Wedding guest offends with Japanese uniform

A man who wore a replica Japanese military uniform to a wedding in Tianjin has been placed in detention for 10 days for disturbing social order — along with the friend who filmed him.

On Sunday, a 10-second video appeared online showing the man, surnamed Liu, giving a thumbs-up while wearing a World War II-era Japanese military uniform and riding a sidecar motorcycle.

The footage attracted widespread attention and many complaints from netizens.

On Tuesday, Liu, 36, turned himself in to Tianjin police.

He and a man surnamed Zhang — who shot the footage — had attended the wedding as a friend of the groom. Both men are members of a motorcycle riding club.

Liu’s sidecar motorcycle was at the front of a motorcade arranged to welcome the bride. At 3:30 pm, as the motorcade was waiting at a red light, Liu gave a thumbs-up gesture as Zhang filmed the incident.

On Tuesday, Zhang was told to report to Beichen police station after Tianjin authorities became aware of the video.

Police say he promptly took down the video as well as warned Liu to delete incriminating online conversations, destroy his replica Japanese military uniform and prepare an excuse that he was wearing the uniform because he was busy making a movie and had no time to change.

Their behavior violated core socialist values with Chinese characteristics and disrupted social order, according to the authorities.

On Tuesday afternoon, police detained both men, while Liu was fined 200 yuan ($30) for driving a sidecar motorcycle in a restricted area.