A woman who was turned away from a nucleic acid test in Xiamen, East China’s Fujian Province, for wearing a kimono sparked heated discussions on China’s social platform Sina Weibo on Sunday. Photo: a screenshot of Sina Weibo

 
A woman who was turned away from a nucleic acid test in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, for wearing a kimono sparked heated discussions on China's social platform Sina Weibo on Sunday.

In a video posted by Wuhan-based Jiupai News on Weibo, a woman wearing a kimono to a nucleic acid testing site in Xiamen was told off by several volunteers there, with one telling her to come back after getting changed.

The woman in the kimono agreed to go back after being urged by the volunteers.

A manager from Hotel Nikko Xiamen explained the reason why the woman in the video wore a kimono for her test on Monday, according to Dianshi News on Weibo.

"The woman works at our restaurant, where staff wear kimonos," said the manager, "But there are regulations that do not allow wearing the kimono outside."

"She wore the uniform for the test as the test site is near the hotel," the manager explained.

The Global Times reporter found that there is a Japanese restaurant run by the  above-mentioned hotel. When the reporter phoned the restaurant, a staff member said that she did not know about the video trending on Weibo, but said that the hotel would made a public response to the incident.

The video led to extensive discussions on Sina Weibo. The hashtag "Woman wears kimono to do nucleic acid testing in Xiamen" was viewed more than 340 million times, attracting over 20,000 discussions from netizens.

Some netizens agreed with the volunteers' actions, but most criticized the move, arguing that it is too moralistic to condemn the clothes and the woman.

"In Japan, there are some stores for Chinese people, and the staff are dressed in Hanfu to attract Chinese customers. In some Japanese restaurants in China, some of the staff also wear kimonos. In any case, the woman should not be criticized," commented a netizen. The comment won over 113,000 likes from netizens.

Some netizens found that the woman also wore a work badge on her clothes, and guessed that she worked for a Japanese restaurant and the kimono was just her work uniform.

"Maybe she just works at a Japanese restaurant," said one netizen.

Another netizen commented that people should not reject all things from other countries. "Can we still drive cars made in Japan?"

Some tried to remind others that people should be more rational and not be guided by some people who simply want to cause trouble.