Letter to the Editor

Dear Fine Citizens of Shanghai:

I appreciate that it is hot in this city. I don't like the sweat running down my back on my way to work or the steamy bursts of exhaust coming out of the buses as they roar by either. However, it is hot in other places too and people manage to dress each day. In Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, India and even Hong Kong it is just as hot if not hotter. Granted, people in these places might wear less than people in Iceland, but shirts, pants and undergarments are typically considered good form.

To the elder gentleman who stands in front of the large window of Bellagio Cafe with your boxer shorts, only boxer shorts, pulled up to your armpits, rubbing your belly through the slit in your boxers, cigarette dangling from pursed lips, please consider adding a wife-beater t-shirt to the ensemble. The diners will thank you.

To those ladies in your nightgowns at 15:00 riding your scooters down the street or shopping at Carrefour, shorts and a t-shirt aren't that much hotter and yet say so much about you - positive, that is.

To the couples who wear matching nightgowns/pajamas all day long: What the (&*^$#%^??

This isn't just about the heat, because I see you in your flannel PJs during the winter. I've heard different theories on why appearing about town dressed for bed is considered fashionable; however, I am assured that it only happens in Shanghai and Shanghai is certainly the only place I've witnessed it.

It is awkward standing next to a man of your advanced years in your boxers, dress socks and black leather dress shoes preparing to cross Beijing Avenue. Where exactly are you headed in that getup and what is your wife doing when you are getting dressed in the morning? Or is she one of the ladies in the nightgowns? And for those gentlemen thoughtful enough to at least put on PJs: Quit buying the PJs with copyright infringing Mickey Mouse on them. You look like a pedophile and that isn't a compliment.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Expat.