Make the Zhongshan suit China’s national dress, delegate proposes to advisory body meeting
Suit made famous by the revolutionary Sun Yat-sen and generations of leaders ever since is not ‘just fashion, but matter of national identity’ says CPPCC delegate
The Zhongshan suit made famous by the early revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong and generations of senior leaders ever since has been proposed as the official national dress, The Beijing News reports.
Xiu Fujin, vice-chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (RCCK), which is part of the advisory Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) put forward the proposal to the advisory body on Monday.
The CPPCC, which is held every March, gets underway officially on Thursday.
“Leaders like Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Zhou Enlai all wore the Zhongshan suit on formal occasions. Why do we wear [Western] suits today?” Xiu said at a news conference on Monday morning.
Xiu added that to adopt the Zhongshan suit (often simply referred to as the Mao suit in the West) as national attire was not only a matter of fashion but national identity.
The suggestion was part of the proposal by the RCCK to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sun Yat-sen, which falls on November this year.