Chinese Halloween: Partygoers pushed the boundaries in Shanghai last year. This year, the police paid attention

Hong Kong
CNN
—

A year after a wild Halloween celebration in Shanghai made global headlines, revelers dressed as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and comic book superheroes were turned away by police as authorities appeared to crack down on the festivities.

Videos on social media showed an increased police presence in three busy bar and restaurant areas in Shanghai, where partygoers typically celebrate an annual tradition more closely associated with the United States, raising concerns about further restrictions on personal freedoms in China.

According to images on social media, crowd barriers were set up on some streets to limit pedestrian traffic, and a park near another popular nightlife area, where costumed partygoers gathered on Saturday, was also closed the next day.

The tight controls in China’s most cosmopolitan city followed last year’s sometimes boisterous celebrations as young people took to the streets to celebrate the first Halloween since China’s strict COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. many wearing costumes that offer social criticism is a rare occurrence in a country where dissent in any form is not tolerated.

This year, Chinese police appear to have tried to avoid similar scenes, with several videos geolocated by CNN showing police stopping people wearing various Halloween costumes and escorting some.

It is not known whether they were detained or simply escorted from the nearest territory. The circumstances leading to this interaction with law enforcement were also unclear. As of Tuesday, some videos were still circulating on the Chinese Internet under heavy censorship, while others appeared to have been removed.

Although some officially sanctioned Halloween celebrations, such as those at Shanghai Disney Resort and Happy Valley Theme Park, went ahead as scheduled, the apparent suppression of some public This year’s Halloween meetups have caught the attention of Chinese social media users. One user of Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of X, noted that her social media feed seemed particularly empty.

“Wasn’t it possible to dress up for Halloween on Zhulu Road in Shanghai this year? Why was there no photo in my feed?” she asked, referring to the popular nightlife district. Online images geolocated by CNN were shown by police at one point restricted pedestrian flow on Julu Road.

As in other places in Asia, such as Japan and South Korea, many young people in China see Halloween as an occasion to dress up and meet up with friends at themed events.

But Chinese state media warned in recent years against citizens being “overly passionate” about Western festivals is part of a broader, nationalistic backlash against perceived foreign influence.

Last The weekend’s festivities appeared to end early for one young man who donned a blond wig and a band over his right ear to impersonate former US President Donald Trump, a now-deleted post on Chinese social media platform Douyin showed. Trump wore a bandage after a bullet went through his ear during the assassination attempt in July

Superheroes Spider-Man and Batman, as well as a man who dressed up Dressed in yellow and wearing Buddha necklaces, all were led away by police, according to an online video.

CNN has reached out to Shanghai authorities for comment on the number of recent revelers weekend, but did not receive an answer. A local police officer said they were not authorized to speak to the media.

In China, crowd control measures are not unusual in public places, especially during the holidays, but some online users openly wondered what this would mean for the upcoming Halloween.

“(I think) there will never be a more innovative Halloween celebration in Shanghai than in 2023. It will slowly lose its sharpness and become harmonized.” user wrote.

Last year’s celebrations in Shanghai were marked by huge crowds and revelers who used the holiday to brazenly criticize China’s strict COVID-19 lockdown measures and weak economy.

Some were dressed as university graduates who couldn’t find work, alluding to China’s sluggish economy and high youth unemployment. Others wore costumes sarcastically speaking out against China’s strict Covid control measures, which shut down Shanghai for about two months and caused rare protests.

This rare public criticism in a country heavily censored both in online debate and in media and entertainment was largely unimpeded by police last year who practiced crowd control, but media reports did not appear to be actively stopping people in the suits

The Shanghai municipal government even praised last year’s Halloween celebration as a “sign of cultural tolerance.”

“The recent Halloween celebration in Shanghai, with its unique blend of Western traditions and Chinese creativity, offered a glimpse into the evolving cultural landscape of the bustling city,” it said in a statement last year.

Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said last year’s celebration came amid a “vacuum” as Shanghai authorities struggled to return to normal life less than a year after the law was lifted. Daily lockdowns.

“This year, the authorities are much more prepared, and they do not agree to such actions,” he said.