of Forumosa soon follow (I’ll spare you some of the really nasty ones):

Buttercup – “Ew, what a freak! , I hope her parents ask for their money back, the daft cow!”

Maoman – “She’s having a European vacation. Good for her. The worst thing that could happen is a cold sore.”

Dragonbones – “Maybe she’s just having fun. Good for her.”

the bear – “why can’t she snog 100 southern Taiwanese men with binglang stained teeth first?”

Travel China Guide forums have more :

Leonardo – Some people criticized that Yang’s project was just an excuse for her to kiss handsome young men. Yang looks lovely and pretty. I think that’s why she can succeed in soliciting so many smooches！

SUPERGIRL – The collection of her kissing photos are everywhere on the internet. She is bold. IMO, she is not a traditonal Chinese girl. Maybe, it is due to the fact that she has received western education and become bolder and more "open-minded". People who visit Paris tend to do something that is extraordinary and surprising. The romantic city has some magic?

DAVEC – She is obviously a lonely girl in need of some attention. I will speak to you all later, just off to Paris.

GUEST15128 – i think that girl is quite weird…

HELLOKITTY -She is such a different and unordinary girl. She might be brainwashed by her French teachers. Look at the French President Sarkozy, you can imagine what her French teachers are like. OMG, Carla Bruni can be the country’s first lady?

You can write books about this story and the reactions I hear to the story. Would love to hear your take on it.