China Subdues Halloween, Arrests People in Multiple Locations

For the Chinese regime, Halloween is kind of scary.

Published: 11/3/2025, 5:23:44 PM EST

China Subdues Halloween, Arrests People in Multiple Locations — Costumed revellers visit Found 158, an area of bars, clubs and reataurants, ahead of Halloween in the district of Huangpu, in Shanghai, on October 27, 2023. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)

Halloween is supposed to be a fun, playful, and joyful day, especially for kids and party-goers. But for the Chinese regime, it’s kind of scary—not because of the cosplayed monsters, but because of young people’s freedom of expression.

Just like the past two years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has again deployed police forces and taken severe measures to prohibit young people from cosplaying during Halloween activities.

In Shanghai, a city that used to host Halloween activities every year, police are patrolling the streets in the city center, cracking down hard on small groups of young people having parties or celebrations.

During Halloween in 2023 and 2024, cities like Shanghai and Wuhan saw tens of thousands of people dressed up and taking to the streets, using various costumes to satirize current issues, which caused panic among the regime.

This year, the scale of local Halloween celebrations was clearly limited. On the evening of Oct. 31 in Shanghai, the authorities continued to dispatch large numbers of police to guard sensitive neighborhoods, intercepting and questioning young people dressed up on the streets. Some young people had their props confiscated, some were driven away, and some were taken away by police.

A Shanghai netizen said on social media that Shanghai really feels “so oppressive.” In the past, as Halloween approached, everyone would excitedly chat in advance about what they were going to dress up as, but this year no one is even talking about it anymore. “It’s very likely that the costume you’ve poured your heart and effort into won’t even get a chance to be worn.”

From a video posted by a Shanghai netizen on Nov. 1: Julu Road, one of the Shanghai’s most charming and vibrant streets, had police cars lined up in rows and officers standing everywhere. Yet, truly dressed-up cosplayers were few and far between.

A delivery worker dressed as Pigsy from Journey to the West was also stopped by police while on his delivery route and ordered to remove his mask and take off his costume "Today is Western Halloween—all these costumes are not appropriate," the police said.

Posts from other cities show that young people were cosplaying on the streets in Harbin (a northeastern city) and Nanjing, but they were quickly dispersed or taken away by the police.

The regime’s measures were deployed well ahead of and after the sensitive holiday. Local CCP authorities and many schools have issued notices beforehand prohibiting participation in Halloween celebrations. And also after the holiday, some schools even sent out notices on Nov. 1, requiring students who participated in Halloween activities to "turn themselves in" to the school.

For example, one school issued an urgent notice, posted by netizen:

"The Political Education Office, all class teachers, and dormitory supervisors are requested to conduct ideological work with students. No activities are allowed, and under no circumstances should related information be randomly posted on self-media platforms such as Douyin (the Chinese version of Tiktok) or WeChat public accounts.

In case of any occurrence of something deemed not politically correct, teachers were required to take a screenshot immediately as evidence, report to the Political Education Office, and demand immediate deletion.

In retrospect, during Shanghai’s Halloween celebrations over the past two years, many young participants dressed up as characters that satirized and criticized current CCP politics, with 2023 marking the peak of this trend.

For example, some people dressed in "Big White" protective suits (the hazmat gear worn during COVID lockdowns), with others disguised as nucleic acid testing booths, still "swabbing throats" of passersby—evoking memories of the full-scale COVID lockdowns. There are also Individuals covered in blank white sheets of paper recalled the "White Paper Movement"—a symbol of silent public protest against the CCP. Someone wore a surveillance camera on their head, standing motionless on a street corner staring at passersby, reminding people: "Big Brother is watching you." Some even wore Winnie the Pooh costumes or dressed as an emperor on a royal procession—directly mocking Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

At the time, many were immediately detained by police on the spot. Beyond that, authorities later used facial recognition from surveillance systems to track down participants. Some were "invited for tea" (a euphemism for police interrogation), others were arrested and detained, and even those who didn’t attend but merely shared photos online were summoned by police for questioning and documentation.