No ghosts or such, please

Shanghai is expected to crackdown on costumed revelling when Halloween arrives in the city next Thursday. According to a report by US media outlet Radio Free Asia (RFA), shared a week earlier, authorities are not going to allow anyone to dress freakishly or in any manner of costume (including cosplay) for Halloween, known in China as 万圣节 (wanshengjie). Police and business owners shall be putting in place “strict controls” at entertainment hotspots throughout the city, according to internal instructions that were purportedly leaked on social media. The most watched area is believed to be 巨鹿路 (Julu Road) in the heart of the former French Concession. Social media photographs show significant police presence even before the celebrations begin.

RFA cited what is believed to be police notice sent out to neighborhood committees across Huangpu district: “All cosplaying is prohibited, and no Halloween make-up will be permitted.” It is not specified if traditional Chinese incorporeal spirits such as 僵尸 (jiangshi, zombie) or 纸人媳妇 (zhiren xifu, paper bride) would be allowed or tolerated. Or, if make-up that is not ghoulish is permissable. The authorities did not say why costuming during the Halloween celebration, increasingly a worldwide affair, would not be allowed, but online speculations suggest that this is a thumb-down on what is considered a predominantly Western jollification.

Unclear, too, if this could be a reaction to the recent turn away of American designer Rick Owen and his travelling companions who dressed, as some Chinese saw them, as if Halloween had come early, to enter Beijing’s Forbidden City. Their get-up, which was, at best, weird, could be seen as the West bringing their bizarre notion of dress to the Chinese, who has been trying to revive the more respectable 汉服 (hanfu) or traditional Chinese wear in the past years. Apparently, not only are costumes banned, entertainment areas are not allowed to put up decorations that point to Halloween, such as the use of pumpkins, cauldrons, cobwebs, and bats. How the clamp down will affect businesses or the party mood remains to be seen.

Illustration: Just So