China is proposing a law that will ban clothing that hurts the nation's feelings

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China recently revealed the proposed changes to its public security laws which are the first amendments in decades. And if the law comes into force, anyone who is found guilty could be jailed or fined but the proposal does not yet clarify what constitutes a violation.

The proposed law which has become a contentious issue among internet users says that people who wear or force others to wear clothing and symbols that "undermine the spirit or hurt the feelings of the Chinese nation" could be detained for up to 15 days and fined up to 5,000 yuan (HK$533.6)

The clothing law has caused an immediate reaction from the public - with many netizens criticising it as excessive and absurd.

The law also stresses that those who create or disseminate articles or speeches that do so could also face the same punishment.

The proposed law also prohibits "insulting, slandering or otherwise infringing upon the names of local heroes and martyrs" as well as vandalism of their memorial statues.

The netizens questioned how law enforcers could unilaterally determine when the nation's "feelings" are "hurt".

"Will wearing a suit and tie count? Marxism originated in the West. Would its presence in China also count as hurting national feelings," one user posted on the platform Weibo.

"To wear a kimono is to hurt the feelings of the Chinese nation, to eat Japanese food is to jeopardise its spirit? When did the feelings and spirit of the time-tested Chinese nation become so fragile?" wrote one popular social commentator online, who writes under the pen name Wang Wusi.

Legal experts in the country have also criticised the law's vague phrasing, saying it could be open to abuse.

A law professor at the Chinese University of Political Science and Law, Zhao Hong said the lack of clarity could lead to an infringement of personal rights.

"What if the law enforcer, usually a police officer, has a personal interpretation of the hurt and initiates moral judgment of others beyond the scope of the law," she wrote in an article published on Wednesday.

She cited one case that drew headlines in China last year where a kimono-clad woman was detained in the city of Suzhou and accused of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" because she had worn the Japanese garment. The incident sparked outrage across Chinese social media.

There have been other examples of a crackdown.

In March this year, police detained a woman donning a replica of a Japanese military uniform at a night market.

Earlier last month, people who wore rainbow print clothing were denied entry to a concert by Taiwanese singer Chang Hui-mei in Beijing.

However, netizens and legal experts have called for more clarity to avoid excessive enforcement.

中國正在提議一項法律，禁止穿著傷害民族感情的服裝

中國最近公佈了對其公安法的擬議修改，這是幾十年來的首次修訂。 如果該法律生效，任何被判有罪的人都可能被判入獄或罰款，但該提案尚未明確什麼構成違法行為。

擬議的法律已成為互聯網用戶爭議的問題，該法律規定，穿著或強迫他人穿著“損害中華民族精神或傷害中華民族感情”的服裝和標誌的人可能會被拘留最多 15 天並處以罰款至5,000 元（港幣533.6 元）

《服裝法》立即引起公眾反應，不少網友批評該法過分、荒唐。

該法律還強調，那些創作或傳播此類文章或言論的人也可能面臨同樣的處罰。

擬議的法律還禁止“侮辱、誹謗或者以其他方式侵犯當地英雄烈士的姓名”以及破壞他們的紀念雕像。

網友質疑執法者如何單方面判定國家“感情”何時“受到傷害”。

“穿西裝打領帶算不算？馬克思主義起源於西方。它在中國的存在也算傷害民族感情嗎？”一位用戶在微博平台上發帖稱。

“穿和服是傷害中華民族的感情，吃日本料理是危害中華民族的精神？久經考驗的中華民族的感情和精神什麼時候變得如此脆弱了？” 一位筆名王五四的網上熱門社會評論員寫道。

該國的法律專家也批評了該法律的模糊措辭，稱其可能容易被濫用。

中國政法大學法學教授趙宏表示，缺乏明確性可能會導致侵 犯個人權利。

她在周三發表的一篇文章中寫道：“如果執法者（通常是警察）對傷害有個人的解釋，並在法律範圍之外對他人進行道德判斷，該怎麼辦？”

她列舉了去年在中國成為頭條新聞的一個案例，一名身著和服的女子在蘇州市被拘留，並被指控“尋釁滋事”，因為她穿著日本服裝。 該事件引發了中國社交媒體的憤怒。

還有其他鎮壓的例子。

今年3月，警方在夜市拘留了一名穿著仿日本軍服的女子。

上個月早些時候，穿著彩虹印花服裝的人被拒絕進入台灣歌手張惠妹在北京舉行的演唱會。

然而，網友和法律專家呼籲進一步明確，以避免過度執法。