Dress to impress: lights out for public pajama parties

Shanghai expats have mixed feelings about a new pilot project that aims to discourage people from wearing their pajamas in public ahead of next year's expo.

Municipal government leaders and expo authorities are working to stop residents from walking around in a half-daze while sporting their worn-out bedtime threads before an expected 70 million visitors descend on the city starting in May.

The latest initiative in the city's bid to put its best foot forward for the 2010 Expo has some 500 volunteers busy at 20 communities near the expo site every morning. For the next month, volunteers have been directed to stop pajama-wearers at their front gates and convince residents to take up the habit of changing into street clothes before leaving their apartments.