That’s right, as you hear it, China bans cosplay. Recently the Punishment Law of the Public Security Administration drafted a new law for this country which talks about banning cosplay in China, one of the factors to highlight why this law arises, is that it is alleged that such an act can damage or tarnish the integrity of the country, so the spirit of the Chinese nation would be discredited.
China bans cosplay!
Currently, the Public Security Administration Penalty Law is under review. Once the project to ban the use of cosplay was announced, it provoked displeasure and discussions in various online forums by the Chinese community, there are two factors to note about this proposed new law
- Wearing emblems, costumes or imposing third parties to wear any attire in a public place harms the spirit of the Chinese nation.
- Participating in outdoor activities can damage the environment and the atmosphere of any commemoration of heroes and martyrs in public places.
Cosplay refers to Japanese culture.
Recently, many Chinese cosplayers have been criticized for wearing clothes that appear to be from Japanese or Western culture at various ACG events, regardless of the fact that the cosplayers stress that they are simply dressing like a character from an animation or video game, many of them claim that they are insulted and in more extreme cases are forced to strip naked.
This new project brought back to the fore some events of last year, where several events in different cities in China had been cancelled after several protests, such as in the city of Nanjing, where the protests represented the discontent of the people that a Japanese-style event was going to be held that summer.
It is worth mentioning that the city of Nanjing is currently an important tourist center, still maintains countless historical monuments and was one of the four capitals of China. The city not only has cultural wealth, it also has a history full of tragedy, as it was attacked by the Japanese, this event is known as “The Massacre of Nanjing or Nanking” where mainly women were subjected to multiple atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army, given the history that the city has with Japan is that protests were created to cancel any kind of event.
Concerning the Public Security Administration Penalty Law, we have to emphasize that this is still under review, in case it is passed, anyone found cosplaying can be detained for 5 to 10 days (not more than the latter), or fined more than 1,000 yuan (approximately US$6.77) and not more than 3,000 yuan (approximately US$20.30).
In extreme cases, the penalty may be a 10 to 15 day hold and a fine of 5,000 yuan (approximately US$33.83).
