Analysis
Chinese authorities are seeking to limit Halloween celebrations in Shanghai, fearing that the festivities could serve as a platform for political dissent. For the regime, the October 31 holiday, imported from the United States, could become a means of criticising those in power through the choice of costumes with a political connotation.
Issued on: 31/10/2024
By: Sébastian SEIBT
Halloween costumes worn in Shanghai in 2023, including protective suits like those worn by officials during the country's Covid-19 lockdown, were deemed politically subversive. CFOTO/Sipa USA via Reuters Conne - Costfoto
The Chinese government seems to be spooked by Halloween in Shanghai. A group of people dressed up for a pre-Halloween party in the city were detained by police, Reuters reported on October 25. Then, over the weekend, the police were deployed in one of Shanghai's downtown districts to curb the festivities of other fans of Halloween.
One 22-year-old student who was detained by the police told the Financial Times: “We had hats and cat ears, and they’re like ‘you can’t do that this year, unless you’re going to Disneyland’ or something.”
The student, who did not give his name, said the police took him to an administrative building where he joined a long queue of others wearing costumes.
Those rounded up were required to give police their names, ID numbers and phone numbers before being released according to the South China Morning Post. Videos showing handcuffed people entering a public building accompanied by police officers have been circulating on Chinese social networks since the weekend.
“These arrests took place mainly in Shanghai's cosmopolitan former French Concession district, where last year's Halloween festivities were held,” says Carlotta Rinaudo, China specialist for the International Team for the Study of Security (ITSS) Verona.
If the authorities are nervous as October 31 approaches, it's precisely because they don't want a repeat of last year’s Halloween, during which “some of the participants chose costumes that could be described as politically subversive", says Marc Lanteigne, a sinologist at The Arctic University of Norway.
At the time, the authorities were taken aback by this new political turn of Halloween, which traditionally has more to do with children going door-to-door trick-or-treating than with political grievances.
Beijing has shown little tolerance for expressions of popular discontent in Shanghai. China’s most international city, “considered the most open to the world, serves as a showcase for the country”, says Lanteigne.
Fear of a snowball effect
The regime is doing its utmost to present Shanghai in the most welcoming light to the outside world, while ensuring that not the the slightest challenge to the ruling party emerges.
Are a few cheeky costumes enough to shake the authority of the all-powerful Chinese Communist Party?
“On the face of it, it was more a question of Shanghai's population relaxing a little, rather than challenging the powers that be,” says Lanteigne. “Let's not forget that the local population has been hard hit by both the draconian health measures implemented during the Covid-19 crisis and the Chinese economic slowdown,” he says.
But the authorities saw the festivities as a phenomenon that could have a snowball effect, experts say. In fact, “the line between festive celebrations and protest” has always been quite blurred in China, says Rinaudo, and for several years now, Halloween gatherings have been a way to express criticism of the authorities.
In 2019, Hong Kong police fired tear gas at protesters who challenged a government ban on demonstrators wearing politically provocative face masks.
In 2022, protests in Shanghai against restrictions linked to Covid-19 began on November 2, just after Halloween.
The costumes seen in Shanghai in 2023 finally convinced the authorities that it was better to offer "tricks” rather than "treats" for Halloween, prompting them to clamp down on the festivities.
What China’s leaders absolutely don't want to see is the establishment of a tradition of dissent around Halloween, “because the political implications could become more and more complicated to control", says Rinaudo. The authorities don't want to go so far as to ban Halloween completely, she says, but “are keen to control the way the occasion is celebrated”.
The Chinese government seems to be spooked by Halloween in Shanghai. A group of people dressed up for a pre-Halloween party in the city were detained by police, Reuters reported on October 25. Then, over the weekend, the police were deployed in one of Shanghai's downtown districts to curb the festivities of other fans of Halloween.
One 22-year-old student who was detained by the police told the Financial Times: “We had hats and cat ears, and they’re like ‘you can’t do that this year, unless you’re going to Disneyland’ or something.”
The student, who did not give his name, said the police took him to an administrative building where he joined a long queue of others wearing costumes.
'Subversive costumes'
Those rounded up were required to give police their names, ID numbers and phone numbers before being released according to the South China Morning Post. Videos showing handcuffed people entering a public building accompanied by police officers have been circulating on Chinese social networks since the weekend.
“These arrests took place mainly in Shanghai's cosmopolitan former French Concession district, where last year's Halloween festivities were held,” says Carlotta Rinaudo, China specialist for the International Team for the Study of Security (ITSS) Verona.
If the authorities are nervous as October 31 approaches, it's precisely because they don't want a repeat of last year’s Halloween, during which “some of the participants chose costumes that could be described as politically subversive", says Marc Lanteigne, a sinologist at The Arctic University of Norway.
At the time, the authorities were taken aback by this new political turn of Halloween, which traditionally has more to do with children going door-to-door trick-or-treating than with political grievances.
Beijing has shown little tolerance for expressions of popular discontent in Shanghai. China’s most international city, “considered the most open to the world, serves as a showcase for the country”, says Lanteigne.
Fear of a snowball effect
The regime is doing its utmost to present Shanghai in the most welcoming light to the outside world, while ensuring that not the the slightest challenge to the ruling party emerges.
Are a few cheeky costumes enough to shake the authority of the all-powerful Chinese Communist Party?
“On the face of it, it was more a question of Shanghai's population relaxing a little, rather than challenging the powers that be,” says Lanteigne. “Let's not forget that the local population has been hard hit by both the draconian health measures implemented during the Covid-19 crisis and the Chinese economic slowdown,” he says.
But the authorities saw the festivities as a phenomenon that could have a snowball effect, experts say. In fact, “the line between festive celebrations and protest” has always been quite blurred in China, says Rinaudo, and for several years now, Halloween gatherings have been a way to express criticism of the authorities.
In 2019, Hong Kong police fired tear gas at protesters who challenged a government ban on demonstrators wearing politically provocative face masks.
In 2022, protests in Shanghai against restrictions linked to Covid-19 began on November 2, just after Halloween.
The costumes seen in Shanghai in 2023 finally convinced the authorities that it was better to offer "tricks” rather than "treats" for Halloween, prompting them to clamp down on the festivities.
What China’s leaders absolutely don't want to see is the establishment of a tradition of dissent around Halloween, “because the political implications could become more and more complicated to control", says Rinaudo. The authorities don't want to go so far as to ban Halloween completely, she says, but “are keen to control the way the occasion is celebrated”.
Chinese nationalism vs. Western influence
Nevertheless, mobilising law enforcement nearly a week before Halloween and firmly urging anyone wearing a costume to revert to a more usual dress code is not a sign that the government is sure of itself, notes Lanteigne. "It doesn't show a regime very confident about the social mood and the risk of social unrest,” he says.
For Lanteigne, their response is an indication that with the economic slowdown, the authorities are on the lookout for the slightest sign that a social crisis could be brewing.
Halloween also provides an opportunity “to attack another symbol of Western culture in China”, says Lanteigne. For some years now, Chinese authorities have been urging people not to celebrate Christmas.
"Putting some restrictions on Western festivities like Christmas is part of a nationalistic push for more traditional values" to counteract the influence of the West, says Rinaudo.
Halloween is the perfect target for the ire of the Chinese authorities. On the one hand, Beijing hopes to pre-empt any potential public dissent, and on the other, it seeks to control the narrative surrounding Western cultural influences.
From the government’s viewpoint, they are “bolstering national pride with a crackdown against Western and outside influences”, says Lanteigne.
This article has been translated from the original in French.
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