Synthetic Fiber in Maoist China: Industry, Consumption and Daily Wearing Under Socialism

Abstract

When describing everyday life in Maoist China, there has been much attention on the state power that had a great impact on what people were wearing in a socialist state. This article explores the history of synthetic fibers in Maoist China to discuss how consumer behavior had an influence on the development of the textile industry. This article analyzes the growing popularity of a cotton-polyester blend fabric called diqueliang in the 1960–70s, and highlights technology development and a sense of novelty attached to the acceptance of a new fabric. This article argues that the everyday life in Maoist China was not entirely dominated by the state; rather, the society made its choices based on their living conditions, which also shaped life in the socialist state.

Keywords:

• synthetic fiber
• polyester
• Maoist China
• consumption
• textile industry

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 On the history of clothing during the Mao era, see Antonia Finnane, Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008), Chapter 8–9. Karl Gerth, Unending Capitalism: How Consumerism Negated China's Communist Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), 76–92, 126–29, 180–84, 195–98. Sun Peidong 孙沛东: Shishang yu Zhengzhi: Guangdong Minzhong Richang Zhuozhuang Shishang, 1966–1976 时尚与政治：广东民众日常着装时尚 1966–1976 (Fashion and Politics: The Fashion of Daily Wearing of Guangdong People 1966–1976), (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe 北京：人民出版社, 2013).

2 Dong Xianyun 董宪云, “Huashuo Mao Zedong sixiang wenyi xuanchuandui 话说毛泽东思想文艺宣传队 (Talking about the Literature and Art Propoganda Team of Mao Zadong Thought),” in He Lihua 贺立华 and Yang Shousen 杨守森 ed., Qimeng yu Xingdong: Qingnian Sixiangjia 20 nian Wenxuan vol. 2 启蒙与行动：青年思想家 20 年文选 下 (Enlightenment and Action: An Essay Collection of Young Thinkers at the 20th Anniversary), (Jinan: Shandongdaxue chubanshe 济南：山东大学出版社, 2006), 87.

3 Ibid. 88–89.

4 National Museum of American History, “Feedsack Dress,” https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1105750. [accessed 30 December, 2020].

5 Sun Peidong, Shishang yu Zhengzhi, 186–87.

6 Ge Zhongping 葛中平 and Dong Ningxiang 董宁祥, Shanghai Xinguang Neiyi Ranzhi Chang Wushiwu Nian 1933–1988 上海新光内衣染织厂五十五年 1933–1988 (The Fifty-five Years of the Shanghai Xinguang Undergarment Factory 1933–1988), (Shanghai: Shanghai shehuikexueyuan chubanshe 上海：上海社会科学出版社, 1999).

7 “Contemporary China” Editorial Committee 《当代中国》丛书编辑部, Dangdai Zhongguo De Fangzhi Gongye 当代中国的纺织工业 (The Textile Industry of Contemporary China), (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe 北京：中国社会科学出版社, 1984), 51–53.

8 Editorial Committee of Jingwei Chunqiu 《经纬春秋》编委会, Jingwei Chunqiu: Jing Mian Yi Chang Fazhan Shi 经纬春秋——京棉一厂发展史 (The Years of Warp and Weft: A History of the First Beijing Cotton Textile Factory), (Beijing: Qiye guanli chubanshe 北京：企业管理出版社, 1994), 60–61.

9 “Mian di que liang de shizhi jinkuang 棉的确凉的试制近况 (The recent development of experimenting cotton and polyester blend),” 27 Febuary 1962, Shanghai Municipal Archive: B134-6-661.

10 “Shanghai shi fangzhi gongye ju guanyu kuoda mian di que liang shengchan de shuoming 上海市纺织工业局关于扩大棉的确凉生产的说明 (An explaination by the Shanghai Textile Industry Bureau on the expansion of cotton polyester blend production),” 6 August 1964, Shanghai Municipal Archives: B134-6-1040-15.

11 He Ya 何雅, Yi Si Yi Shijie - Yu Mingfang Zhuan 一丝一世界：郁铭芳传 (A World in A Thread: A Biography of Yu Mingfang), (Shanghai: Shanghai jiaotong daxue chubanshe 上海：上海交通大学出版社, 2015), 86–87.

12 Ibid.

13 He Ya, Yi Si Yi Shijie, 88–89, 91–92.

14 Cheehyung Harrison Kim, “North Korea’s Vinalon City: Industrialism as Socialist Everyday Life.” Positions, 22, no. 4, (2014) 809–36. As the ideology of the North Korean state, Juche emphasizes self-reliance and the actions of the masses to build socialism.

15 In November 1962, the Japanese politician Takasaki Tatsunosuke visited Beijing and signed a trade agreement with Liao Chengzhi, the president of Sino-Japan Friendship Society. This trade arrangement was an institutional framework for Japan and the People’s Republic of China to develop trade relations when the two did not have formal diplomatic relations yet.

16 “Kinri roku pasento de ninka chūkyōmuke biniron puranto kankeisansyō ga itchi 金利６％で認可　中共向けビニロンプラント　関係三相が一致 (With a 6% interest bank loan, the three ministers agree on the export of vinalon plant to the Chinese communists),” Asahi Shimbun 朝日新聞, August 20, 1963, page 1. Also see Wu Xuewen 吴学文 and Wang Junyan 王俊彦, Liao Chengzhi Yu Riben 廖承志与日本 (Liao Chengzhi and Japan), (Beijing: zhonggong dangshi chubanshe 中共党史出版社, 2007), 310–14.

17 “Tai chūgoku puranto yunyū nituite 対中国プラント輸入について (On the export of plant to China),” in Ōhara Souichiro Zuisō Zenshū vol.4 大原総一郎随想全集４(Tokyo: Fukutake Shōten　東京：福武書店, 1981), 175–76.

18 Beijing shi wenxue yishu jie lianhehui 北京市文学艺术界联合会 ed., Zhongguo Minsu Wenhua Zhi - Beijing Shunyi Qu Juan 中国民俗文化志：北京顺义区卷 (The Gazetteer of Chinese Folk-art: Volume for Shunyi District of Beijing), (Beijing: Beijing chubanshe 北京：北京出版社, 2015), 286–87.

19 Robert Hoppens, The China Problem in Postwar Japan: Japanese National Identity and Sino-Japanese Relations (London & New York: Bloomsbury, 2015), 33–34.

20 “Shanghai guangda renmin jiji canjia dizhi qizhuangyifu de taolun fayang wuchanjieji youliang chuantong fandui zichanjieji sixiang zuofeng 上海广大人民积极参加抵制奇装异服的讨论 发扬无产阶级传统 反对资产阶级思想作风 (People in Shanghai actively participated in the discussion of boycotting strange clothes, promoting the tradition of proletariat and opposing the thoughts and lifestyle of bourgeois),” Renmin Ribao, November 14, 1964, page 2.

21 Ibid.

22 “Wu Yi Liu Tongzhi 五一六通知,” Renmin Ribao, May 17, 1967.

23 “Zhonggong zhongyang guowuyuan pi zhuan shangyebu dangzu guanyu yi jiu liu er nian jiu yue zhi yi jiu liu san nian ba yue mianhua miansha mianbu zhenzhipin fen pei yijian de baogao 中共中央国务院批转商业部党组关于一九六二年九月至一九六三年八月棉花棉纱棉布针织品分配意见的草案 (The Ministry of Commerce on the allocation of cotton/yarn/cloth and knitting products for the time period from September 1962 to August 1963, a draft reviewed and sent by the CCP Central Committee and the State Council),” in Central Archives of the CCP 中央档案馆 ed., Zhonggong Zhongyang Wenjian Xuanji (1949.10-1966.5) 中共中央文件选集 1949 年 10月——1966年5月 (Selected Documents from the CCP Central Committee) (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe 北京：人民出版社, 2013), vol. 41, pp. 146–47.

24 Zhou Ziren 周孜仁, Suiyue Huiwang Lu 岁月回望录 (Looking Back on My Life), (Taipei: Yao You Guang 台北：要有光, 2013), 83.

25 http://history.people.com.cn/n/2014/0915/c372328-25662165.html [accessed 23 January 2019].

26 “Shanghai shi duiwai maoyi ju guanyu jiedai waibin ganbu ping danwei zhengming qu youyi shangdian goumai mian di que liang buliao de tongzhi 上海市对外贸易局关于接待外宾干部凭单位证明去友谊商店购买棉的确凉布料的通知 (An announcement from Shanghai Foreign Trade Bureau on cadres who work at the reception of foreign guests can go to the Friendship Store to buy diqueliang cloth with a proof from their work units),” 26 July 1965, Shanghai Municipal Archive: B123-6-631-26.

27 “Guanyu zhuanfa jing’an qu hongying fuzhuang dian guke deng gou di que liang chenshan jisui boli chuchuang zaocheng yanzhong shangwang shigu de baogao 关于转发静安区红缨服装店顾客等购的确凉衬衫挤碎玻璃橱窗造成严重伤亡事故的报告 (The report on the serious casualties of customers who crushed the store window glass when they waited to buy diqueliang shirt at the Hongying Store of Jing’an District),” 17 August 1968, Shanghai Municipal Archive: B123-7-35-8.

28 “Zhonggong zhongyang guo wu yuan zhongyang junwei zhongyang wenge guanyu yi jiu liu ba nian chengxiang jumin mianbu dingliang de tongzhi 中共中央国务院中央军委中央文革关于一九六八年城乡居民棉布定量的通知 (An announcement on the cotton cloth ration of urban and rural residents in 1968 from the CCP Central Committee, the State Council, the Central Military Committee and the Central Cultural Revolution Group),” 16 June 1968. “Zhonggong zhongyang zhongyang wenge guo wu yuan zhongyang junwei guanyu yi jiu liu jiu nian chengxiang jumin mianbu fenpei de tongzhi 中共中央中央文革国务院中央军委关于一九六九年城乡居民棉布分配的通知 (An announcement on the allocation of cotton cloth for urban and rural residents in 1969 from the CCP Central Committee, the Central Cultural Revolution Group, the State Council and the Central Military Committee),” 4 March 1969. In Song Yongyi 宋永毅 ed., Zhongguo Wenhua Dageming Wenku 中国文化大革命文库, CD-ROM, 3rd edition, 2013.

29 Gao Mobo 高默波, “Qicheng - Yige nongcun haizi dui qishi niandai de jiyi 起程——一个农村孩子对七十年代的记忆 (The journey begins: a rural child’s memory of the 1970s),” in Li Tuo 李陀 and Beidao 北岛 ed., Qi Shi Nian Dai 七十年代 (Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Co. 北京：三联书店, 2009), 99–100.

30 Liu Xinge 刘心格: “Wo de di yi jian di que liang chenyi 我的第一件的确良衬衣 (My first diqueliang shirt),” in Zongheng 纵横, 2004(3), 46–47.

31 Nantaijingwa 南太井蛙, Xingguo Wenge de Siyin Yougu 行过文革的死荫幽谷 (Walking past the Valley of shadow of death in the cultural revolution), (Taipei: Xinrui Wenchuang 台北：新锐文创, 2016), 334–36.

32 Sun Peidong, Shishang Yu Zhengzhi, p. 211.

33 Peng Ruigao 彭瑞高, “Di que liang jin xi 的确凉今昔 (The past and present of diqueliang),” in Peng Ruigao 彭瑞高 and Lu Hua 陆华 ed., Waizhuzi Jie Duo 歪竹子节多 (A Bending Bamboo Has More Knots), (Shanghai: Shanghai remin meishu chubanshe 上海：上海人民美术出版社, 2000), p. 203.

34 Liu Yali 刘亚丽, “Qi shi nian dai de chuan 七十年代的穿 (Outfit in the 1970s),” in Zhonghua Sanwen 中华散文 (Chinese Essay), 2000(2), 17.

35 Liu Yali, “Qi shi nian dai de chuan,” 17.

36 On the history of touch, see Constance Classen, The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch (University of Illinois Press, 2012).

37 Tom H. Fisher, “What We Touch, Touches Us: Materials, Affects and Affordances,” Design Issues, 20, no. 4 (Autumn, 2004), 20–31.

38 Liu Yali, “Qi shi nian dai de chuan,” 18.

39 Zhu Dake 朱大可, “Ling yu xiu de hongse fengqing 领与袖的红色风情 (The red styles of collars and sleeves),” in Huacheng 花城 (Flower City), 4 (2006), 109–10.

40 Liu Yali, “Qi shi nian dai de chuan,” 17.

41 Bao Jia 宝嘉, “Jiao liao chao yu zhe yi zhi 鹪鹩巢于这一枝 (The tailorbird that nests on this branch),” in Li Tuo 李陀 and Beidao 北岛 ed., Qi Shi Nian Dai 七十年代 (Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Co. 北京：三联书店, 2009), pp. 496, 498.

42 Peng Ruigao, “Diqueliang jin xi,” pp. 202–3.

43 Peng Ruigao, “Diqueliang jin xi,” pp. 202–3.

44 Chen Jinhua 陈锦华, Guoshi Yishu 国事忆述 (Recall and Relate State Affairs), (Beijing: Zhonggong dangshi chubanshe 北京：中共党史出版社, 2005), 8–9.

45 Qian zhiguang zhuan bianxiezu 《钱之光传》编写组 ed., Qian Zhiguang Zhuan 钱之光传 (The Biography of Qian Zhiguang), (Beijing: Zhonggong dangshi chubanshe 北京：中共党史出版社, 2011), 462.

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47 Qian zhiguang zhuan bianxiezu ed., Qian Zhiguang Zhuan, 438–40.

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49 Xu Jinhua ed., Shanghai Shiyou Huagong Zongchang Zhi, 63.

50 “Nenri roku pasento de gonenkan taichū puranto yugin sikin siyou tourei nado gosya ni tekiyou 年利６％で５年間　対中プラント輸銀資金使用　東レなど５社に適用 (A five year loan with 6% interest, Torei and 5 other companies can use it for plant export to China),” Asahi Shimbun 朝日新聞, December 26, 1972, page 9.

51 Xu Jinhua ed., Shanghai Shiyou Huagong Zongchang Zhi, 68.

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55 Yu Liting: “Liaoning shiyou huaxian gongcheng jianshe de huigu yu renshi,” 177.

56 Yu Liting: “Liaoning shiyou huaxian gongcheng jianshe de huigu yu renshi,” 175.

57 Qian zhiguang zhuan bianxiezu ed., Qian Zhiguang Zhuan, 462.

58 On how the masses created the culture of late socialism, see Paulina Bren, The Greengrocer and His TV: The Culture of Communism after the 1968 Prague Spring (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010).

59 Neringa Klumbyte and Gulnaz Sharafutdinova ed., Soviet Society in the Era of Late Socialism, 1964–85 (Lanham, MD: Lexington Book, 2013).

60 Djurdja Bartlett, Fashion East: The Spectre that Haunted Socialism (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010), pp. 1–2.

61 Djurdja Bartlett, Fashion East, 5, 8.

62 Djurdja Bartlett, Fashion East, 11.

63 Judd Stitziel, Fashioning Socialism: Clothing, Politics, and Consumer Culture in East Germany (Oxford & New York: Berg, 2005), 47.

64 Djurdja Bartlett, Fashion East, 270.

65 Eli Rubin, Synthetic Socialism: Plastics and Dictatorship in the German Democratic Republic (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2014).

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Tianxiao Zhu

Tianxiao Zhu received his PhD degree in history from the Department of History at University of Minnesota. His research field is modern China.