The Straits Times
People could end up in detention centre for 15 days for violating the proposed law, report says
BEIJING – China’s public is expressing concern about a potential legal change that would allow for fines and even jail time for people who offend the government’s sensibilities by wearing the wrong clothing.
The Standing Committee of the nation’s legislature recently released a draft of revisions to the law it is mulling over that would forbid a range of behaviour, including dress or speech, that is “detrimental to the spirit of the Chinese people and hurts the feelings of the Chinese people”.
The lawmakers did not spell out exactly what kind of images or speech could get people sent to a detention centre for up to 15 days or fined up to 5,000 yuan (S$950). The legislature has listed the law among its priorities for passage in 2023.
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The police in Suzhou, a city near Shanghai, detained a woman in 2022 for wearing a kimono in public.
Over the last year, the authorities have clamped down on people wearing shirts with rainbows at concerts or distributing flags on a university campus that had the pro-LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) symbol on them.
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