If you see a group of youngsters aping other people's walking style on the streets, don't be alarmed. This is just something known as "fun play" which young Chinese have come up with, Kunming Daily reports.

A group of youngsters participating in the "Gen Zou" game as shown in this photo published on Friday, August 15, 2008. [Photo: clzg.cn]

And this "fun play" has an educational purpose, some people say.

Some "Gen Zou" members say they ape people with uncivilized behavior on the streets, such as those who spit, to inject some educational meaning into their "fun play".

Another "Gen Zou" member says "I don't want to make myself a spectacle or a weirdo, or to harm anybody. I just do it to express myself."

Organized on web-based forums, the members of "Gen Zou Tuan", or "Follow-up Team" gather downtown and begin their game on the streets of the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming.

Their "target" could be anybody on the streets or simply a lifeless sculpture. When they follow their "targets", they will imitate their every action.

The "Gen Zou" team will automatically dissemble when their "targets" realize they are being followed.

(CRI August 16, 2008)