Authorities in the Suzhou City of Anhui province in China are calling out residents for wearing their pyjamas out in public.

Public name and shame for wearing PJs outside

In a Monday, Jan. 20 post on the official WeChat account of the Suzhou City Management Bureau, 15 people were named for exhibiting "uncivilised behaviour", The Paper reported.

The post was titled "Expose uncivilised behaviour, raise residents' civility".

Of the 15 people, seven pyjama-wearing people were publicly shamed for wearing their pyjamas outside their homes.

The other photos included people lying outdoors and walking their dogs in an "uncivilised" manner, hawking fares on pedestrian streets, putting up small ads illegally and playing cards in the public.

Along with the photos, the offenders' surnames, redacted identification numbers, and the location where the "uncivilised behaviour" took place were published as well.

Public rewarded for snitching on others

As part of the authorities' call to name and shame these people, members of the public are encouraged to submit pictures of these pyjama-wearing folks while they are out and about.

The Suzhou City Management Bureau's official WeChat account reportedly had an earlier post in August 2019 that asked people to submit pictures of people behaving in an "uncivilised" manner.

According to The Paper, the post had read: "The pictures submitted must be clear, and should capture the face of the offender from the front. The time and place should be included as well to make the next step of exposé easier."

The Suzhou City Management Bureau would then reward the informer with 10 RMB (S$1.96) for each successful submission.

The establishment had previously exposed 16 people for their "uncivilised behaviour" back in October 2019.

This policy follows the cracking down on men sporting "Beijing bikinis" as they deemed the fashion "uncivilised".

Angry reacts

News of the post triggered some rather heated responses.

Many commenters were incredulous at the classification of pyjamas by the authorities as an inappropriate outfit outdoors.

"The country-wide campaign for civilised behaviour and hygiene has changed, pui."

Reply: "Can't sleep on a bed, can't have garbage in the garbage can."

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"When did they start caring about people farting?"

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"Shouldn't 'Beijing bikinis' or some extremely odd costumes be counted as uncivilised? Who are the PJs imposing upon?"

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"Butting into things they are not supposed to deal with, not dealing with what they are supposed to deal with. Are the personal information of rapists released to the public? Wearing PJs require such name and shame?"

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"Never caring about the commoners' privacy, wilful authority."

Suzhou City apologised

Due to backlash received over the policy, Suzhou City Management Bureau has since taken down the post, and released an apology the night of the same day.

They wrote: "We shall seriously learn our lesson, reflect on ourselves, and ensure that something similar would not occur again."

Red Star News cited a lawyer as saying the city's management should not have interfered in the residents' freedoms, and that they have infringed on the residents' privacy by naming and shaming them.

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