cosplay chengdu china - mei 2026

A cosplay (a portmanteau of "costume play") is the activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, and a broader use of the term "cosplay" applies to any costumed role-playing in venues apart from the stage. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Favorite sources include anime, cartoons, manga, comic books, television series, musical artists, video games, memes, and in some cases, original characters. 

Cosplay grew out of the practice of fan costuming at science fiction conventions, The Japanese term "cosplay" was coined in 1983. A rapid growth in the number of people cosplaying as a hobby since the 1990s has made the phenomenon a significant aspect of popular culture in Japan, as well as in other parts of East Asia and in the Western world. Cosplay events are common features of fan conventions, and today there are many dedicated conventions and competitions (wikipedia)

During my stay in the city of Changdu in China there was a big comic-con in a conference hall not far from the centre of the city.  Thousands of merely young people came to the spot and showed their favorite cosplay costume. I was walking around outside the conference hall and wondering about the variaty in costumes and the way of presenting. And they enjoyed to be in front of my camera. The day before the conference I met many of them in a big "cosplay warehouse" nearby the main square in the centre of the city.