Clothing that “shocks the emotions” of citizens could soon be banned in China, according to a recent bill. That ambiguity leaves room for many interpretations.
The bill stipulates that clothing or speech deemed to “hurt the spirit of the Chinese people” or “influence the sentiments” of the people could be subject to fines or imprisonment.
However, the text does not define precisely the types of clothing prohibited by this law.
In China, people who wear clothing or banners that send out messages considered politically controversial are already commonly punished for inciting “conflicts and riots.”
The project aims to give authorities the power to crack down on clothing deemed immoral.
In early September, a video shared on Chinese social networks showed a man in the southern city of Shenzhen being questioned by police after being photographed wearing a skirt.
Many internet users approved of law enforcement intervention.
“It goes against common morals,” one user on the Chinese social network Weibo wrote.
Several legal experts in the country have publicly opposed the bill, and the public hearing period ends on September 30th.
This “results in very vague punishment standards and easily leads to arbitrary expansion of the scope of administrative sanctions,” Tsinghua University’s Lao Dongyan wrote on Weibo.
For similar reasons, He, a 23-year-old from Beijing, advocates for “establishing well-thought-out criteria before making such proposals.”
He said crimes that are “less clear-cut” than robbery, where “truth and falsehood are irrefutable,” require “more time to decide who has the power to decide and how to decide.” I think it is necessary.
“Historical reasons”
But like most people questioned by AFP in Beijing, he attributes the reform primarily to the wearing of kimono at historical sites and commemorations.
In 2021, the state-run newspaper Global Times reported that a woman was “severely criticized” for wearing a kimono in public on December 13, the national day of remembrance for the victims of war crimes committed by Japan in 1937. Ta.
Last year, a woman wearing a kimono was detained by police in the eastern city of Suzhu, he said.
“Dress is a matter of personal freedom, but there are special circumstances,” he says.
He also believes that “insulting behavior in front of statues and on specific days” is “100% intentional and should be punished.”
“If someone wears a kimono at a memorial to the victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese invaders, I think it will cause serious psychological damage to Chinese people,” said Yang Shuo, 25. . An old programmer.
Such behavior “should be punished,” he says.
“I think there are historical reasons and we need to consider the feelings of local residents,” added Gu, a 35-year-old man.
On the contrary, Ko says that in “most cases,” such as “when someone is just walking down a shopping street (in a kimono),” “I don’t think it’s necessary to file a lawsuit.”
Source: Diario.Elmundo
