Creepy Chinese handheld device offers real-life kissing experience

A contraption with moving lips that can be used for long-distance kissing is making headlines in China.

The bizarre kissing device, which has gone viral, designed with moving silicon lips was created to allow people to feel "real" intimacy when they're not together. It was advertised as a method that allows long-distance couples to share "real" physical intimacy even when they're apart from one another.

The device is equipped with pressure sensors and actuators and is said to be able to mimic a real kiss. It does so by replacing the pressure, movement and temperature of a user's actual lips. It not only mimics the kissing motion but can also transmit the sounds made by the user.

Users must download a mobile app and insert the device into their phone's charging port in order to send a kiss. Couples can begin a video conference and send replicas of their kisses and smooches to one another after pairing up with their partners in the app.

According to the South China Morning Post the device is available on Taobao and costs 260 Chinese yuan each (approximately £31).

The invention was reportedly patented by the Changzhou Vocational Institute of Mechatronic Technology, with Jiang having applied for a patent in the year 2019.

"In my university, I was in a long distance relationship with my girlfriend so we only had contact with each other through the phone. That's where the inspiration of this device originated," Jiang Zhongli, the leading inventor of the design, was cited as saying by the Global Times.

Though Jiang had submitted a patent application in 2019, the patent expired in January 2023, so Jiang is hopeful that someone else would pick up and try to improve and develop the design.

The device caused a buzz among Chinese social media users, who were astonished, shocked, and some even disturbed to find out about it. While many users were humoured by the device and laughed it off, others criticised it for being "vulgar" and "creepy." Some also expressed their concerns about how minors might be able to purchase and use it.

"I don't understand (the device) but I'm utterly shocked," said one top comment on Weibo, according to CNN.

The device became viral on social media platforms like Twitter with various hashtags about it trending and receiving hundreds of millions of views.

Meanwhile, a similar invention known as the "Kissinger" had gone viral in 2016. The device was launched by the Imagineering Institute. Instead of using realistic-looking lips, it came with a touch-sensitive silicon pad.

The device also allows users to pair up anonymously with strangers in the "kissing square" feature of the app. If two strangers match well and like each other, they can ask to exchange kisses.