November 22, 1999, Tehran, overnight at Laleh Hotel

It has only been a few days since we arrived in Iran, and the ladies and ladies in our team have been complaining for days.

It's very hot during the day, and it's really uncomfortable to wrap your headscarf tightly. Some of them are directors, and they have to run around the streets to direct during filming; Some program hosts have to talk and laugh at the camera anytime and anywhere; Some reporters immediately take out their pens and record what they hear or see; Some of them are also managers, and they need to call people loudly, order and pay, and call taxis—they have to do all this with their hair, ears, and necks covered, and the difficulty and fun in the process are unimaginable.

When they were done in a public place, they rushed into the jeep and took off their headscarves to breathe a sigh of relief, when they immediately heard someone knocking on the window, and turned their heads to see that the person knocking on the window was like a picture asking the lady to put the headscarf back on. A woman was so angry that she rolled down the window and said to the man in English, "I'm in the car, not in a public place!" The man also replied in English: "Your car has windows, so it's still a public place!" ”

Then wear it, the car drove to a "Chinese restaurant" where the boss, chef, and waiter were not Chinese, and the ladies saw the red lanterns and mahogany panes, and felt that this was already the Chinese ground, and they could always take off their headscarves. Now the ladies were anxious and shouted, "This is a Chinese restaurant!" You can't wear a headscarf when eating Chinese food! A white-bearded old man came out and shook his hand, it was pardoned this time, seeing that he was the boss, he was just doing it to make money, and several of our ladies immediately cheered. Actually, the meal was of inferior quality and high price, but they had been excited about this little victory, eating every bite with relish, exaggeratedly agitating the undisguised chewing cheeks, and brushing their hair with their hands by the way.

But this is only a small opportunity after all, and most of the time it must be worn honestly. Where can these women endure such grievances? So he shouted in front of us all day long. Although we had a bit of a snickering and deliberately relaxed strolling around the car window, sympathy prevailed, and we tried to follow them as much as possible, feeling that this was the price of the men's freedom and chic. All five of our jeeps are equipped with walkie-talkies, so they can talk to the whole team at any time during the journey. A lady said coldly that the dark cloud on the mountain in front of her was so beautiful, and before the words fell, all the men echoed in unison: "It's so beautiful, it's so beautiful!" Another lady pointed to a small tree on the side of the road and said, "It looks like a reed." Everyone said in unison: "Reeds, of course, reeds!" The attitude was so good that the ladies were finally confused.

In fact, our lady only wore a headscarf, and the Iranian women who were all dressed in black robes were much stricter. Outsiders are prone to simple thoughts about this, thinking that the women here are too pitiful and need a dress emancipation, on the grounds that such clothing imprisons women's physical and mental freedom, obscures women's physical beauty, and blocks modern social activities and international interactions. There is some truth to this idea, but it is unfair from the perspective of cultural anthropology and ethnoecology. I think that there is no need to establish a unified standard for the general clothing culture, except for the ancient Chinese customs of binding small feet, some indigenous customs with obvious physical disabilities, such as nose wearing and neck support, which should be abandoned. I remember that in "The Back of a Dynasty", I discussed the serious psychological struggle of Han scholars in the early Qing Dynasty and the late Qing Dynasty on the issue of "destroying my clothes", which shows that this matter is related to a long-standing cultural dignity, which is much more profound than the simple "emancipation of clothing".

We asked a few young schoolgirls on the streets of Tehran specifically about the black robes, and they replied: "This tradition of our clothing has been going on for more than a thousand years, and it has something to do with our religion." We didn't feel depressed. It is recalled that for some time after the Second World War, the governments of Iran and Turkey explicitly asked people to change their traditional clothing to Western-style clothing, but by the 70s, it was mainly modern young people with higher education who actively called for the restoration of traditional clothing. They even believe that they can only regain their true colors by wearing traditional clothes. I think it's a bit like Chinese dining, where there were people who once argued that Chinese food was too complicated, too wasteful, and that greasy and MSG were not healthy, and advocated Westernized dining, but later even young people were eager to revive the tastes of their grandparents. It's a bit ridiculous that outsiders wishfully want to "liberate" others in this kind of thing.

As for whether it has ruined the beauty of women in the general sense, I don't see. Many of us in our group have come to a preliminary conclusion that they would never have believed before: from Athens to the present, Iran is the first place for women's beauty in all countries. The elegant figure is extremely natural into the chic shaking of the folds of the black robe, like the most expressive wrapping linen on the ancient Greek stage, and like the wide dark trench coat in modern fashionable clothing; They don't refuse to wear makeup, but they let all the distracting colors hide in the black robes, leaving only the lips, eyes, and cheeks to be the only focus of perspective. This kind of demeanor is by no means as cold as outsiders imagine.

Of course, there is also the problem: while the world is asked to be pluralistic and tolerant, it should also be pluralistic and tolerant of the world, including its own people. There should not be too many restrictions on foreign women entering the country. For the legitimate attempt to pursue alternative ecology of the country's women, as long as they are well-behaved, they should not be scolded too much. The amateur "weathered policemen" who are constantly knocking on people's car windows should be greatly reduced, and the color and way of cutting the robes should be greatly increased.

This reminds me of the Pahlavi Shah who died in a foreign land after the Islamic Revolution in Iran and was not allowed to return, and some of his Westernization policies may not be in line with the people's feelings, but after all, he is looking for a bridge between national traditions and international communication. When I was in Egypt, Wang Jiyan and Guo Ying and I went to the Rifaay Mosque in Cairo to pay respects to his mausoleum, where his white sarcophagus was placed in a green alabaster hall with an Iranian flag on the side and a Koran spread out. I think he should be tolerant of him, he is an integral part of Iranian history.

The hall was quiet and windless, so the Iranian flag hung permanently.