LETTER FROM SHANGHAI
Despite the rain, they were out in force. A sadistic doctor, a Jesus, a girl in a takeaway coffee cup, others in traditional dress, a superhero and three boys as foldable Huawei smartphones. "Dressing up is fun, but it's a form of expression too," said a young man who was out on Saturday, October 26, to celebrate Halloween in the streets of Shanghai.
While most had opted for anodyne disguises, others had ventured into more subversive messages. They included someone dressed as Lu Xun, master of irony and satire in Chinese literature from the first half of the 20th century; Chen Duxiu, co-founder of the Communist Party, who in 1915 launched a militant newspaper, New Youth, an initiative hardly conceivable in today's China; and also a fake Fan Bingbing, the star who suddenly disappeared in 2018 and, accused of tax fraud, had to publish her self-criticism. Lenin and Stalin were also present on the streets of Shanghai, as were several Donald Trump lookalikes.
But the big theme for this year's fancy dress was more political: The economy, its slowdown, and the prospects it offers young people, at a time when the unemployment rate has soared in recent months. The Shanghainese had stepped up their creativity. Le Monde saw a cardboard helmet printed with the logo of a job search site whose name had been changed to mean "the future is worrying," a young person dressed in a green trash can marked "CV," a woman in a blue trash bag with a similar message about poor hiring prospects and a boy who had inscribed "Wanted: A decent job" on a piece of cardboard.
As for the police, they were not in the mood for celebration. Already, for Halloween 2023, the same Shanghainese had indulged in some irreverent disguises: One had wandered around in the white jumpsuit of a Covid-19 testing officer, while another had cobbled together a cardboard mask in the shape of a surveillance camera, showing both their desire to breathe and their political awareness.
This year, the city authorities banned Halloween parties in bars in several districts of Shanghai, without clearly informing the population of the rules. Police were deployed in large numbers on streets known for their nightlife, where gatherings had taken place in 2023. Yellow barriers were even erected on Julu Street, home to a number of bars and a particularly popular club complex, Found 158.
Even so, there were plenty of people out for the occasion on Friday and Saturday. Realizing that they wouldn't be able to show off their costumes where the police presence was strongest, some youngsters passed the message on to each other and headed for the large Zhongshan Park. Those wearing costumes were taken away by the police and only allowed to leave the police stations after having their identity checked, their disguises removed and having to don a black T-shirt given to them by the police. The following day, Sunday, when the park was closed in the early afternoon, young people in disguise appeared in Hangzhou, 170 kilometers from Shanghai.
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