Kimono hides truth of Wuhan incident

A MAN WEARING A KIMONO-LIKE COSTUME who tried to enter the grounds of Wuhan University on Sunday to view the cherry blossom was stopped at the gate, which created a buzz online. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

After it happened, video clips and photos about it were widely spread online showing the man being restrained by a security guard, who put his arm around the man's neck.

One quote of the man made headlines: "I am wearing a traditional Chinese costume, not a kimono."

By noon on Monday, the incident featuring that quote had already become one of the hottest topics on domestic social media, with many comments discussing whether it is proper for the university to stop someone entering because of the way he or she dresses. Some blamed the security staff for enforcing the rules too aggressively.

The university has responded by saying they stopped the man because he did not make an appointment. It said the "Kimono" quote was only one sentence from a 6-minute-long quarrel, and the man used insulting words toward a female security guard who called for support from her male colleagues. They stopped him because he had no appointment. The man, who was chased away by the security guards, later said he wanted to stay calm from now on.

The incident might have come to an end, but the problems it reveals remain. It seems, whenever an incident happens, the most widely spread information is always that which hits the most sensitive point, not the one that most faithfully tells what happened.

In this case, the kimono is such a sensitive point, as Cherry trees were first planted in Wuhan University by the occupying Imperial Japanese Army.

The we-media outlets that first spread the news found the point to focus on. And they successfully guided public opinion by sensationalizing this aspect of the incident, as proved by the 360 million reading count of the news on social media networks.

The man who tried to enter with force won, because he successfully aroused nationwide attention, with quite many voices supporting him without knowing what truly happened. The security staff and the university did not lose, either, because the false accusations against them will finally disappear.

There seems to be only one loser in the process: the truth. Everybody was talking about the kimono, rather than what truly happened.