Inappropriately Shirtless

There is a disturbing phenomenon that I first noticed among men of a certain age in China.  This has nothing to do with their tendency to hack up a lungful of phlegm and spit it on the ground whenever they may happen to be, though that is also rather distasteful.  No... this trend is something of a whole different beast that I have coined "inappropriately shirtless."

In the U.S., men of any age might take off their shirt to swim at the beach or if they're young and fit to show off a bit when they're exercising.  But in China you apparently don't need to be young and fit to go without your shirt even on busy city streets.  This actually is primarily a fashion statement made by men who are middle-aged and older.  I don't know if it's just because it's so hot and humid here that they just can't stand to be confined by clothing or if there is something deeper underlying their actions.

I have tried to capture this phenomenon on film, but it can be difficult to pull off correctly.  You don't want to attract too much attention and have them catch you in the act.  You want to look as if you're photographing something else entirely and then zoom in from a distance.  In one case, I so feared awakening and thus arousing the ire of an inappropriately shirtless man late at night, that I stood so far away the photo came out blurry.  Another time I tried to chase a man wearing pajama pants and no shirt in the middle of the day in Shanghai, but I couldn't locate my camera until he was already too far away.

Due to the lack of good real life photos, while we were hanging out Peace Corps Cody graciously agreed to demonstrate one of the one most common styles of inappropriate shirtlessness.  In theses cases, the men don't bother to actually remove their entire shirt.  Instead they just roll it up until most of their belly sticks out.  Just to make it more lifelike, Cody is also hacking up some phlegm for good measure.

Before I arrived in Hong Kong, I thought inappropriate shirtlessness might be confined to mainland China.  However, I quickly learned that I was mistaken.  It's quite the trend here as well particularly amongst those who must carry heavy boxes or other large equipment.  And lest you think it's entirely just a popular look with the olds,  I captured a captured a bevy of young inappropriately shirtless boys near Victoria Harbor in Kowloon.

For the record, so far I have yet to see an inappropriately shirtless woman.  Stay tuned for that!