Good night pyjamas, good morning civilisation

In any rush to modernisation there are always the ones who don't quite make it; the ones who get left behind. This is their story. Cue music… I don't know, something pathetic…

Just as Beijing men were discouraged from going shirtless during the Olympics (apparently it was okay for women) proper attire had been mandated over the Expo period. So that meant the Shanghainese custom of wearing pyjamas in public is under threat.

Volunteer pj police patrolled neighbourhoods telling everybody sporting jim-jams to go home, while messages declared that civilised people don't wear them outdoors. Apparently even celebrities appeared on TV to also add their weight to the issue that's threatening to tear this society apart.

Admittedly this custom had been in decline with sightings decreasing annually but it's always been a staple of the Shanghai scene – you know, see the Pearl Tower and check out a couple of funny jammy wearing peeps while you're at it. Maybe even at the same time if you're really lucky. It's just one of those things that's provided this place with a little charm and character. However these qualities are not needed in a big, serious, modern megalopolis.

There's not a lot of looking back over here and why should they I suppose when for the last 150 years or so there isn't a lot to look back to. People lived on top of one another and shared toilets and kitchens with their neighbours, so stepping outside in your pyjamas was no big deal. After all, it was practical.

But it's not really about the pyjamas; it never is, is it.

Shanghai's surely but slowly losing its innocence. I'm not talking about whore of the orient 2.0 kind of innocence but rather more the baby's growing up kind. Things are changing whether anyone is ready or not and as a result, infrastructure just becomes a facade without the interior growing organically with it.

Post Olympics and with the preening and systematic wiping out of the old hutong communities Beijing is now a shiny modern metropolis. One losing its soul but modern nonetheless.

Essentially China's just not that interesting as a bunch of faceless cities but that's the way it seems to be heading. Convenient yes, but no longer as charming. Outdoor markets have gone indoors and food streets that have evolved over decades and look every bit like they've kept a toe-hold in each of those years like a patchwork quilt made of shopfronts.

Yes, we can't stop progress but all in good time. It looks like the baby has grown up alright but is now a bit of a dickhead teenager.

So where does that leave the pyjama people? I hear you ask.

Well, in this world where the only communal area is the lobby of the thirty floor apartment block, it appears some people have decided that by only wearing pyjama pants constitutes as being only half heathen.

See? Not ready to grow up.

And by the way, I'm not really sure as to what age outdoor pj wearing labels you a barbarian – maybe anything above two. The way I see it is that if you can stand, you're liable. So hopefully those pyjama cops come down hard on those thieving toddlers and their unsophisticated, non-Expo approved outfits. That'll teach them for messing with the system.

So now that pyjama wearing has been put on notice I suppose they may move on to public spitting and queue jumping. Oh, surely not.