A police officer approached a young girl in Suzhou, China, in August 2022 as she was having her picture taken while wearing the plain, summer-weight yukata. She was detained for disturbing the peace after an angry trade that was partially recorded on her phone.
The Suzhou Kimono Incident, as it became known, sparked a discussion online about whether wearing gowns was appropriate and whether the officer’s activities were legal.
Wearing a robe in China had caused controversy before, and it would not be the next day. Another broke out in March of this year after a customer to Nanjing, the location of the legendary 1937 Imperial Japanese Army murder, claimed to have seen an elderly woman in white robe posing among the plum blossoms in an ancient Buddhist temple.
He complained to the staff, but they responded that it was just an ethical issue because everyone was free to dress however they pleased.
That might alter quickly. The wearing of clothing that might be” harsh to the heart and views of the nation” is prohibited by a new draft law on public safety that was posted electronically at the beginning of this month. If the law is passed, offenders will be subject to up to 5, 000 yuan($ 686 ) in fines as well as 15 days in prison.
Regularly posted for comment, draft laws hardly ever receive some responses. With approximately 100, 000 proposals so far, the answer to this one has been enormous. Chinese constitutional experts have commented, highlighting the clause’s ambiguity and its potential for abuse by local law enforcement.
Additionally, the legislation appears to be specifically targeted at the jacket, as one Beijing lawyer hinted.
A” harmful” jacket, perhaps?
In China fifty years ago,” strange garments and outlandish dress” was the goal of fashionable conflict. Tight pants were the height of the trend in the 1960s, followed by flares.
For attire was linked to the United States, the Soviet Union, and Hong Kong, all of which were decadent holes and Mao’s healthy adversaries of China.
The situation has changed. With jeans and t-shirts then widely worn in China, Russian revisionists have transformed into Russian allies, Hong Kong has been absorbed by the island, and the US is no longer vulnerable to attack from the fashionable front.
Provide Japan, with its amazing selection of unique cultural goods, vibrant youth following across East Asia, and a military past that has been used since the 1980s to fuel nationalism in China.
When Chinese film star Nakano Ryoko visited China in 1980, she was greeted with a raucous welcome. The second generation of post-Mao fashion designers received inspiration and instruction from Japan over the following few years, helping to lay the groundwork for a now-thriving industry.
A fully accessorized jacket as a symbol of superior Chinese design in the middle of the 1980s was more than acceptable for publication in Chinese magazines.
However, at the same time, a” new knowing” of Japanese wartime atrocities, particularly the Nanjing murder, was emerging and would soon be supported by the ruling Communist Party. A story that had been suppressed during the Mao era was being fully explored by the 1990s.
All of this explains why young Chinese ladies wearing kimonos immediately experience profound reactions.
Two high-impact movies about the Nanjing carnage were released in April 2009. People were still thinking about images of Chinese soldiers raping Chinese ladies when young design Ding Beili posted a picture of herself online in September while wearing her kimono. She received a barrage of criticism.
Why did she have to choose Japan when there were so many options available to her, questioned one blog?
However, why? The solution can be found in dress, which is well-liked throughout East Asia and came to China from Japan. Co-acting in the Suzhou Kimono Incident, the lady played a character from the Japanese manga Summer Time Rendering. Obviously, actresses have a different perspective on Japanese-inspired clothing than their critics.
Up until recently, one of the best times for Chinese dress was during Japanese-style” summer holidays ,” or matsuri. In 2009, Ding Beili put on a jacket for an event in Shanghai. June festivals, which have become more and more well-liked in China in recent years, were canceled in at least seven towns in August 2022 due to growing anti-Japanese thought.
Including the US in the mixture
Former director of the Global Times and ultra-nationalist Hu Xijin has brushed off the jacket debate in China as a matter of minor importance. According to him,” Little Japan” is merely” a lackey of the US.”
The US-Japan alignment certainly makes Chinese animosity toward Japan, a nation that, like Australia, is an easier goal for retaliation than the US, worse. In response to the US, South Korea, and Japan’s new trilateral deal, China imposed a health security ban on the importation of Japanese seafood.
Soon after the seafood ban was implemented, a new draft law prohibiting” hurtful” clothing was published, giving spectators the distinct feeling that Chinese citizens are not permitted to consume Japanese fish or clothing in Japanese attire.
Older people may be brought back to a time fifty years ago when young people were attacked on the streets while wearing” unusual clothing and absurd dress.”
Professor( honorary ) Antonia Finnane teaches at the University of Melbourne.
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