Crowds of onlookers blocked the entrance of a shopping mall in Qingdao, Shandong Province, for hours on Wednesday, watching a young man who knelt in public to beg for forgiveness from his girlfriend.

The man, surnamed Liu, explained that his girlfriend became irritated after he broke a promise and drank bottles of wine at a gathering. She declared their relationship was over and disappeared in the mall. Liu felt so guilty that he knelt at the entrance. Although a policeman ordered him to stand up, the determined man insisted on kneeling until his girlfriend showed up hours later and took him away.