October 2024

Authorities in Shanghai are preparing to crack down on Halloween costumes this year, following social media buzz about a repeat of last year’s event, when young people took to the streets dressed in costumes with political undertones.

Police, urban management officials, and business owners in the downtown Huangpu district will enforce “strict controls” on cosplay activities, as indicated by leaked internal notices shared online.

“All cosplay is banned, and no Halloween makeup will be allowed,” according to a police notice issued to neighborhood committees across Huangpu district. The notice advises using “verbal persuasion” initially, but states that “compulsory measures” will be applied if individuals do not comply.

This clampdown follows last year’s Halloween gatherings in Shanghai, where young people took to the streets in costumes that included satirical nods to political figures, such as Winnie the Pooh and COVID-19 enforcers, in defiance of the government’s distaste for Western holidays.

Videos and photos from last year’s event showed groups of people dressed in Halloween costumes like ghosts and Chinese-style corpse brides, alongside contemporary references to the pandemic: some participants dressed as COVID-19 enforcers or wore Winnie-the-Pooh costumes, the latter banned due to its resemblance to Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.

Some attendees also donned hazmat suits, brandishing coronavirus testing swabs and hand sanitizer as a darkly humorous reference to the harsh lockdowns experienced by many in the city during 2022.

New restrictions this year suggest that, unlike last Halloween, using costumes to make political statements may not go unnoticed by city authorities.