Chinese Clothing-Mao Suit

Mao suit

The Mao suit is the western name for the style of male attire known as the sun zhong shan suit or zhongshan suit, named after sun Zhong shan(Sun Yat-sen) who introduced it shortly after the founding of the Republic of China. In accordance with the Chinese tradition of changing the style of dress for different dynasties, Sun Yat-sen instructed that a new form of clothing be designed for the new republic. The western name comes from its popularization by Mao Zedong.

In corporating elements of German military dress including a turndown collar and four symmetrically placed pockets and based on a form of attire popular with contemporary Chinese men in Japan and Southeast Asia, the Zhong shan suit was an attempt to cater to “modern” sensibilities without completely adopting western styles. Instead of the three hidden pockets in western suits, the Zhong shan suit had four outside pockets to adhere to Chinese concepts of balance and symmetry. Over time, minor stylistic changes developed. The suit originally had seven buttons, later reduced to five.

After Sun Yat-sun’s death in 1925, popular mythology assigned a revolutionary and patriotic significance to the Zhongshan suit. The four pockets were said to represent the Four Cardinal Principals cited in the classic book of changes. The five center-front buttons were said to represent the five Quans( branches of government) cited in the constitution of the Republic of China and the three cuff-buttons to symbolize Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the people.

In the 1920s, civil servants of the Chinese government were required to wear the Zhongshan suit. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the suit became a symbol of proletarian unity, and was regularly worn by Communist party cadres until the 1990s when it was largely replaced the standard formal dress for the first and second generation of PRC leaders such as Deng Xiaoping.

During the 1900s, it began to be worn with increasingly infrequence by leaders of Jiang Zemin’s generation. On informal occasions, older cadres will wear panama shirts and most younger cadres will wear other shirts. By the early part of the 21^st centry, the Mao or Zhongshan suit has been rarely worn even on formal occasions. The infrequent occasions on which it is worn usually involve situations in civilian party officials wish to demonstrate control over the military. In Taiwan, the Zhongshan suit was infrequently seen after the 1970s.