It is funny for an “uncivilized” regime to host a contest for civility!
I am not at all surprised that this government would spy on the nationals with their prized technology, only too laughable when it is being used on policing jaywalking and what some backward thinking people considered unflattering.
So, it is perfectly fine for nationals to dehumanize Hongkongers and call them cockroaches, but wearing pajamas in public is unacceptable. On July 21, 2019, unarmed citizens were terrorized by triad thugs inside an MTR station in Hong Kong. The CCP controlled media called these members of criminal organizations Patriots of the Motherland.
Which civilized country would imprison people and harvest their organs? Which civilized country would allow killing of dogs, cats and wild rats for food? Which civilized country would encourage nationals to tell on a pregnant woman so she would be forced to abort her child?
Public shaming isn’t going to civilize China. Even if everyone goes back to wearing Mao suits isn’t going to make this country civilized. To become more civilized, China needs to respect ethnic diversity, civil liberties and human rights.
8
Orwell couldn’t have said it better...’when these things happen, it is when very high technology gets into the hands of very low-level bureaucrats, and by low level I mean low level of intelligence’.
Kinda like Trump and Twitter.
4
For a Civilization as Ancient as is China, when will these governmental systems *ever grow up ?
1
Do people who wear pajamas in public wear them in bed later that night? The thought of wearing clothing in public that picks up all sorts of germs to bed is skeevy.
1
And the opposite is equally revolting. Pajamas are laden with the wearer’s bodily effluent that accumulate while sleeping. Seeing a pajama clad shopper in a grocery store makes me gag.
1
During the Christmas holidays I was at a hotel in Switzerland. At the breakfast buffet some Chinese tourists always were wearing their pajamas right out of bead - that means wrinkly - , their hairs weren't done and often they only wore socks and no shoes. This was extremely annoying.
3
I see a lot of people shaming public pajama-wearers on here and I don't really think that is necessary. My mother often gets looks for wearing pajama or soft bottoms in public but she is a two time colon cancer survivor and has a large incision scar (that took a very long time to heal and still pains her) that goes vertically across her entire midsection and it is painful for her to wear tight pants. So if she's not going anywhere important, (and no, going to Walmart is not important) she will wear pajamas or sweats for her comfort. And there is nothing wrong with that.
Now, I know this is obviously not everyone's situation but that's why I mind my own business when it comes to other people's fashion choices :)
10
What i find exceptional regarding backlash towards the stewards of civil disobedience laws is how quickly authorities removed the posts and Apologize. That is a govt. that handles and responds well to it's citizens.
As for PJ's in public, I have been wearing them here since my mid 40's. I used to get funny looks 27 years ago but time passing and here in my San Jose bubble no one cares.
2
Weather would have to be really COLD to wear the outfits in the photo to bed! They are quilted heavy-weight flannel. Different style collar and color from a Mao-era suit, but basically the same thing. Retro for the Chinese ladies; were they not pink-patterned one would hardly notice them.
4
I hope this comes up as a quiz question on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.
5
I don't particularly like to see pajamas in public. I believe they belong in the house. (Actually I wear night gowns as I don't like the constriction of the elastic around my waste.) Consequently, I don't wear pajamas (or night gowns) in public. What someone else wears is none of my business. If they wear something offensive (ex. an overweight man with his shirt off or rolled up to expose his gut). I look the other way. P.J. aren't pleasant to me but certainly not offensive.
2
These are not thin flimsy US-style pajamas, people! They clearly are thick, fleecy or quilted outfits suited to outdoors. Looks like chenille or fake-fleece. I think it's adorable! Older people have earned the right to absolute comfort & enjoyment--those who judge & shame are brainwashed by media marketers. I would love to experience the luxurious personal freedom to dress only to make myself happy, but here we are toxic with judgement, shaming and continuous scrutiny by all others from adolescents to older adults who shamelessly deride publicly anyone anywhere. Just look at all the other comments. I say life is for be-ing, not just for seeing: think how happy & free they are feeling when you see what you judge!
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most replies are anti. whats wrong with those people?
1
Where can I buy these?
3
Seems so authoritarian and petty until you realize you can't wear pajamas, or even a t-shirt, to work.
The street in that photo looks so clean, I'd consider wearing my pajamas there, too!
6
What really has our three-letter agencies concerned – whether the Chinese are capable of recognizing the face on the size-small home bodysuit...
Turns out, he's a long-standing CIA operative that's done a bunch of overseas stints...
Known to change the shape of his ears, to avoid detection by foreign customs officials...
Barr mumbling something on twitter about these contraptions needing back-doors – but that's been since redacted...
1
tourism would go through the roof if they had a national pajama day.
5
China is truly the full realization of an Orwellian nightmare. Why do we have diplomatic relations with them at all? What a horrible government. What a horrible state of affairs. These communist authoritarians must be stopped!
1
So, during the Mao regime, they were mandated to wear the Commie Pajamas. Now they are shamed for wearing their own pajamas. How strange.
1
Seinfeld anyone?
1
Well huh: America's Puritans re-incarnated as the Chinese Communist Party.
2
Confucius ethics would dictate Chinese government to educate their citizens to uphold blameless social etiquette. As for shaming tactics: there is an ancient Chinese proverb: slaughter a chicken in front of the monkeys. Meaning: let it be a warning to everyone.
In old American TV shows actors routinely put on a robe over their pajamas in scenes when they open the front door or to pick up the newspaper outside. Guess it was part of the "Hays code" for films and TV. Call it propaganda or unspoken social pressure, wearing PJ in public "was" a taboo. It was also the days when people dress up to fly. Those days are gone in USA.
Millions of Chinese tourists are traveling all over the world these days. They get the cash to shop shop shop. Some of the tourists misbehave aboard and bad news travel fast with the internet. Foreign tourists are also visiting China in larger numbers. A rising China would not tolerate a few of their uncouth citizens to bring shame to the country.
Seems Chinese officials are copying some old American propaganda. They step it up with electronic surveillance & AI to catch and shame the offenders. When Chinese government deploy advance technology it is a sore spot to the West these days.
I hope everyone who makes the 'if you have nothing to hide' argument reads this article.
All information gathered by corporations to sell us something or to police us will be abused.
Innocent people will be arrested based upon poor facial recognition data. Your personal data will be revealed which may prevent you from obtaining health insurance or a good job or something else.
In a worst case scenario, a deep fake may allow a corrupt government to manipulate the data for some nefarious end.
Pajama wearers today, leggings wearers tomorrow. Peace.
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@Tom Walker
Well, of course, the "if you have nothing to hide" argument was illogical hog wash to begin with, but with the dumbing down of U.S. Educational systems, our students frequently cannot even *spell rhetoric, logic, or critical thinking, much less offer a working definition for any of those terms.
Brought on heavily in the U.S. from 1980 forward, the war against teaching critical thinking skills in public schools has proven to have done precisely what it was intended to do ..... create a population *much easier to control with Trump-Mush type ideas and their *egregiously illogical equivalents. "Double-Speak", if you will.
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Manners is a long gone social activity. The more people, the fewer you know, the less people care about good, public behavior.
1
Pajamas as street clothes? As long as they don't sleep in them then wear them on the street and then at home when they return. Why? Because there should be a distinction between street clothes and clothes you wear at home.
Yet, I wear sweats a lot when I go outside, because I'm always going to the gym and running errands both before and afterwards. But I wear clean ones daily and put them in the laundry basket after each use.
Would my sweats be considered pajamas? It's a matter of interpretation. Uncivilized? That's some real overkill.
1
One fact seems absent from this story and many others I read about facial recognition technology: It doesn't work. Well, it works sometimes, if the photo from a camera perfectly mimics the lighting and angle of the picture on file. But pictures from surveillance cameras rarely do that. It's an unreliable technology that leads to a lot of misidentifications.
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@Locho Tell that to the Chinese who can buy stuff using their faces. There is no "the picture on file" but there are thousands of pictures on file.
I see people wearing pajamas in Wal-Mart. And college students waiting for the University transit bus also wear them. And really, the scrubs all medical and dental folks wear isn't that far off. I kinda wished I could have worn those to work.....
6
It’s not just about China. And it’s more than about the use of facial recognition technology. It speaks to what here in America has become cultural norm in public dress. The roll out of bed and out the front door look. Pajamas, as strictly defined, but one demonstration of that. For what’s going on as identifiable is the standard unisex uniform with minor variations largely worn everywhere and for all occasions. Consisting of tee shirt, hoodie and pants. And for men the short pants little boy look has become more than a trend but daily attire. Wearing pajamas while strolling down the street just another option messaging that the social norm of being properly dressed when out in public as well as the entire traditional concept of fashion is now antique.
5
I regularly see people in pajamas at stores and airports here, frankly I would have zero problem if US municipalities started similar programs
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@John Wallis Maybe it would be ok if they were wearing Mao suits?
@John Wallis How does it hurt you to see other people wearing pajamas in public?
@John Wallis So, if a person's clothes are not of the "approved material", they should be shamed? I could see your point if people were walking around naked.
Well, I don't know. This could backfire. Those people might be seen as influencers, prompting even MORE people to wear pjs outside in broad daylight.
4
Can this idea be adopted in the US for a shaming of those who wear sweat suits all the time? Especially if they weigh 300 lbs and are not professional athletes on a run?
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@Paul I guarantee that someone could take a look at your average outfit/general appearance and also rip it to shreds if they so choose. What ever happened to live and let live?
2
@Paul What if that 300 lb person is at the grocery store in a sweat suit, on the way home from the gym, stopping to pick up a few groceries along the way?
A little more of the "you do you" attitude would make this world a kinder place to live.
2
@Paul
People who weigh 300 lbs often have trouble finding clothes and sweats are the clothes that fit them. There are more complex factors to obesity than sheer laziness- let’s talk about access to health care, income, mental health just to start, but snide judgement and shame is cruel.
4
We need computer software to shame shamers.
9
Pooh bear, what troubles you.? Cracking down on sleep walkers or just cracking up?
4
Cultures vary. What is fine in one place is not acceptable in others, like talking and not bothering to close one's mouth while chewing.
4
oh china. funny distraction from our troubles here in the land of the free. I too am offended by seeing pj's in public places like the grocery store. Actually I'm disgusted by it. But in the end I don't want the government to be involved, I'd rather shame them myself with the face I make at them. Lol.
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Disgusted? Really? They are completely covered up and look cute. Maybe the US version is not so attractive, but the pics I’ve seen from China would brighten up my day.
10
what is privacy? when do we have it and when should we have it and when is it nice to have but not any legal or moral "right"?
what, specifically, is the "privacy" issue regarding a person walking around in public wearing pink pajamas?
we have a word -- "privacy" -- and a pseudo entitlement -- "privacy rights" -- that masquerade in discourse without any reasonable or workable definition of what they mean.
i'm serious. a person walks the street in pajamas, goes home to shop online, posts photos of themselves on social media, writes emails on corporate servers, stores personal data on the corporate fog -- what's privacy in that muck of urban corporate biotechnology, and how do you define it?
if we plunge forward with 18th century conceptions of "privacy" then we are only going to get a tedious and fruitless series of "privacy protection laws" that are full of corporate friendly loopholes.
look at the record in the EU.
so i ask: what is privacy? how do you define it legally? try defining it yourself in a way that makes legal sense.
6
@drollere Define pajamas. Define rights. Tell me exactly what the second amendment means. The perfectly, unambiguously defined doesn't exist. Yet the world functions. Go figure.
1
The photo looks like two women walking around in embarrassing leisure suits. How is it any worse than those Juicy Couture oufits women wore in the recent past?
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Pajamas are comfortable. Leggings, or any tight clothes, are not.
1
@Jared Speak for yourself! A majority of people would disagree with that statement.
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Yes, I see women wearing leggings as if they were trousers. Flattering on some but not most.
4
@hithere And a majority of people shouldn’t wear leggings or tight clothing, either! (Obesity epidemic in the US).
2
The key lesson here is not about technology, but about government authority. If you want to preserve individual freedom stop vesting more and more power in government. The more laws and regulations we wish for, regardless of the motivation, the more likely we will experience official pressure to "conform".
If, on the other hand, you believe the purpose of government is to manage behavior to achieve a specific vision of society, then follow the lead set by China.
2
@Bob Krantz China is far, far away from here, in many respects. Our version of more power in government is in the form of regulation, not dictating fashion. We see and feel the effects of less government every time we drive over a pothole, see a school close, wait longer for an ambulance or police officer to arrive, see farmers and factory workers losing their livelihoods, see sick patients paying astronomical sums of money for drugs, and read of deaths from defectively manufactured cars and other common items. Deregulation has resulted in a more precarious, lower quality of life for vast numbers of our citizens. Banking, mortgage and auto industries grievously injured this country because of lax regulation. Putting our economic, health and social welfare in the hands of those who profit from deregulation would make us WISH that we had the luxury of caring about people wearing pjs in public.
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@Kathy B
But what is much regulation if not dictating fashion, after a fashion? You seem to regret that we did not have enough regulation protecting things like farm jobs. Do you really want to return to the agrarian economy of the 19th century? Do you want to require factories to resist efficiency (and lower production costs) in the name of job security?
We apparently disagree on the value of free markets, where people are free to innovate, make choices, and yes, profit. I have more faith in the intelligence and autonomy of people, and the tendency of markets to respond. Of course, that requires people to take more personal responsibility, counter to promises from both big business and big government.
In any case, my point is more about regulating social norms, and the desire of some people to proscribe or prohibit personal behavior.
They can’t stop a pandemic. But those pajama wearers...
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@Zack Hall 🤣
This takes fashion police to a whole new level.
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@S A You win the internet today!!!!!!!!!
1
@S A You win the Internet today! Hilarious!
1
The upscale DC version is athleisure. "Athleisure is a fabricated style of clothing typically worn during athletic activities and in other settings, such as at the workplace, at school, or at other casual or social occasions." I accidentally jumped on board this particular fashion trend when I dressed for the gym several days in a row but never had time to actually go to the gym. My DC-based daughter explained that I wasn't lazy, just trendy. I'm kind of thinking it's the same with the pajama ladies: they *meant" to get dressed in regular clothing but didn't have time plus why change when you are so comfortable?
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Just Mao suits in technicolor. During the Cultural Revolution the clothing was the same but all blue and on all people, male and female. I see this as individual expression taken a step too far, but who am I to judge?
11
"Chinese City Uses Facial Recognition to Shame Pajama Wearers"
At last the Chinese Authorities have decided to do something to endear themselves to their large gay population. For those who have a hard time handling shabbiness, pajama-wearers are an assault on visual sensibilities. If the authorities could only expand their efforts to cover those "shabby chics" walking around in airports in their gym gears.
8
Onesies.
13
I can't wait to see the articles ten years from now...
"Chinese residents shamed for breathing"
3
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." — Benjamin Franklin
In spite of Mr. Franklin's admonition, I would be delighted to give up my essential liberty if it would keep adult human beings in pajamas off the streets.
At least someone in China has his head screwed on straight.
11
And we have Walmart. PJs would be a customer upgrade.
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I read this piece just after the one on Terry Jones. So it seemed like the Pythons had re-emerged.... in China.
12
I think that there's a distinction to be made here: let's clarify that these folks are wearings pyjamas, and not pajamas. And then let's also stipulate that wearing pyjamas is ok.
6
@Gary what’s the distinction, other than spelling?
1
I think that distinction is only valid in Hong Kong....
2
We have wearers of flannel pj bottoms in my neighborhood and I don't like it.
Here is what I see wrong with this practice: public pajama wearers are treating the public space as if it is their private space.
And it is not a human right to always be comfortable.
They are usurping our common space, and we have enough of that already, with people loudly sharing their private conversations on cellphones, doing make-up and other personal hygiene on subways, leaving their apartment doors open. Enough already!
27
@HoneyBee forgive me for saying this but I sincerely do not believe that you are from "America".
Not that I mean to turn this into a patriotism contest, but everything about your comment; vague location, odd diction, chiding others for "usurping our common space", screams foreign influence campaign.
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@B Alexander : I agree. Trolls trying to plant divisiveness wherever they can.
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@HoneyBee
Jesus.
This strikes me as someone taking their own personal sensibilities and labeling them general opinion.
This is ethnocentrism at it's finest. And it's the worst.
What I believe is the way it should be, and not for any logical reason, just because that's how I feel. It's tribal and terrible.
8
If pajamas, defined as comfortable clothing one wears to bed, are worn in public, aren't they just clothes at that point? Very, comfortable, snuggly clothes?
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@Daphne
“Very, comfortable, snuggly clothes?”
For small children. Or adults that never managed to grow up.
2
While I was in China, I saw several passengers wearing pajamas during a long bus ride to Hengdian, I thought it was adorable!! I should have thought of that!! There's nothing wrong with it. It's not lingerie. Everything is properly and comfortably covered up, what is the big deal??
117
Tony ‘The Chin’ Gigante would agree (and have a contract out on anyone who didn’t)
Yo, China, I think you have bigger things to worry about than PJs in public.
67
“Flannel recognition?”
16
why not? they grew up in Mao Suits. These aren't that different but with crazy fabric.
41
@Lydia
Mao suits is derived from Zhongshan suit after the founder of modern China Dr Sun which is inspired by Japanese school uniform. It is a combination of traditional changshan (long shirt), western fashion, and pan-East Asia modernization movement. There is much meaning in wearing a Mao suit
2
The thought of Trump in pajamas...a death penalty offense for sure.
11
@Patricia - Or, out of them! Ye Gods!
13
@Miss Anne Thrope
Was it totally necessary for you to plant that image in my brain this early in the morning?
3
Fortunately if anyone can outsmart Chinese surveillance it’s the battle-hardened women of the Mao generation.
16
On the lighter side, maybe we need such "shaming" here in the U.S. as more and more domestic airline passengers appear to be in their pajamas when they fly.
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@Kevin O'Reilly I disagree. Pajamas are non-restrictive clothes, which is precisely what frequent fliers recommend. I never understood why being ``presentable" has to go hand in hand with being uncomfortable.
45
@Kevin O'Reilly I think we have plenty enough shaming in the US already and could use more "live and let live." China appears to be descending into a totalitarian nightmare. Let's not follow them.
82
@Kevin O'Reilly So what?
13
I lived in a village in Nigeria over thirty years ago. A set of what I would call pajamas was considered a luxury matched outfit. I am not sure the older women in a small town of China know exactly how these clothes are “supposed” to be worn in Europe. And what is the big deal even here? Where do a “track suit” and pjs diverge? I think my grandmother in Miami started this style.
81
@Sean Casey junior Hahaha! Thanks for making this grandma laugh!
2
I have lived and worked in China and Kazakhstan for 8 years and have come to believe that those people who have aspirations for their country to become more 'developed' or 'civilised' should be careful what they wish for. They should also understand what they are giving up (for example, the loss of family values and social cohesion)
With economic development comes cultural shift and, usually, it seems to include an increase in judgement and shaming of the so-called "Villagers" or the "uneducated". (ie those not yet exposed to or converted by the western ways of doing things).
"If thine eye offendeth thee..."
I very much encourage the pajama wearing masses to tell the fashion police to get stuffed.
41
Nosedive. Black Mirror: Season 3, Episode 1. On Netflix. That is all.
11
I recently walked through Las Vegas, within days I started to receive ads from casinos I had previously visited but nnot enntered that day, obviously the facial recognition cameras more prevelant in Vegas than anywhere else spotted me and used their previous info about me to re-connnnect.
This is a world wide privacy threat, not just China and not just casinos.
51
Did you have a smart phone on you in Las Vegas? If you don’t turn your location services off it tracks your location.
29
That is more likely a sort of geotagging based on where you celtel was pinging not facial recognition.
30
Well Tom it wasn’t face recognition, it was your phone giving you away.
15
The price of freedom is that people can dress as foolishly as they desire.
We have an entire industry that relies upon that freedom and the lemming-esque power it generates, as the 'fashionable' indeed gather in groups.
24
Actually, the people who dress this way in China are far from fashion lemmings. They're old ladies or little kids who like to wear colorful and comfortable clothes, as the article said. They don't deserve to have their information published for that.
7
Societies can be so silly sometimes. What are pajamas except cloth, generally loose. Yet, what, in terms of cover and decency is different between a PJ top and a shirt (whether cotton or silk or flannel)? Nothing, actually, except a set of social expectations and associations, which suggest that one is public and the other private/intimate.
95