Public appearances

First the geeky bit: that's not a dinner jacket. It is a tailcoat.

Also, apparel has become somewhat of a topic in China over the last few days. The new General Secretary, Xi Jinping, has indicated that the Party needs to become more austere, which means cutting down on banquets, motorcades, ceremony and - yes - clothing. Leading by example, Xi and his entire Standing Committee opened an exhibition in China's National Museum on Tiananmen Square while not wearing ties. However, negating the (Western) tie, does not a modern Chinese garment make. I, for one, would not mind the return of the scholarly robe.

Hmmm... What was worn by the 14th Dalai Lama for his Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies?
Neither Western white tie nor Chinese Mao suit for him, I'm sure.

Let the man wear what he want based on his free choice. He has won a Nobel prize - I'm sure he is able to pick his own dinner wear

What Mo Yan should have done is to get a Chinese designer to design suitable clothes for him, based on Chinese cultural tradition and then get Chinese haberdashers kit him out in authentic Chinese clothing. The beauty of humanity is its diversity and it would be a great loss to China and to the rest of the world if Chinese people now decide to ape the west. They would almost certainly get it wrong and appear at best caricatures of the west. This would be disgraceful for a people who have a civilisation stretching back to a time when most of the west could still justifiably be described as barbarians.
With respect, Chinese leaders could take a cue from Nigerian leaders who as a matter of policy only wear clothes which reflect Nigerian culture. Some of the clothes they wear are truly beautiful and reflect Nigerian culture. One of the benefits of this is that Nigerian leaders are comfortable and appear quite natural in their clothes and never need to make any awkward adjustments in the manner in which they comport themselves.

I appear to be alone in noting that the gentleman pictured would appear be wearing not a dinner jacket, but an evening tail coat of the 'cut away' variety, of the sort only worn on the rare occasions (unless you are a diplomat) when the invitation specifies that "white tie" is de rigueur. Can anyone cast any light on this?

Chinese Eagle:

Those who criticize Mo Yan's Noble Literature Prize for his (presumed) political positions are ridiculous. It is a Literature Prize and so literary talent should be the only thing judged.

Those who make a political question out of what the man wears on a party are ridiculous. He should wear what he wants and what makes him more comfortable and good looking. Or what suits the situation and is elegant.

Those who spend their days posting propaganda online are ridiculous.

What you criticize in the Western media is just the mirror image of yourself. In Europe, in the US and in China you are all the same. Lackeys of politicians and those with power.

Politics is not everything in life. It is often the ugliest part of it.

Chinese characteristics

There are temples and churches dotting cities as well as rural areas in China but differences do exist between the two except for variations in designs. In church, Jesus or Holy Trinity is revered while in temples of both Buddhism and Taoism, a number of gods and goddesses are worshiped. In churches, followers do more confess than pray for blessing while in temples, believers show more secular attitude towards the Holy Ghosts wishing their instant success in life, work and study, even in love in front of gods. Entering a church, one feels liquidated in front of God whereas going into a temple one feels stifled by cloaks of smoke from burning joss sticks. In churches, sacred wafers are passed around whereas in temples, articles of tributes are brought and presented by followers to gods and goddesses, which is proof that the history of bribery is as long as that of temples in China. Though both places are where believers redeem their vows to gods, it seems that Chinese are much more down to earth than western followers of God to aspire the sky.

And thus Chinese people tend to be more and more pragmatic in terms of decision making, let alone choosing what styled clothes to wear. There are the Han styled clothes dating back in time to 2000 years ago for men and women, the Qing styled dress for ladies, Sun Yat-sen styled for men in the early 1900 and Mao’s styled clothes for men in the late 1960. Like what they do in temples, Chinese choose whatever clothes to match the occasion to which they attend, especially when the reform in China has been implemented for more than 30 years. One typical example to show Chinese characters is the wedding ceremony. Usually, a mixed styled ceremony is in a young couple’s favor with both bride and bridegroom dressed in western styled clothes and reception being held on traditional Chinese dinner table. Rings exchange goes side by side with red envelopes swapping. The former is between husband and wife while the latter is between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. On some more significant events, traditional clothes are to be put to add up to festival atmosphere though it would be weird to wear traditional clothes on workdays.

Mr. Mo knows quite well how to show his respect for the country where he will be awarded his Nobel prize, and that explains why the same clothes of local style are dressed by leaders from all participating countries attending Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum poised for photographers. When in Rome, do as Romans do.

Contemporary chinese writer are always full of materials. In china's early periods, those writers have a high writing level no matter in moral perspectives or skills.

For those who don't know the meaning of Mr. Mo's name, Mo Yan in the two Chinese characters mean "Don't Talk".
So please don't critize him for not speaking on political matters.

If you have a bias, you will find everything related is not right.

Why do you have to so offensive, not to say you are not even a Chinese?
Or maybe you are just overly empathetic.

Frankly I don't know what is the hype about Nobel Prize among CCP.

When Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Prize, the Chinese government claimed it as a conspiracy of the western governments and even dug out all those past histories like Opium War and the Boxer Movement to stigmatize Norway.

But ironically Norway, which awarded the prize to Liu, had never belonged to thw western powers that had been harassing China in the past.

Now Sweden awarded the prize to Mo and the Chinese government became irrationally exuberant. But frankly speaking, how many Swedes can really read Mo's book or ever hear of Mo?

And isn't this Nobel Prize just another plot of the western conspiracy to destabilize China again?

When China is able to award a prize that many famous writers from other parts of the world feel honored to come to China to attend, I would say then China stands really tall in the world.

Right now China is light years behind Sweden on this aspect.

Mo Yan is such an ugly dude. He looks ugly in whatever dress.

A young woman working in Beijing says that at formal occasions she prefers Chinese-style dresses. But to dress that way day-to-day, nowadays, would be both expensive and difficult.

Eh, does she mean the Han style dress or the Qing Style one? Because my friends do dress traditional Chinese dress, the Qing style, as a day-to-day dress. They are not expensive than other dress, and they are fashionable. The only problem is that you should have really good shape to be dressed in that dress>_<

This kind of trivia thing should be on a tabloid. Oh wait, isn't TE...?

Our Economist writer failed to distinguish between Sun Yat Sen suit and Mao suit.

Until as late as the '80s, KMT bulwarks in Taiwan, i.e. Chiang Ching Kuo, still periodically wore Sun Yat Sen suit on some political occasions.

The main difference is the shape of the collar: Mao suit's collar is round while Sun Yat Sen suit's collar is right-angled.

Though the difference is subtle, no KMT leaders would mistakenly wear Mao suit and no CCP leaders would mistakenly wear Sun Yat Sen suit.

Maybe it's time for an entirely new look. How about skin-tight silver spacesuits embroidered with phoenixes, plum-blossoms, and qilins? Traditional, modern, intimidating, laughable, and astonishing--like China.

At the conference for signing the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, the Japanese envoys all wore western clothing while the Chinese still wore traditional clothing. See:

http://history.cultural-china.com/en/34History6634.html

The Chinese had attempted to retain their traditional culture while adopting Western technology. The Japanese had simply thrown overboard their entire traditional culture in a pell-mell rush for Westernization. The first Sino-Japanese war showed the great military superiority of the Japanese choice over the Chinese.

Now that the Western style and culture seems to have completely overpowered the entire Orient, what could a Western man wear at a Japanese or Chinese event to show appreciation for Oriental tradition?

A young woman working in Beijing says that at formal occasions she prefers Chinese-style dresses. But to dress that way day-to-day, nowadays, would be both expensive and difficult.

Of course, women's wear for formal occasions is far, far more flexible in the West than men's wear. An American woman at a formal affair who wears a Chinese-style dress would be unlikely to be faulted for that choice. More likely, she would be complemented for it. A man in a Sun-Yat-Sen style suit, however, would definitely be viewed askance.

How about dressing according to the norms of the host country? This would seem like ordinary good manners for men and women.

With more than a billion people, none of them have become notable clothes designers?

All I can say is China better get cracking on that industry!