In Suzhou, a city west of Shanghai, a Chinese woman was arrested by police officers for wearing a Japanese kimono. According to the police, this is reason enough to suspect this woman of wanting to “disrupt public order”. It is a common accusation often leveled by the Chinese authorities against political dissidents, journalists and activists.
Passers-by were able to film the scene where we see one of the officers getting angry at the young woman: “If you had come here with a Hanfu [tenue traditionnelle chinoise, ndlr]I wouldn’t bother you, but as a Chinese you dare to wear a kimono!”
A young Chinese woman was taken away by local police in Suzhou last Wednesday for wearing a kimono. “If you were wearing hanfu (traditional Chinese clothing), I would never have said that, but you are wearing a kimono, being Chinese. You are Chinese!” pic.twitter.com/et8vWOferQ
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) August 15, 2022
The woman thought she was simply dressed up as the manga heroine of the popular series Summer Time Rendering when officers took her to the police station, where she was questioned for five hours, a Guardian article reports.
On that occasion, her phone was searched and her kimono was confiscated. The young Chinese woman later said the police had urged her not to post the altercation on social media. Suzhou police declined to answer reporters’ questions.
The kimono, victim of ongoing hostilities
Amid rising nationalism in China, the video was viewed by tens of millions of people who took to Chinese social media. According to some commentators, the young woman would have deliberately wanted to draw attention to herself by choosing to wear a kimono on a date close to the anniversary of the Japanese surrender.
“The kimono should not be banned in our Chinese society. However, if a person decides to wear it, they should pay attention to the surroundings, thus avoiding unnecessary controversy,” said Hu Xijin, former editor of the Global Times.
Other netizens considered the treatment reserved for the young woman to be excessive. They went so far as to urge the “ultranationalists” to “calm down” and took the opportunity to recall that it was common for Chinese tourists to rent kimonos in Japan – at least before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tensions between China and Japan have existed for decades, not least because of their shared history. Events such as the visit of Japanese politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine repeatedly provoke outrage among the Chinese. The notorious animosity between the two countries has also increased recently due to the geopolitical decisions of the Japanese government, which has allied itself with the United States in supporting Taiwan in the face of Chinese expansionism.
Following media coverage of the young woman’s arrest, CCTV (China Central Television, state-controlled) promoted a hashtag by the social network Weibo encouraging Chinese people to wear Hanfu.