http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3723539/Chinas-pyjamas-police-fight-Shanghais-daytime-love-of-nightwear.html
China's pyjamas police fight Shanghai's daytime love of nightwear A local community in Shanghai has set its sights on one of urban China's most intractable social problems: the wearing of pyjamas in public.
By Richard Spencer in Beijing Last Updated: 7:18PM GMT 12 Dec 2008
The neighbourhood committee – a volunteer outpost of the Communist Party – in the city's north-eastern district of Rixin has decided that wearing pyjamas in the street should be discouraged.
"We're telling people not to wear pyjamas in the street because it looks very uncivilised," Guo Xilin, a local official, was quoted in local media as saying.
In contrast to their leaders' formal appearance at official functions, China boasts some of the most laid-back dressers in the world.
Partly as a result of living at close quarters in city alleyways, especially since Chairman Mao flooded the rich suburbs with the rural poor, privacy is at a premium and inhibitions are loosened.
In Shanghai, in particular, it is regarded as socially undesirable to make social visits without appointments in summer, in case the family is lounging around in their underwear to keep the heat at bay. But, wearing pyjamas to pop down to the shops or to communal loos hardly raises an eyebrow.
As China has become richer, the practice has only become more common: having a smart pair of pyjamas shows you can afford not to have to sleep in long-johns and string vests.
The Rixin decision has divided the locals. While Mr Guo called pyjamas "visual pollution", one elderly resident was quoted as saying: "Pyjamas are also a type of clothes. It's comfortable, and it's no big deal."
Shanghai may, of course, just be trying to keep up with its great rival, Beijing. The capital's Spiritual Civilisation Committee issued scores of edicts in advance of the Olympics governing citizens' behaviour, ranging from instructions on how to queue, apply make-up and comb your hair, to detailed advice on clothing.
Its guidelines were particularly critical of men who wore white socks with black shoes, but also weighed in on the subject of both pyjamas and the other great fashion faux pas – the male trouser leg rolled up to the knee to cool off.
