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Facekini

Reader comment on item: ISIS Imposes a Partial Ban on Burqas
in response to reader comment: Stop wondering why Burkini is protested more than Burkha

Submitted by iftikhar Ahmad (United Kingdom), Sep 7, 2016 at 12:41

Before "burkinis" made global headlines, there was China's "facekini."

The colourful, full-face mask is still around, on view at crowded Chinese beaches this summer and for sale online.

It came onto the radar of Western news organizations in the summer of 2012. The New York Times published a front-page story by Dan Levin on the phenomenon, with striking photographs from the coastal town of Qingdao by Sim Chi Yin.

In recent days, people on Twitter and other social media platforms have mocked the banning of burkinis by dozens of French beachside towns by asking what French officials would do if Chinese beachgoers showed up wearing facekinis. The controversy in France over the banning of the burkini, popular with some Muslim women, by at least 30 French municipalities, many on the Riviera, has continued to rage, and a French high court last Friday overturned one town's ban.

Chinese beach going women don the facekini to shield themselves from the sun. In some Asian countries, not only do many women fear wrinkles caused by ultraviolet rays, but they also want to be as pale as possible. Skin-whitening creams are popular in Japan, South Korea and Thailand, for example.

Chinese women who wear facekinis also sometimes wear bathing suits that cover their entire torsos and arms, similar to the burkini and to the wet suits common among surfers.

In 2012 at Qingdao, where the facekini is most ubiquitous, one woman wearing a mask, Yao Wenhua, 58, told The Times, "I'm afraid of getting dark."

"A woman should always have fair skin," she added. "Otherwise people will think you're a peasant.

As startling as they may seem in photographs, facekinis are familiar in China. But what about in France? How would the same officials and police officers who have forced burkini-clad Muslim women off beaches react to this Chinese outfit?

The burkini ban has gotten a range of reactions from Chinese on social media, but it is not a big topic of conversation.

One man, Li Ahong, wrote on Weibo: "This is not a step toward civilization, but a step back to the barbarity of intervening in personal affairs. If you're allowed to be naked, you should be allowed to be entirely covered up."

(Ahong is a Chinese word for imam, but there is no obvious indication from the micro blog posts that Mr. Li is an imam.)

Another commenter argued that security concerns over the burkini were legitimate: "What if there were bombs under the burkinis?"

Last Wednesday, the Weibo account of the overseas edition of People's Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper, posted a sarcastic comment on the French ban that took a swipe at the practice of Western governments criticizing China over its human rights abuses.

"Armed police in France forced a Muslim woman to take off her conservative swimsuit," the People's Daily employee wrote. "Where are their human rights?"

Submitting....

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Reader comments (21) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
2ISIS partial ban on Burkha [84 words]PrashantSep 10, 2016 12:02232516
Optimism [56 words]a6zSep 8, 2016 15:17232431
Stop Micromanaging women [168 words]Lynn MSep 7, 2016 14:22232405
Veil, burqa, burkini etc. [24 words]stevenlSep 7, 2016 00:21232373
1Veil, Burqa and Burkini [1000 words]Iftikhar AhmadSep 7, 2016 12:38232373
From Hassan II of Maroc in French. [10 words]stevenlSep 10, 2016 01:18232373
What to Wear? [67 words]Iftikhar AhmadSep 11, 2016 17:35232373
Hijra, Islamic Migration: Bill Warner [63 words]stevenlSep 14, 2016 11:08232373
Stop wondering why Burkini is protested more than Burkha [126 words]PrashantSep 6, 2016 21:38232370
Facekini [479 words]iftikhar AhmadSep 7, 2016 12:41232370
Human right is a very general term [135 words]PrashantSep 10, 2016 12:37232370
1See, ISIS Really Has Nothing To Do With Islam [173 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
DaveSep 6, 2016 18:53232364
Matters of "more" assaults, "more" time' [66 words]BUSep 6, 2016 18:51232363
WOMEN ARE FIGHTING [69 words]Celine LeducSep 6, 2016 17:06232362
2The Even More Clueless side of "Politically Correct" [96 words]Mike RamirezSep 6, 2016 13:28232354
3Burqa can be compared to Nazi regalia [99 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Michael SSep 6, 2016 12:58232352
Burqa [1431 words]Iftikhar AhmadSep 6, 2016 12:04232345
1Biggest defenders of Muslim womens "right" to wear Burkha are ... [144 words]PrashantSep 7, 2016 07:59232345
2Islamic societies must be obligated to be democratic [295 words]PrashantSep 7, 2016 08:24232345
1Public peace and safety, and the rule of law, are paramount [711 words]Michael S.Sep 7, 2016 08:38232345
1"The Bitter Lament of a Muslim Woman" [2630 words]Mike RamirezSep 7, 2016 14:09232345

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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