Ancient Jacket Craze Revives China's Garment Market

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 12, 2002

Ancient Jacket Craze Revives China's Garment Market

A national craze for Chinese- style jackets has revitalized a sluggish traditional garment trade.

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A national craze for Chinese- style jackets has revitalized a sluggish traditional garment trade.

Sources with Ruifuxiang, a Beijing brand famous for silk clothing, said January sales at one of its outlets was three times higher than the same period last year.

The Chinese-Style costumes, or Tang jackets as they are called by the Chinese, consist of a satin jacket with Chinese-style cotton buttons and traditional designs denoting good wishes. They have won world acclaim since leaders at the APEC summit meeting wore them in Shanghai last October.

Many Chinese now think it a good idea to buy one to mark the Spring Festival.

Qianbaiqian, a newly-opened plaza in Beijing, is now known in Beijing as the Tang jacket plaza.

Plaza general manager Wu Huanxian said, "The number of shops selling Tang jackets has mushroomed from six to over 400 in a month, with over 5,000 jackets sold daily."

The deputy general secretary of the Beijing Garment and Textile Society, Du Yufen, said, the craze for Tang jackets has triggered in China an industrial chain, broadened consumer markets and generated jobs.

In China's southern provinces, where the majority of the jacket material comes from, a number of satin manufacturers which were in the doldrums have come to life with huge orders for their goods.

Zhang Aixiu, manager of Dujinsheng, a famous silk producer in Hangzhou city of east China's Zhejiang province, said, they cannot satisfy the demand for jacket material even with machines now running overtime in many factories. Chinese-style handbags, shoes and hats have also become popular.

Salesmen in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu province, even decorate their Kitty toy cats with Tang jackets, which sell extremely well.

On the other hand, Tang jackets have also been blended with western designs to please the diversified tastes of modern Chinese.

Jin Yonglin, assistant to the general manager of Gege, a famous Tang jacket manufacturer in Beijing, said, "It is wonderful to name Chinese-style costumes Tang jackets, because Tang Dynasty ( 418 A.D.- 907 A.D.) is the most prosperous period in ancient China and China towns throughout the world are also called Tang streets."

Jin believes there is a great export potential in Tang jackets.

Chen Xiushan, an economics professor with the People's University of China, said, "The Tang jacket craze reflects the Chinese people's growing self-confidence as China has upgraded its overall national strength. Chinese no longer regard things in Chinese style as something shabby.

"Blending Chinese and western styles, Tang jackets are internationalized."

Jin Yonglin said, "I believe there will be another craze for Tang jackets when the 2008 Olympic games are held in Beijing."

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