Strangling Pink Ribbons and Vigorous Elves Appear on Graduation Day in China

Although People's Daily got it wrong in connecting No-Bra day to health risks, at least the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper has drawn a bit of attention to breast cancer prevention elsewhere. For example, in one series of related photos People's Daily explained:

Recently, several college graduates wearing pink ribbons took photos in Shandong University to advocate the "International activity of breast cancer prevention" and commemorate their university lives.

The details of how the graduates advocated the cause raise some questions though. Here is one of the photos:

I would like to explain the symbolism, other than the color of the cloth, in the scene and how it relates to breast cancer awareness.

However, I cannot.

For some useful context, though, People's Daily once again comes to the rescue. Here is a photo from another series, this one titled "Creative graduation caps of ‘vigorous elves’":

I would like to explain the symbolism in the scene and how it relates to, well, anything.

However, once again, I cannot.

But People's Daily does offer this explanation:

Graduates from Nanjing University of the Arts pose for a group of creative graduation photos in their ballet costume on June 30, 2015. The history of the university can be traced back to the year of 1912.

I would like to explain why the date of the university's founding was mentioned.

However, yet again, I cannot.

More relevant here is that both sets of photos are examples of a common practice in China — students finding fun ways to make graduation photos more creative and memorable. And in this respect, it is hard to argue with the results of either photo.

I would like to explain why such photos receive the amount and type of attention they do from the People's Daily.

I have some guesses, however . . .