Underwear under cover
Shanghai hates having its dirty laundry aired in public. So when a local newspaper said the mainland might ban the third instalment of Hollywood blockbuster Mission: Impossible for presenting a negative image of the city, the report was entirely believable.
City fathers apparently took issue with scenes of underwear hanging outside on bamboo poles, and a slow response by Shanghai police while special agent Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, rampaged through the streets, the Xinmin Evening News reported.
As it turns out, the distributor says the movie will probably get a mainland showing, although some scenes are likely to fall victim to the censor.
With pirated DVDs of M:i:III - as the film is known - now available, mainland viewers are already seeing Shanghai's underwear on parade. But at least one government body - the Shanghai Spiritual Civilisation Office - wants to clean up the city's soiled image by tackling the issue of unsightly laundry.
'It's wrong to hang clothes everywhere. This is a problem we must solve. But this problem is complex,' says Chen Zhenmin, the office's deputy director.
The obstacles are formidable, including Shanghai tradition and millions of residents like Xue Deyu. Drying clothes in the sun is part of the fabric of Shanghai alleyway life, giving rise to the popular tale that your neighbours will even take in your laundry if it rains.
'A clothes dryer is a waste of money. Sunlight is free,' Mrs Xue says.
Mr Chen realises an outright ban might spark a mass protest. 'You can't stop residents from drying clothes in the sun. This wouldn't be tolerated,' he says.
Some 'model' neighbourhoods, however, have fixed laundry lines in set locations. Old residential areas often don't have the space, so Mr Chen wants to take a more creative approach by tackling the design of new housing.
'Through housing design, you could allow the clothes to be invisible from the outside,' he says.
As any Shanghai homebuyer knows, the balconies of Shanghai flats face south, which is said to be warm in winter, cool in summer and the perfect location for hanging laundry to dry. Flats with southern-facing views command up to a 40 per cent premium. The result is a Great Wall of washing on the southern face of any residential building.
Mr Chen places the blame on Chinese culture. 'People in southern China have a custom. The humidity is too high. People want their quilts to be dry for sleeping at night. When the sun comes out, they put things outside.'
Given that background, changing the practice might just be an impossible mission.
