主题：【半原创半整理】上海人的习俗--穿睡衣上街 -- 元亨利
Don't know since when, Shanghai has gained a reputation of her residents that they were somewhat dispositioned to go out to the street wearing pajamas. To this writer's knowledge, this conception, or misconception as it may be, came into being in the year of 1997, when the good old New York Times carried a story to this effect. As China at that time just began to be looming on the horizon of Americans' mind and the channels of being informed about China were limited, this article acted to spread this urban legend about modern Shanghai. This writer happened to have read that article then. Shortly afterward, American people actually asked me whether it was true Shanghai people wore pajamas to go shopping.
Here are some excerpts of that original culprit, you be the judge.
----------------------------------------------------
Pajamas for Shanghai's Street Wise
By SETH FAISON
Published: August 10, 1997
Trends in fashion defy logic, and the latest evidence has surfaced in Shanghai, where a popular summer style has many people wearing pajamas out in public during the day.
Comfort and convenience are obviously the main attractions, but a certain social distinction seems to be in the sartorial calculus as well. Not everyone can afford pajamas in China, even at $5 a pair, and those who can afford them like to let the neighbors know.
As they stroll, shop and cycle on the city's crowded streets, the pajama- and nightgown-clad wear the proud demeanor of people in the know. The daring even wear their nighties to work, if they have a relatively relaxed employer or one who is already faddishly dressed.
An element of class distinction persists. For the more affluent in Shanghai, who like to see themselves as trend-setters, nightwear in public is still socially unacceptable.
But then pajamas seem to be one trend where the more sophisticated folk in Shanghai are lagging. After all, Hong Kong and Taiwan, where mainlanders often look for clues about what is hip in Chinese popular culture, went through their own pajama fads a generation ago. Ho-hum.
Shanghai residents may offer various theories about the new summer fad, but straight laziness should not be ruled out. The majority of those interviewed in a completely random sampling acknowledged that the pajamas they wore that day were actually the same ones they woke up in.
----------------------------------
This is not the end of the story. Like they say in America, two is company. The author of the article published, in quick succession, another one in The New York Times in just four days to the first article.