Thread: Chinese tourists warned not to embroider school names on student uniforms

Chinese tourists wearing Thai student uniforms are warned that they may violate the law if the names embroidered on their shirts match actual school names.


The image of a group of four Chinese tourists in Thai student uniforms, with their names embroidered on the shirts, has recently gone viral on social media. The four came from Hangzhou City and they bought the uniforms from a store in Bangkok’s Bang Lamphu market.


Rachapon Sirisakorn, a lawyer, said on his Facebook page today (Wednesday) that, according to the Student Uniform Act B.E. 2551 (2008AD), if an individual, who is not a student, wears a student uniform to mislead other people into believing that he or she is a student may violate the law and may face a fine of up to 1,000 baht on conviction.

He said that, if the uniform is not embroidered with an actual school’s name, the tourist may be able to wear the uniform with impunity.


Student uniform shops, however, said that only a small number of Chinese tourists show up to buy the uniforms, adding that most buy the uniforms for photo shoots.


The owner of the Sriphan store in Bang Lamphu market told Thai PBS that, normally, she sells 1 or 2 uniforms a day to Chinese tourists and 7 yesterday. She said that it is a passing trend.


The owner of the Top store in the same area said the Chinese customers upload their images to social media and most of them buy the same type of uniform.


Li Thing and Ruan Wan-xi, two of the four Chinese tourists seen on social media in student uniforms, said they saw the Thai student uniforms in soap operas and find them cute.


The two others said they wanted to look young again and to follow in the footsteps of their idols, adding that some of their friends back in China are interested in the uniforms and asked them to buy them for them.


The four also had their names embroidered on their shirts, along with a few cute words like “suai jing” (very beautiful), “na rak” (cute) and “suai teesud” (most beautiful).


The owner of an embroidery shop said that, during the past three months, she has embroidered as many as 50 student uniforms a day for Chinese customers at 50 baht a piece.


She said that some customers asked the meaning of the words before they were embroidered, while some others knew what words they would like to be embroidered with their names.


She noted that Thai student uniforms have become trendy among some Chinese tourists, because of the influence of Chinese celebrities who post their images in student uniforms on social media.

Chinese tourists warned not to embroider school names on student uniforms | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

Pathetic little weirdos.

Bizarre thing to do

I was in one Japanese city a few years ago, Kyoto maybe, and I was amazed at the number of women in one part of town in full blown Geisha style clothing. Took me a fair while to realize they were all tourists playing dress up.

Fining tourists seems a bit much

Originally Posted by DrWilly

Fining tourists seems a bit much

Thanks for the A LERT

I shall only wear mine on the property to avoid having to offer favors to BiB

Imagine how many you could sell to the blokes propping up barstools in Nana or Pattaya?

Originally Posted by nidhogg

I was in one Japanese city a few years ago, Kyoto maybe, and I was amazed at the number of women in one part of town in full blown Geisha style clothing. Took me a fair while to realize they were all tourists playing dress up.

I've seen that in travel vids - I think it's cute. One can also go to a kimono shop & have one's self fitted in a kimono - it's very elaborate.

When I went to S. Korea, there were many tourists (local and foreign) who wore the hanbok (traditional costume) while roaming around the palace grounds. There were stalls outside the palace where one could rent them.

It's similar to people renting the Igorot (tribal) costumes in Baguio city - I have those in my thread. I think tourists renting traditional (or tribal) costumes for photo ops/ short walk-around are OK. I've also rented Igorot costumes & had my pics taken.

Heck, even BLD has a pic in Ati or Aeta (tribal) costume. Pic is in his PH thread. I had a chuckle when I saw that photo.

I think it's fun!

Maybe I am in the minority, to me this seems like entirely harmless fun and if groups of Chinese women want to dress up as schoolgirls for a laugh then good luck to them.

The things you see in the UK when Hen Parties are out on the town are less appealing, to me.

I'm with Shutree on this. I think it's harmless fun. I don't think it's that much different from a person buying a hoodie from Harvard (even if not a student) or a sports fan wearing a Barcelona, Man City/ Man U shirt & attending their team's games (and taking selfies with friends).

Not much different from wearing a hanbok in Korea or a kimono in Japan. It's a win-win situation: the costume owner gets some $$ from ppl buying or renting the costumes, the tourist takes pics & posts them on Facetubegram (or Weibo/ Tiktok).

There are even cosplay conventions wherein the participants dress up in anime or Marvel comics characters. I've seen one in a mall in Manila - the cosplay convention was over and the participants were all dolled up. Some mall-goers took pics of them and the young adults in costume gladly posed - with attitude!

Heck, if I wore a dirndl (traditional German costume) to Oktoberfest, would you guys moan about t it?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Except this isn't a hen party, this is a bunch of fucking weirdos.

and you wouldn't see a hen party like that anymore, not a tatt on them and they aren't fat and orange coloured

Originally Posted by katie23

Heck, if I wore a dirndl (traditional German costume) to Oktoberfest, would you guys moan about t it?

Pics please.

Originally Posted by katie23

if I wore a dirndl (traditional German costume) to Oktoberfest, would you guys moan about t it?

yes, its cultural appropriation

^ and ^^ and ^^^ LOL.

Out of curiosity, I searched on Lazada for "Oktoberfest costume". Aside from the traditional German one, I was also shown "ancient Chinese costume" - the long flowing robes (from Han Dynasty, I think) not the Qipao. I was also shown choices for: school girl and sexy maid/ nurse costumes! (gobsmacked!!!)

On the other hand, I'm glad Lazada is there in case I feel the urge to buy a costume for a private cosplay party. Heh.

Originally Posted by katie23

I'm with Shutree on this. I think it's harmless fun.

It's not. It's creepy and intrusive.

^let's agree to disagree, then.

IMO, if the university allowed them access into the campus grounds and into the rooms, then that's not intrusion because they (the tourists) have permission. If they're taking pics of locals/ students then that could be creepy and can be subject to reprimands, fines, etc. From the OP, it seems that the uni is OK with the tourists wearing their uniforms (I guess it brings $$ to the uni + the locals and it makes the uni known in social media) with the caveat that the tourists don't have their names embroidered on said uniforms. Their country, their uni, their rules. <shrug>

Originally Posted by katie23

with the caveat that the tourists don't have their names embroidered on said uniforms

or wear them in adult films

Originally Posted by katie23

^let's agree to disagree, then.

IMO, if the university allowed them access into the campus grounds and into the rooms, then that's not intrusion because they (the tourists) have permission. If they're taking pics of locals/ students then that could be creepy and can be subject to reprimands, fines, etc. From the OP, it seems that the uni is OK with the tourists wearing their uniforms (I guess it brings $$ to the uni + the locals and it makes the uni known in social media) with the caveat that the tourists don't have their names embroidered on said uniforms. Their country, their uni, their rules. <shrug>

The Uni campus is open to drive through as it provides access across Chiang Mai (the campus is *huge*).

It's not for weirdos to practice their creepy fetishes, and they are not allowed on student transport or in the classrooms. That's why it was an issue. They have been escorted out in the past, and it stopped.

If the fucking weirdos try it again, let's hope they are kicked out without delay.

Originally Posted by Switch

You might think Coldplay is a more recent fad, and while it became popular in th 90s, it’s roots can be traced back to SciFi conventions and comic con events of the 30s

It's called cosplay (costume play), not Coldplay.

Coldplay is a rock band, with Chris Martin as the singer. He's the ex-husband of Gwyneth Paltrow (if anyone's interested in that, heh).

Pre-covid, there were lots of Cosplay Conventions in malls in Manila. It's usually attended by teens or 20s people. In PH, there are some ppl who are really into anime/ Japanese manga, and they love watching those vids or dressing up as their fave characters. I've seen quiet, introvert types whom I thought were very "square" suddenly show up dressed as a samurai (complete with wig and fake sword) and I was like, "Woah! That's a surprise! I didn't think he's the costume-ing type!" Then when you ask them to pose for a pic, they will gladly pose "in character" with the right "fierce" attitude.

@switch - you're right that this dress-up thing is an old tradition. I remember that I saw a pic of my dad in "Hawaiian girl" costume, with flowers in his hair, etc. This was in the early 70s, when he worked on a ship. I guess there was a party of sorts. His ship-mates were probably all guys and they all dressed up in women's costumes. I think my dad won a prize of some sort, that's why he had that pic.

Originally Posted by katie23

Pre-covid, there were lots of Cosplay Conventions in malls in Manila. It's usually attended by teens or 20s people.

its been going on for years, trannies