‘New kind of psychological massage’: tree-hugging craze spreads across China as young people grapple with greenery to relieve stress

A strange stress-relieving phenomenon – in which young people get solace from hugging trees – has spread to cities across China after it first emerged in the central coastal city of Shanghai.

A chat room devoted to the unusual pastime at the portal website baidu.com has amassed 10,000 members who shared more than 50,000 posts about their experience of “intimate contact” with trees.

On the short video app Douyin, a video product about “tree therapy” received 330,000 likes and 40,000 comments, while on another social media platform Xiaohongshu, hundreds of people shared their tree-hugging experiences or organised gatherings to indulge their passion.

Advocates say they simply choose a tree they like in a park or street for hugging sessions which can last from minutes to hours on end, according to a report on Shanghai TV.

Many people said they like hugging trees because it helps relieve anxiety and stress.

“Obviously I am hugging the tree, but I feel that the tree is hugging me back,” said one enthusiast.

“It is a very new kind of psychological massage for mental healing and many anxious young people secretly hug big trees,” said another.

One woman who quit her job because of extreme work pressure said cuddling trees helped stabilise her psychological state.

“I immersed myself in hugging trees. It’s like mediation,” wrote the woman who uses the alias Lvzi.

“Hugging trees lets me return to the status of a savage. I feel so free and feel the world is so big. I have also become more brave,” she added.

Another online observer shared her first time experience of bonding with bark.

“When my whole body and face touched the tree, a sense of tranquility was transmitted into my brain. Gradually, I had more energy and I felt healed. What’s more, the longer you hug the tree, the more you will be dependent on it. It is so magical,” she said.

The Shanghai TV report said mainland actresses Jin Chen and Zhou Ye, and supermodel He Sui have indulged the bizarre passion and released photos of themselves embracing trees.

According to Li Xiaolin, a traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Beijing, hugging trees is beneficial to physical and mental health.

Li told the newspaper Life Times that people could acquire qi by doing so, a concept that represents the body’s life force.

Tips on how to cuddle trees correctly are circulating widely on mainland social media.

One Shanghai-based online observer, who uses the alias Sky and claims to be a psychological healing specialist, said people should choose trees 10 years of age or older and confine their hugging to sunny days.

“First you should feel gratitude for the tree. While embracing it, you should say to yourself, ‘thank you and I love you’. Then you can pour out your innermost thoughts to the tree,” she said.

Other advice includes not grappling with greenery in the dark for fear of encountering worms, and avoiding stormy days due to the chance of lightning strikes.

In May, a Shanghai woman went viral on mainland social media as a tree-hugging pioneer. She described the experience as “superb”, claiming that after she hugged a 1000-year-old tree, a ringing in her ears “magically disappeared”.