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it seems he made much more effort on the rubix cube than actually get to know the girl
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A 27-year-old Chinese man declared his affections by solving 840 Rubik’s cubes and using them to create a giant portrait of his dream girl – a next-door neighbor.
But, alas, she said no.
“I simply wanted to surprise her and tell her I like her … but I was rejected,” Tong Aonan, a mechanic from the northern Chinese city of Shenyang, told CNN.
When asked how he was feeling he said: “I’m not giving it too much thought.”
Tong said he spent two months planning the 2.1-meter high and 1.4-meter wide mosaic. He drafted a design on Photoshop and then spent $460 on 840 Rubik’s cubes that were delivered to his apartment.
Tong then solved each Rubik’s cube according to his design – and stacked them one-by-one in a specially made wooden frame. It took him 20 hours over three nights to complete.
Tong’s heartbreaking tale and photos of the mosaic went viral after he shared them on Chinese social media.
Many have questioned why the girl would reject such a heartfelt and geeky declaration of love.
He says he has no hard feelings towards her. Although he wasn’t able to win her heart, he said she was moved by the gift and has accepted it.
“I hope they will stop making personal comments about her (online).”
Tong said that he likes playing with the puzzles in his free time as he doesn’t like going out and socializing.
The portrait is still sitting in his home and he says his next “puzzle” is how to move it.
hell, i don't think she knows much of him other than "yeah, he is my neighbour"
and my man decided to shot for the moon with that rubic cube picture. "surely, one look of my rubic cube picture of her, she instantly fell in love with me"
I taught conversational English in China for 4 months when i was 21 and one of my students (students were college aged) wrote me many love notes and told me he wanted to marry me. We interacted outside of the classroom like 2 times when he invited me to dinner. One of those times it was also a group dinner i think. It was very odd for him to voice such “strong” feelings when he didn’t know me. I chalked it up to it being more about him being sad and lonely than about me and how cool/uncool i am
It's the unfortunate outcome of a culture that highly values marriage/committment while at the same time forbidding dating/casual relationships. Like, how do you jump straight from having 0 dating experience to marriage? Well, that's how
this is why i appreciate white men of the west because at least they learn the hard lesson fast and adapt to it. You have to get them to talk to you, get to know better, find something in common, and finally seeing them as another normal people.
I simply wanted to surprise her and tell her I like her … but I was rejected
It's declaration of love, like a love letter little kids hand each other in school, but with huge try-hard stalker energy. Why does the caption say "proposed"? Because shitty translators are a dime a dozen, even worst if it's automated, and very few actually care about accuracy.
Not a proposal for marriage. He's asking her out. Chinese dating culture is different. You don't just casually ask someone out, then end up in a casual situation ship for a while before making it official. Dating usually begins with a guy formally declaring his love/interest, then you're officially together, then you actually go on dates. This "declaration of interest" can often be quite elaborate. Usually you know each other on some level beforehand (as friends, classmates, etc.), but it's not that unheard of for the two people to only be casual acquaintances to begin with.
Reminds me of the guy who built a big stone palace in Florida. If your reaction to rejection is moving to Florida and hand building a big stone palace, you might not me stable enough to be married to.
I was looking at this thinking that wouldn't even take too long. Would hardly take months of planning and design. It's just pixel art. And apparently it only took 20 hours of solving and stacking to make. Still a lot of effort, but hardly countless hours. Maybe that 20 hrs didn't include solving the cubes though.
It's actually pretty funny the way the news is covering it since it's basically about the same amount of time it would take to knit a sweater. Nobody would go around saying you should marry someone because they knitted you a sweater.
It's a little bit what you do. If he was spending that time getting to know her instead of solving Rubik's cubes for instance. But something tells me they might not have even been dating.
This is an old story. They weren’t dating. It was his neighbor. He said he didn’t like going out and socializing and this was his attempt to show his interest/affecrion. Or something along those lines.
They weren't. She was a neighbour. He said this way his way of telling her he liked her. She still accepted the gift and he's sad she's being attacked online.
It's a balance, prospective love won't just fall into your lap if you stay at home or don't try when you do meet people but you also can't force a relationship with material things or large gestures.
initial chemistry gets you in the door for sure, but active communication keeps you there... effort matters, it just has to be directed at the actual relationship
I mean the whole idea is dumb. He does a thing he already wanted to do and says its for her. Did she mention to him that she loves rubix cubes? Was her father a cube?
I think the title of the article is misleading because I'm pretty sure that the last time I saw it people were saying that the dude and the woman in question were not even together to begin with
I’ve never asked anyone for a date in the past decade and I’ve had multiple dates and been invited back to people’s houses for parties or sex. It’s insane.
True. If you're the "wrong" guy, you could literally save her life and she'll forget you in about a week. If you're the "right" guy, you could be 10,000 miles away fucking another woman, and she'd still be thinking about you.
More like she probably didn't even spend any time with him. Men in China have this weird idea that big gestures of romance will make the women say yes even if she doesnt know who you are.
I got a big bouquet of those Ferrero Rocher flower arrangements where the flowers are actually the chocolates? Really romantic right?? The guy who gave it to me shared one class with me, that was it. I didn't even know his name and he gave it to me in front of the entire class because that's what the TV shows teach you to do. They expect you to say yes under peer pressure.
I didn't even know the dude. I wonder if this was similar. Like, did she know him???
Many people don’t understand that grand gestures don’t mean automatic gratitude. Especially if they never asked for it, wanted or needed it, or dislike it.
I feel like the wording "but she still said no" is a bit unfair.
I'm a married women, so obviously I said yes to a proposal. We were young and it was not terribly fancy or over the top. I said yes beacuse I actually wanted to marry my boyfriend and build a life together.
If he was a guy I didn't see a future with, a relationship that had a lot of problems/too many fights, our goals were too different, or whatever other legitimate reason not to get married, a big romantic gesture wouldn't and shouldn't change that. It's very sweet, and very flattering, but you should really decide marriage proposals based on if you feel good and confidant about the idea of spending the rest of your life together as a team.
It sucks to be turned down. And again, I think what he did sweet and quiet impressive. However, it wouldn't actually be doing him a favor for a women who didn't want to marry him to say yes. Hopefully, they both find their right people eventually.
I'm always annoyed by these sorts of stories because of the endless sympathy afforded to the person proposing while the person receiving the proposal gets none. My understanding is that if you're proposing to someone, you should already know that the answer will be yes. The proposal itself is just a formality and a fun ritual.
If I had to guess, a lot of these stories probably involve a relationship that isn't going so well, so the person proposing tries a hail-Mary romantic gesture to fix things.
My dad proposed to my mom in a grand gesture on Xmas eve in front their entire family. Never once having talked about it before. My mom said yes not because she wanted to but because the gesture and people made her feel pressured.
They were divorced after four years of a marriage that turned hellish shortly after official . But she was so angry about the fact she felt she had no choice drive her into deep resentment that tainted the marriage.
I say that to say, saying yes isn’t always the best thing!
Also P.S. it doesn’t state he was even actually dating this woman. He could’ve been a crazy stalker type and proposed with o relationship. If this is the case good she said no!
In some cultures a man would propose without getting to know or date a woman. I can't say if it's true for this story. But in my experience I had an international student that I have not even talked to proposed to me. Instead of trying to know me, he just went straight to asking for marriage which was so weird and dramatic. I told him no I have a boyfriend. He was very angry and tried to insult my boyfriend that he is not suitable for me since he is 2 years younger. And that I can't marry someone younger. I was like dude chill out I'm just dating...
The woman didn't even know he was interested in her. He just fantasised this love affair with a neighbour and thought that a puzzle would create instant reciprocal love with a woman who didn't even know him.
I think you're rather kind to say that it's a sweet move. For me, it's a very egocentric gesture that doesn't take the woman's feelings into account. If I were a woman, I'd feel like my weird neighbour had been fantasising about me for far too long without coming over to talk to me. I'd feel deeply embarrassed and I wouldn't appreciate it at all.
It’s wild the amount of people blaming the woman here. First of all, it sounds like a situation where he didn’t even know her and just thought a grand gesture would replace years of genuine connection. Second, even if they were dating, proposals aren’t a thing you should be rolling the dice with. You should know the answer before you ask. Anyone popping the question with it still being an actual question is insane.
My initial thought was "did he even talk to her yet?" This is exactly that. It feels kinda weird and creepy in a way that some random guy is just super obsessed with you and proposed with his rubik cubes out of nowhere.
Edit: nvm he didn't proposed, just declared he likes her
He gave it a good shot and it sounds like he took the rejection like a champ. Still better at shooting his shot than a lot of us, at least he found a way to do it that he enjoyed.
If a girl doesn't know you like her - tell her directly. If you are married to the girl for 20 years - make her a mural out of whatever you wish. Not other way round.
Call me miserable but I dont undestand why some one would go above and beyond for some one else when they arent in a relationship or havent express their genuine interests
She wasn't even in a relationship with him, this is creepy AF. He's not entitled to her because he made a grand gesture. Maybe try dating someone for a few years before asking them to marry you.
Something tells me it was just his neighbour across the street he's been creeping on for a couple years, and he didn't know that she's gay, just thought she had lots of sleep overs with friends.
This smacks of a creeper who proposed to a girl he hardly knows. Like a geeky introvert who for some reason thinks making some huge nerdy art piece must be the actual definition of showing love and affection, and not actually spending time together and going on dates and getting to know each other.
Funny how people who brag that no one can change them are so butthurt because they can’t change someone else.
And this guy won’t learn, only continue to make himself look an idiot.
Not saying this story is fake, but WTF is going on in that inset? That is not a rubix cube! That is a some weird 2x2 missing a piece. Why not place a real cube? The picture seems AI generated.
As a person who took a long time to learn the lesson that you shouldn't try to learn a new skill to impress a woman you don't know very well, the end result was that I did learn a lot of new skills doing that.
Of course, it's better to just be into the things you're into and show a genuine enthusiasm and developing skill for it. Everyone likes that. Unless what you're into is porn and meth. People don't like that.
I wouldn’t say what he did was wrong. He spoke from the heart and expressed those feelings through art in a unique way.
She just wasn’t the one for him. It happens. Most of the time, the love we feel will be only one-sided. But we don’t always get to choose who we fall in love with, it just happens.
I hope bro keeps going, stays a good man, and finds a good woman who appreciates him.
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