A video of a female subway passenger eating a banana while wrapped in a large plastic bag has gone viral on Chinese social media.
The woman was filmed by a fellow passenger named Wang as they were riding a train in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Oct. 31.
In the clip, the woman is seen eating a banana while she is covered with a plastic bag. After eating, she places the banana peel into a smaller plastic bag.
According to The Paper, Wang said he decided to record a video of the woman as he found her behavior surprising.
“There are sporadic coronavirus outbreaks across Wuhan, but in my opinion, it is a bit extreme for this woman to protect herself like this,” he was quoted by South China Morning Post as saying.
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The surrounding passengers appear to pay no attention to the woman as she eats her banana.
“While it is not ideal to eat inside subway trains. She isolated herself from other people by wrapping herself in a plastic bag,” Wang said.
A subway employee noted that eating on subway trains is prohibited.
“If passengers notice people eating on trains, they can call our hotline and we will send our employees to stop the person from eating,” the staffer said.
Discussions on Chinese social media have shown differing opinions on the woman’s actions, with some suggesting that what she did was unnecessary while others argue that she might have had a medical reason for doing so.
“Is this a person doing a performance art project?” a user on the platform Douyin commented. “I cannot figure out why she wore such a large plastic bag.”
Meanwhile, another commenter wrote: “I think she was experiencing low blood sugar. She put herself in the plastic bag and ate a banana inside it, so she wouldn’t affect other people. I give her two thumbs up.”
A local outlet urged the public to be more tolerant of such behavior since the woman in question did not cause any negative impact to her fellow passengers.
