Sewn secrets

Whether or not they wear school uniforms, nothing can stop teenagers from putting their own personal spin on their outfits. Liu Junyi, 21, is now a college student, but in high school, he and his peers would draw or sew patterns on their school uniforms to look different from each other.

One particular uniform always got Liu's attention. It belonged to a boy senior than him who he had a crush on. "There was the letter 'D' on his right shoulder. In the old days, I would go to the rooftop of the school building to find out where he was and pretended to meet him by chance. I even went all the way to the No 68 bus stop near his home on my way to school, searching for him on the bus." One day, Liu found the boy’s uniform accidentally left behind at school. He secretly sewed the boy's initials into the lining and replaced the uniform so they would be returned to their rightful owner.

Liu didn't reveal his feelings until recently. He and the boy went to see the movie Fleet of Time in December. "The movie was terrible," says Liu. Still it prompted memories of his high school days. "The boys in the movie rolled up their trousers to show off their sneakers. That's exactly what we did in high school, because shoes were the only part of our outfits that we could wear to show that we were different. After watching the movie, I asked him, "have you ever noticed the letters I sewed on your school uniform?"

They are now dating.

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United in uniforms