Due to the popularity of Thai film & series in China, such as 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', 'Bad Genius', 'Girl from Nowhere' and countless BL series, influencers in China and youths have started dressing up in Thai school uniforms as a fashion statement. It's a reverse of when Thai girls used to dress in Japanese/Korean school uniform for fashion.

I think this is a pretty cool cultural exchange since it's not often that we see Southeast Asian countries influencing pop culture in East Asian countries. Usually, you'd see random viral things like Lisa's crab dance or BL series becoming popular, but in recent years, it seems the popularity of Thai entertainment in China/Japan/Korea have started to expand beyond BL with series like 'Hormones', 'The Gifted', 'Girl from Nowhere' & 'Bad Genius' becoming popular as well. Most of these are youth-oriented series though and we'll see if non-youth cultural exports can find a market in East Asia.

'The Girl from Nowhere' has been a bit of a sleeper success, with 禁忌女孩 hashtag trending on top of Weibo for over 4 days and related tags gaining millions of views on Douyin.

Thai school uniforms are even sold on Taobao.

Quote from Ms-Not-Nice

I hope those uniforms were not made with Uighur cotton

There's a big chance your shirt is also made from Uyghur cotton, so I suggest you just give up wearing clothes altogether.

Quote from Ms-Not-Nice

My shirt was made in mexico

i guess global supply chain is too complicated a concept for some people to grasp. bless.

Quote from Ms-Not-Nice

i guess people thinking china isn't the only country that produces cotton is a concept hard for you to grasp. Go sit down.

And???? You act like i don't support Thai culture. I just criticize their anti-black media.

https://mydramalist.com/59695-mae-krua-kon-mai

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lol back at it with your anti-black obsession in a completely irrelevant thread (as always).

https://www.theguardian.com/co…labor-uyghur-region-china

Yeah, sure jan, I'm sure all your clothes are made from Mexico lol. and surely no Made-in-China products anywhere in your house either.

Thai school uniform boom in China fuels hope for tourism recovery

Social media post by Chinese actress starts cosplay trend among visitors

asia.nikkei.com

Thai school uniform boom in China fuels hope for tourism recovery

Social media post by Chinese actress starts cosplay trend among visitors

Chinese customers pose in Thai student uniforms at the Sriphan store. (Photo from Sriphan's Facebook page)KOSUKE INOUE, Nikkei staff writerMarch 19, 2023 14:03 JST

BANGKOK -- Sparked by a single social media post, Thailand's school uniforms have become a major draw for Chinese tourists, prompting hopes of a possible boost to the southeast Asian country's tourism industry.

"This is the first time in the 60 years since our founding that we have received so much attention," said Yenjit Atsawaprichawong, owner of Sriphan, a school uniform store in Bangkok. Since March, Chinese customers, mainly women in their 20s, have been visiting the shop almost every day, purchasing uniforms to wear while taking pictures in various places.

The boom can be traced to a recent social media post by Ju Jingyi, a popular Chinese actress and singer. In February, Ju posted photos on Instagram of herself wearing a Thai school uniform, apparently dressed as a character from the Thai comedy movie "A Little Thing Called Love."

Uniforms are required at many junior high schools and high schools in Thailand. A girl's uniform typically consists of a dress shirt with a ribbon tied at the collar and a knee-length navy blue skirt. The basic uniform for boys is a white dress shirt and shorts. Girl's uniforms at Sriphan sell for 600 baht ($17) for a full set.

The emergence of school uniforms as a potential tourist attraction for Thailand would follow in the footsteps of Japan. Known around the world, the country's high school girl's uniforms have been a boon to the Japanese tourism industry, with visitors dressing up in the outfits and buying them as souvenirs.

In 2022, the Thai government launched a committee under the guidance of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha to oversee the promotion of Thai culture as part of a wider push to boost the country's soft power. The committee has since rolled out several initiatives, including a tour launched on a trial basis last summer of filming locations for Thailand's popular "boys' love" TV dramas.

China accounted for nearly 30% of all foreign tourists entering Thailand before the pandemic, the most of any country. The recovery of the tourism industry -- the backbone of the Thai economy -- is expected to depend on inbound Chinese tourist numbers, underscoring the potential value of the new school uniform trend.