I am talking about Article 34 of the amendment to the “Public Security Administration Punishment Law”. Since it is still soliciting opinions, every Chinese person can express their opinions.
This revision adds new items to be punished, including “wearing or displaying clothing or symbols that damage the spirit of the Chinese nation or harm the feelings of the Chinese nation in public places; producing, disseminating, publicizing, or spreading items or words that damage the feelings of the Chinese nation or harm the feelings of the Chinese nation.” Punishment methods include detention and fines.
For discussions from a legal perspective, see Professor Zhao Hong of China University of Political Science and Law’s article “Details of the Rule of Law | Several Questions about the <Public Security Administration Punishment Law\>” on The Paper. I completely agree with the opinions in this article.
If a person wore a kimono the day before yesterday, it is likely that they have “damaged the spirit of the Chinese nation”. If this law had been amended last year, the Suzhou police would not have apologized for pulling a girl wearing a kimono to the door.
Many people may think that as long as they don’t wear a kimono, they will be fine. However, if kimonos are banned throughout the country, the next target of attack may be suits – just the name hurts the feelings of the Chinese people. In fact, when I was very young in the 1980s, I did hate people wearing suits, because the common clothing at that time was the Zhongshan suit.
Later I learned a little history and knew that the “Zhongshan suit” is not a traditional Chinese clothing either. If it’s completely correct, maybe we should wear Hanfu?
This kind of logical extension is a bit boring. However, history has proven that it is not completely absurd.
When China’s history has paid great attention to clothing and hairstyles, it is often a “bad moment in history”. The introduction of this amendment is not out of thin air, but because some strange flavors have appeared in society.
Just the day before yesterday, a high school student told me that the school required them to cut their hair short. Search on Weibo, and this is a common phenomenon. Some schools have “standard hairstyles” to recommend, with flat tops for boys and short hair for girls – if they have long hair, will it hurt the feelings of the teachers?
Many people are afraid of the first half of this article, but I personally feel panic about the second half, because spreading “words that harm the feelings of the Chinese nation” is also illegal.
I remembered that just the other day, I wrote an article “I Still Want to Eat Japanese Food”.
I ate Japanese food in Chengdu, the waiters were all Chengdu people, and most of the ingredients were produced in Chengdu. The restaurant’s taxes were also paid to Chengdu. It can be said that this kind of consumption is a manifestation of loving Chengdu.
I don’t think that article hurt anyone, but there were indeed many people in the background attacking me as a “traitor”, hurting their feelings as a “member of the Chinese nation”. If some people in the police station also think so, I may have to go in for a few days.
As Professor Zhao Hong’s article says, the crux of this clause lies in the fact that the “consequence” of “harming national feelings” is not only abstract but also subjective, and completely depends on who is interpreting it and who is judging it.
I am writing this article to oppose it now, not to follow the trend, but a kind of “selfish” behavior: perhaps opposition will not work, but if our future lives are mainly composed of “regression”, my resistance and opposition are meaningful in themselves.
I cannot sing the praises of a law that can imprison myself. Opposing it now at least maintains my inner consistency. When I am really imprisoned in the future for an article that hurts someone’s feelings, I will feel a little more at ease.
I am defending myself, defending the future at the moment.
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