Chinese Crackdown on people wearing pyjamas in public

RATM

A story of some relevance to Ireland

Shanghai leaders launch pyjama purge
Saturday, 13 December 2008 13:58

Could it happen here? Community leaders in Shanghai have launched a campaign to try to stop residents from walking outside in their sleepwear.

The Rixin neighbourhood committee in the city's northeast is behind the campaign to discourage residents' longstanding habit of wearing pyjamas out of their bedrooms and on the streets, the state-run Youth Daily has reported.

'We're telling people not to wear pyjamas in the street because it looks very uncivilised,' community official Guo Xilin was quoted as saying.


The Shanghainese habit of wearing pyjamas in public emerged alongside China's economic reforms over the past 30 years as it became a sign of prosperity, because it meant people did not sleep in tattered old clothes.

For a still visibly large number of Shanghainese, wearing pyjamas outside has become more a way of life than a fashion statement, and to outsiders, the phenomenon is part of the city's charm.

Mr Guo, however, called pyjama-wearers visual pollution and a public embarrassment to the city.

But some residents still argue wearing pyjamas is perfectly acceptable.

'Pyjamas are also a type of clothes. It's comfortable, and it's no big deal since everyone wears them outside,' a retiree was quoted as saying.

Rixin's campaign is not the first of its kind. In the 1990s Shanghai officials put up signs and ran education campaigns to tell people not to stroll around in night gowns. The campaign's managers eventually gave up.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1213/pyjamas.html

Tanks firing at pyjama wearers ftw:D

Karoma

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