A draft law banning speech and dressing “detrimental to the spirit of Chinese people” has sparked debate in China.

If the law comes into force, people found guilty could be fined or jailed but the proposal does not yet spell out what constitutes a violation.

Social media users and legal experts have called for more clarity to avoid excessive enforcement.

China recently released a swathe of proposed changes to its public security laws - the first reforms in decades.

The clothing law has drawn immediate reaction from the public - with many online criticising it as excessive and absurd.

The contentious clauses suggest that people who wear or force others to wear clothing and symbols that “undermine the spirit or hurt the feelings of the Chinese nation” could be detained for up to 15 days and fined up to 5,000 yuan ($680; £550).

      • Simple Jack
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        62 years ago

        They are listing all the printed t-shirts I have. Funny side story, while teaching in Japan, I’ve taught grannies with printed shirts that said stuff like this and they didnt understand. They thought it was cute and had foreign words. I think they needed to study more before their lessons.

        • stevedidWHAT
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          22 years ago

          Ohhhhhhhhh

          Haha these shirts are actually kinda funny in this context 😂

          Idk banning stuff is probably detrimental and a slippery slope but idk. Probably shouldn’t have your countries people running around with vial shit on their clothes (yeah yeah freedom of freedom with extra freedom and no responsibility, but like hitler tho.)

          Idk tough topic, knowing China though it’s probably just another power grab for them to take from their people. Cringe af no cap

        • @[email protected]
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          22 years ago

          “Missouri: the show me state” I have seen that shirt quite a few times in Asia. No, I didn’t ask any of them about it.

    • @[email protected]
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      22 years ago

      when women are obligated to cover up, people just accept those governments telling them what to do; have you seen any protests lately about governments in the middle east and asia telling women to cover up?

    • @[email protected]
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      12 years ago

      My comments were about the same. As much as I hate religion you have every right to express it. French students should be able to wear religious symbols and garments in schools, the CCP should not be going after this shit, men have a right to sag their pants. I can go on but I think my point is clear, freedom includes the freedom to be offensive or it means nothing.

    • @[email protected]
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      292 years ago

      Honestly, I feel the same about both: it’s absurd. With France I get the “freedom from religion” spiel from some Frenchman, but it’s veiled xenophobia to me. When you ban a kind of clothing but only for one group of people, that’s basically the definition. Here, it’s just fascism. At least the Chinese people are speaking out.

      • @[email protected]
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        42 years ago

        France doesn’t ban religious anything, only in public schools, that’s all. Outside education people are free to do what they want. What China is doing is wildly different, China just bans things in general for all sectors of life

        • @[email protected]
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          22 years ago

          Public school? You mean that place that children are mandated to be? Also you forgot government. It was a whole thing. So if you’re a Muslim and you want to be a part of the French government, then I hope you don’t have any attachment to those head scarves. There are other religions ornamentation, but the head scarves one was the last one I saw. And whether school or a DMV clerk, it’s dumb.

          Also noticed I used two different labels for France rather than China. I think China is fascist with what they’re doing. France is xenophobic with what they’re doing.

        • @[email protected]
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          22 years ago

          Yeah this is equality vs equity. If your religion has no religious outfits it doesn’t impact you if your religion does it does impact you. You can’t make a rule that only impacts one minority group and claim that it is fair because it hurts everyone the same way, since it clearly doesn’t.

          • @[email protected]
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            22 years ago

            I’ve been to France many times and religion isn’t banned at all, France is an incredibly diverse country, probably the most in all of Europe

                • Lols [they/them]
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                  2 years ago

                  can you explain who “you people” are? are they in the room with us right now?

                  can you also give the specific quote where “you people” said france bans all religion? you didnt just, y’know, imagine it did you?

          • @[email protected]
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            32 years ago

            Other groups of people have been affected in the past. The Muslims are just the current latest group affected by it.

            Either way banning clothes is stupid.

            They have pretty sound logic for doing it

            • @[email protected]
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              102 years ago

              Other groups of people have been affected in the past. The Muslims are just the current latest group affected by it.

              Any recent examples?

              They have pretty sound logic for doing it

              What’s the logic?

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    62 years ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    A draft law banning speech and dressing “detrimental to the spirit of Chinese people” has sparked debate in China.

    The proposed legal changes also forbid “insulting, slandering or otherwise infringing upon the names of local heroes and martyrs” as well as vandalism of their memorial statues.

    Would its presence in China also count as hurting national feelings," one user posted on Chinese Twitter-like platform Weibo.

    She cited one case that drew headlines in China last year where a kimono-clad woman was detained in the city of Suzhou and accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” because she had worn the Japanese garment.

    In March this year, police detained a woman donning a replica of a Japanese military uniform at a night market.

    And earlier last month, people who wore rainbow print clothing were denied entry to a concert by Taiwanese singer Chang Hui-mei in Beijing.


    The original article contains 520 words, the summary contains 145 words. Saved 72%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • qyron
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    72 years ago

    This creates a funny image in my mind.

    Does this implies we are about to see the comeback of the blue and brown clothing of the Mao era or can we expect the return of the imperial style to the rulling class?

  • @[email protected]
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    12 years ago

    It’s understandable, the way people dress is very important to creating a good environment. As a business owner I strictly enforce a dress code for my employees whether their job is forward facing or not. No clothes with political (BLM/pride) messages, no shorts, women must wear heels and makeup, etc. I asked my employees to also follow the dress code while working from home during the pandemic but I had a gut feeling that many of them were not doing so which is part of why I insisted they come back to the office as soon as COVID disappeared.

  • @[email protected]
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    52 years ago

    This is awful and wrong and a violation of the human rights of the citizens of that country. Thankfully, we don’t let the government decide what people are allowed to wear here in the good ol US of A…doesnt matter how many conservatives’ feelings are hurt. Small government and all that…

  • @[email protected]
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    272 years ago

    Zhao Hong, a law professor at the Chinese University of Political Science and Law said the lack of clarity could lead to an infringement of personal.

    Adorable that anyone is suggesting this is a bug, not a feature.

  • @[email protected]
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    232 years ago

    but the proposal does not yet spell out what constitutes a violation.

    and this is not a coincidence. Authoritarian states love vaguely operationalized definitions like this because it’s basically a blanko check to arrest anyone at any time. And it puts the populace into a fearful, fatalist mindset of “I could be arrested at any time for bogus charges, even if I did nothing wrong.”

  • @[email protected]
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    2 years ago

    For those wondering, “Hurting the feelings of the Chinese people” is an actual phrase (伤害中国人民的感情) it started all the way back in the late 50s.

    this last part “感情 ganqing” translated as “feelings” or “emotional attachment”, it’s actually an important part of chinese culture, esp business culture (similar to this is “guanxi” which is someone’s network). These are major parts of chinese culture and relationships with others. this phrase is more like “you’re hurting our relationship”

    • @[email protected]
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      62 years ago

      This seems similar to Republicans’ current crusade to ban books they believe will hurt the “fabric of the country.”

      • @[email protected]
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        32 years ago

        If your nation is that weak it isn’t worth saving, it should just die and be replaced by something better. Which is just about anything.

    • @[email protected]
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      22 years ago

      It feels shady the way the media uses this overly literal translation of ‘hurt the feelings’ all the time in order to make the Chinese sound ridiculous. Could make any foreign language speaker sound ridiculous by cherry picking funny but common phrases and translating them literally.

      • @[email protected]
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        12 years ago

        ? It’s the best way to translate it, some Chinese words don’t have good English translations and vice versa

        • @[email protected]
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          2 years ago

          There’s a better translation right here in this thread. “Hurting our relationship” is not so literal and so doesn’t sound daft in English.

          • @[email protected]
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            12 years ago

            no, that’s not the same thing. “our relationship” does not convey the same emotion that is intended in the chinese word.

  • @[email protected]
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    2 years ago

    “Will wearing a suit and tie count? Marxism originated in the West. Would its presence in China also count as hurting national feelings,” one user posted on Chinese Twitter-like platform Weibo.

    She cited one case that drew headlines in China last year where a kimono-clad woman was detained in the city of Suzhou and accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” because she had worn the Japanese garment. The incident sparked outrage across Chinese social media.

    “To wear a kimono is to hurt the feelings of the Chinese nation, to eat Japanese food is to jeopardise its spirit? When did the feelings and spirit of the time-tested Chinese nation become so fragile?” wrote one popular social commentator online, who writes under the pen name Wang Wusi.

    from here: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58394906

    In 2019, during further moves on censorship, China blurred out the earlobes of some of its young male pop stars in television and internet appearances to hide their piercings. Tattoos and men’s ponytails have also previously been blurred from screens.

  • @[email protected]
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    42 years ago

    hey so does that mean they’re gonna stop making Japanese street fashion clothes over there? I use to buy directly from TaoBao and a few years ago lolita was still pretty popular in China.