Qingdao: What to wear at the beach

I'm returning to the beach today in celebration of the fact that in two weeks I will be back (hopefully) visiting my own stony, seaweed bedecked seaside.

 

The dress code on the beach seems to be a cross between Islamic and semi-nudist. Chinese women prize pale skin, a symbol of not-having-to-work –in-the-fields-wealth, so wear tend to wear covering garb, and sit under an umbrella. As further protection from the sun, many people had pitched small tents, which would be crowded with people who were enjoying their time at the beach by sitting in a undersized opaque box. We saw only one Chinese woman sporting a bikini. As a side note, I suspect that the good they do their skin by not exposing it to the sun is rendered void by the skin bleaching creams that are so popular.

 

A lot of the men looked as if they had stopped off at the beach en route to the office, whilst others wore alarmingly skimpy and clingy trunks. The poseurs in the last photo – who would interrupt their sunbathing to do press ups – had trunks (or were they just underpants?) that went semi transparent when wet.

 

Little girls frolicked modestly in T-shirts and knickers, but their brothers went pant-less, wearing clothes only on their top half. I seriously hoped that they had applied sunscreen to the crown jewels that were happily waving in the sea breeze!

 

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