If you intend to handle affairs with the Shuimogou District government in Urumqi City, remember to be neatly dressed.

The local government of the capital of NW China's Xinjian Autonomous Region has issued a warning, forbidding people from wearing sexy clothes in its offices, the Chongqing Evening News reported on July 4.

Early in 2003, Sha District, also in Urumqi, enacted a similar regulation.

Posted outside the Shuimogou District Government office building on Jun 26, 2006 the new ban aroused fierce debate among representatives of the local People's Congress, officials and citizens.

The ban states "people wearing slippers, halter tops, spaghetti strap shirts, cropped shirts revealing the belly backless dresses, shorts, and other bizarre dresses, or those without socks or stockings or with heavy makeup will not be allowed in the office building."

Most people like to wear as little as possible to keep cool during the sweltering summer heat. A number of women have been stopped at the entrance of the building by security guards for not dressing in accordance with the ban. "We never wear stockings in the south," a woman from South China's Shenzhen City complained after she was stopped from entering the building.

An official from the Shuimogou District Bureau of Supervision said the regulation was made according to the Civil Servants System regulations in China. He believes offices are places that require a serious atmosphere and civil servants and other office workers should all observe the regulations of the government office.

Although people follow the instructions and wear formal clothes when coming into the building to handle affairs, they still feel it too rigorous to be applied to everyone.