In Beijing, there is no place for bangye

The popular Beijing Youth Daily sends its message to readers daily in the new column’s caption: “When you go out, don’t forget to wear a T-shirt.” “We need to put on a great Olympics, but Beijing people still have a few small shortcomings that need to be corrected,” said Yang Tao, the Youth Daily Page editor.

The city, in the throes of an all-out clean-up, has already forced out polluting factories and flattened entire blocks of rustic but rickety housing, replacing them with green cul-de-sacs and space-age toilets.

Now the Communist Party-backed paper, with a circulation of around 800,000, is asking city dwellers to expand their wardrobes.

Photos, many shot by readers, show Beijing men baring all they can to beat the heat, and caught in less-than-flattering poses. One man squats to snap a picture near the main tourist drag, his belly bulging. Another fleshy horde hover over a game of Chinese chess in a Beijing alleyway, clad in nothing but shorts.

The paper says the column, which began in late June and could run through the summer, has nothing to do with propaganda authorities. And it says the cathartic media ploy is working.

“Some say their relatives and friends recognised them and they lost face,” said Yang. “But even they say…that after this, they are going to wear a T-shirt.” Most of the unsuspecting subjects are shown shot from behind or with their faces blurred. Dozens have picked up a free T-shirt the paper is giving away to convert the masses, Yang said.

“Other readers could identify with the photos and after they saw them, they started wearing a shirt, too,” he added. Still, he said, there is resistance among some of the “bangye” — Beijing slang for bare-shouldered men — who tend be over 30 and grew up without the luxury of air conditioning, let alone the budget to splurge on a new shirt. (Reuters)