Book contents
- How to Make a Mao Suit
- Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
- How to Make a Mao Suit
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Technical Notes and Key Dates
- Introduction
- 1 The Red Group Tailors and the Zhongshan Suit
- 2 Notions and Sewing Tools
- 3 Making Zhifu
- 4 Sewing Like a Girl
- 5 Rationing
- 6 The Time of the Sewing Machine
- 7 Pattern Books I
- 8 Pattern Books II
- 9 What Should Chinese Women Wear?
- Conclusion
- Book part
- Glossary
- References
- Index
9 - What Should Chinese Women Wear?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 July 2023
- How to Make a Mao Suit
- Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
- How to Make a Mao Suit
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Technical Notes and Key Dates
- Introduction
- 1 The Red Group Tailors and the Zhongshan Suit
- 2 Notions and Sewing Tools
- 3 Making Zhifu
- 4 Sewing Like a Girl
- 5 Rationing
- 6 The Time of the Sewing Machine
- 7 Pattern Books I
- 8 Pattern Books II
- 9 What Should Chinese Women Wear?
- Conclusion
- Book part
- Glossary
- References
- Index
Summary
Some clothing styles are commonly associated with women. The Lenin jacket (Lieningzhuang), the dual-purpose jacket (liangyongshan) and the Chinese-style jacket (Zhongzhuang or bianfu) are examples. As Chapter 9 shows, attributing gender to particular styles is nearly always complicated. The names of all of these styles were also attached to garments for men. These were garments that were distinct from zhifu. What they looked like, who wore them, and in what circumstances, are questions that throw light both on the garments themselves and on the zhifu with which they coexisted. Similar questions can be asked of the category of ‘strange clothes and outlandish dress’. An established four-character phrase, ‘strange clothes and outlandish dress’, was a discourse that helped keep the zhifu regime intact for some years after the death of Mao. Under this regime, the question of what Chinese women should wear never had a very clear answer.
Keywords
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- Chapter
- Information
- How to Make a Mao SuitClothing the People of Communist China, 1949–1976, pp. 255 - 289Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023