Event Overview

Not long ago, a girl who was dressed up as an anime character while riding a bus was hit by a hot search for insults from passengers on the bus. Coincidentally, not long ago, the Guangzhou Metro issued a regulation prohibiting scary images such as "horror" and "blood stains" from dressing up or dressing up as "ghosts" on Halloween, which received unanimous praise. On August 28, 2023, China's "Public Security Management Penalty Law" was revised for the first time in 17 years. According to the revised draft of the "Public Security Management Penalty Law", the newly added behavior of "damaging national spirit and emotions" may become the target of punishment. This clause immediately attracted attention and discussion from all parties.

Lawyer Interpretation

Article 34 of the revised draft stipulates that anyone who commits one of the following acts shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than ten days or fined not less than 1000 yuan but not more than 3000 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, the offender shall be detained for not less than ten days but not more than fifteen days and may also be fined not more than five thousand yuan:

（2） Wearing or forcing others to wear clothing or symbols that are detrimental to the spirit of the Chinese nation or harm the emotions of the Chinese nation in public places;

（3） Producing, disseminating, promoting, or disseminating items or statements that harm the spirit of the Chinese nation or the emotions of the Chinese nation;

The issue of "damaging national spirit and hurting national emotions" is a highly controversial issue in this revision. Because there is no clear provision in the law regarding which behaviors are detrimental to the national spirit and emotions, there is a problem of unclear definitions of illegal behaviors leading to confusion in law enforcement. Many people are beginning to raise concerns, such as whether wearing foreign anime character costumes for role-playing at anime exhibitions, purchasing foreign brand products, and conducting costume activities during "foreign festivals" are harmful to national spirit and emotions.

We don't think it's necessary to interpret this too much. The original intention of this regulation is actually to clarify and refine the regulations on illegal activities. Throughout the current "Public Security Management Penalty Law", the main violations it targets are disrupting public order, hindering public safety, and infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of others. Before the introduction of this revised draft, similar behaviors were generally punished by public security organs based on provoking trouble or disrupting public order. Therefore, it can be seen that whether punishment will be imposed depends on the harmfulness of the behavior. If clothing, words, and actions do not attract criticism from others, no one reports to the police, and there is no social hot topic of concern, to some extent, it indicates that the behavior itself has not caused social harm. We believe that the general public security organs will not punish it. On the contrary, it indicates that the behavior itself has caused a certain negative impact on society and disrupted order, which will be punished by the public security organs. In the later stage, the legislative department may also further refine the determination of this provision, such as clarifying that such behavior refers to distorting, blaspheming, attacking, derogating, etc. the history and culture of the Chinese nation through insults and slanders, or clarifying the consequences of such behavior as causing negative social impact, damaging social public interests, and disrupting public order.

In summary, regardless of whether the revised draft of the Public Security Management Penalty Law has passed this provision, everyone should still pay attention to regulating their words and actions in daily life, and not disturb public order. For example, in sensitive times and locations such as National Day or historic commemorative venues, do not dress up or act improperly, or do not use terrifying attire to scare passersby during holidays such as Halloween, otherwise you may be punished.