Style for the People

Ever since the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of 1966-69, China's Communist Party zealots have discouraged any variety in clothing as a sign of unproletarian vanity. The In look was gray or blue coats and trousers for both men and women, and hair was cropped short.

Now styles are changing. Women and girls have begun to wear bright blouses again, and Western visitors have even seen them in tartan patterns in Shanghai. Peking has also given official approval to greater variety in food, hair styles, literature and art.

The new policy was formally announced first in People's Daily and then followed up with a series of articles in the April issue of Red Flag, the party theoretical journal. "With the continuing development of industrial and agricultural production and the gradual rise in the people's spending level," said the Daily, "the service trades must increase the variety of food" and begin production of "stylish clothes that are simple and elegant." Even photographers were urged to "adopt various art forms in taking photographs." Peking is also carrying its stress on variety into the arts on the principle of Mao Tse-tung's famous maxim: "Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend." Wuhan radio announced that 100 "experimental works of creative art" were performed at the Hupei Arts Festival last month, including Peking opera, Han opera, Chu opera, ballet, theatrical plays and mountain songs.

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