A series of photos online show groups of teens in Beijing trailing the leafy vegetables behind them on leashes.

And the sight of them out walking the cabbages in a bid to battle loneliness is the latest way of meeting someone new as cabbage walkers use their weird pets as a way to start up conversations with each other.

A group of youths were recently photographed walking cabbages at Midi Music Festival currently underway in the Chinese capital of Beijing.

When questioned, Lui Ja Chen, 17, and one of the cabbage walking youths, said: 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.

If I see someone else its easy to start up a conversation with them about their cabbage, and they are better than dogs as they dont bark, or start fights with other cabbages. It doesnt even need feeding, or leave a mess on the pavement.

And even doctors have been quoted as saying, "It's not about finding a boyfriend or girlfriend, just about having someone to talk to and share things with, a statement of youth isolated in the big cities," said Chinese psychiatrist, Wen Chao, 56, about the weird phenomenon.

Local media described the scene as a mass performance art piece in the fashion of artist Han Bing. Han's "Walking the Cabbage" art project actually dates all the way back to 2000 with a photograph titled "Walking the Cabbage in Tiananmen". In the time since, he's produced a number of performative photographs showing him in various parts of the world walking the cabbage.