A man turned to crime in a harebrained effort to impress his girlfriend after she had constantly taunted him for being a coward.

Li tried to steal a pair of gloves from a supermarket on the evening of Nov 17, but was caught red handed after finally mustering the courage to put a pair of leather gloves inside his jacket.

"She has been complaining I can't give her a sense of protection," said Li, a skinny 20-something man from Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

"She will surely dump me if I don't do something to prove my guts."

The girlfriend took Li home after receiving a stern lecture from police back at their station.