page_title: Mao suit
section_title: Historical development
hierarchical_section_title: Mao suit / Historical development
caption_attribution_description: 中文（繁體）‎: 重慶會談 蔣介石與毛澤東合影
context_page_description: The modern Chinese tunic suit is a style of male attire originally known in China as the Zhongshan suit after the republican leader Sun Yat-sen. Sun Yat-sen introduced the style shortly after the founding of the Republic of China as a form of national dress with distinct political overtones. He based the suit on the Japanese cadet uniform. The four pockets are said to represent the Four Virtues of propriety, justice, honesty, and shame; and the five buttons the branches of China's government.
  After the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War and the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, such suits came to be worn widely by male citizens and government leaders as a symbol of proletarian unity and an Eastern counterpart to the Western business suit. The name "Mao suit" comes from Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong's fondness for the style, so that the garment became closely associated with him and with Chinese Communism. Mao's cut of the suit was influenced by the Stalin tunic then prevalent among Soviet officials.
context_section_description: The Mao suit remained the standard formal dress for the first and second generations of PRC leaders such as Deng Xiaoping. During the 1990s, it began to be worn with decreasing frequency by leaders of General Secretary Jiang Zemin's generation as more and more Chinese politicians began wearing traditional Western-style suits with neckties. Jiang wore it only on special occasions, such as to state dinners. Hu Jintao still wore the Mao suit, but only on special occasions, such as the ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic in 2009. Hu Jintao even showed up to a black tie state dinner in the United States wearing a business suit, attracting some criticism for being underdressed at a formal occasion. In the Xi Jinping administration, however, the Mao suit made a comeback as a diplomatic uniform and evening dress.
caption: Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong both wearing Zhongshan suits, in Chongqing 1945
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