I'm just taking the CABBAGE for a walk - PHOTO

If several Western media outlets are to be believed, there's a new trend in China where teens have started to take heads of cabbage on walks on leashes to combat loneliness and depression.'I have more interest for my cabbage than I do my parents. I feel it understands me,' the Huffington Post quoted a Chinese teen as saying in an article published earlier this month.'I feel I can transfer my negative thoughts about myself to the cabbage, go for a walk with it and come home feeling better about myself,' the website quotes another Chinese teen as saying.The only problem, however, is that it isn't true - not all of it, anyway.Indeed, Chinese teens have been spotted walking around the streets of Beijing lugging heads of cabbage behind them on leashes. But it isn't new, it isn't a 'trend,' and it has nothing to do with combating loneliness.Rather, it's part of a performance art piece by Chinese artist Han Bing that was unveiled at the Beijing music festival - and Bing has been walking produce on leashes for more than a decade.The Wall Street Journal tracked down Bing after the 'trend' story about the 'cabbage patch kids' walking salads around Beijing was so badly bungled by Western news outlets. Bing explains he has been working with produce, as well as other inanimate objects, since 2000.'Originally, I intended for walking the cabbage to have no meaning,' Bing said. 'I was only trying to encourage freedom, and to get people to question their daily activities. There’s a knot in everyone’s head, and I want to untie that knot. A lot of people come up to me asking what I’m trying to accomplish, but when I’m walking my cabbage, I don’t want to talk. Just doing what I’m doing is enough.'Bing has created an entire photo series called 'Walking the Cabbage' that includes photos of him and his cabbages all over the world.(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.az