(ProsperNews.net) – The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants to crack down on “offensive” clothing in the tightly controlled nation. The CCP has proposed a new law that will jail people for 15 days, or fine them $500, if they wear the “wrong” garments. Clothes will be considered “wrong” if they are capable of dampening the “Chinese spirit” or “hurting the nation’s feelings.”
Critics say the legislation is vague and a violation of fundamental rights. Some suggest it is an attempt by China’s leaders to stoke anti-Japanese sentiment, which has grown under the leadership of President Xi Jinping.
In August, police detained a woman in Suzhou, near Shanghai, for wearing a Japanese kimono. Officers said she was “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – an accusation commonly leveled at citizens viewed as political dissenters or activists.
When a police officer approached the woman in the kimono, he asked if she was Chinese and told her he would not have bothered her if she was wearing Chinese clothes. The exchange was filmed and went viral on the internet. On social media, the woman said police officers interrogated her for five hours before she was released.
While some commentators argue the new legislation is intended to stir up nationalism, as well as negativity toward Japan, others say it is merely another attempt by the CCP to extend its control over ordinary people’s lives.
China is one of the most strictly constrained countries in the world, and the communist government regulates most aspects of life. The human rights group Human Rights Watch says, “China’s government sees human rights as an existential threat.” The organization also warns that the CCP threatens not only the fundamental freedoms of Chinese people, but people all over the world.
The group says China uses sophisticated technology to control its own people, and “its growing economic clout to silence critics and to carry out the most intense attack on the global system for enforcing human rights.”
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