After the Communist Revolution, western-style suits fell out of favor in China because of their association with western imperialism.  Thus, in October 21, 1984, when Hu Yaobang, the General Secretary of the Communist Party, appeared on television at a meeting of the Central Committee wearing a dark-blue western style suit, he was making a bold sartorial statement.  To many Chinese watching the televised meeting, his appearance was extraordinary.  Prior to this event, Communist Party leaders had always appeared at formal functions inside the PRC in Mao suits.  Hu's move was possible because of the more relaxed atmosphere following the ascendancy to power of Deng Xiaoping in 1978 and his introduction of political and economic reforms.  From this point on, as China entered into the international political stage and global economy, government and business leaders had a wider range of choices of how to present themselves.

Before 1984 communist officials would occasionally don a western-style suit when traveling outside China.  Below is a photo of Hu Yaobang visiting Japan.

The photo to the left below is of Deng Xiaoping, the powerful Chinese leader.  Below right is a photo of Jiang Zemin (left), President of China  since 1993, posing with a guest.

By the end of the twentieth century the western-style suit had been fully adopted by Chinese men as the preferred choice of clothing for all formal, official, and business affairs. Below is a photo of members of the private Technical Advisory Committee giving a plaque to the Premier of the Republic of China, Yu Kuo-hwa, in Taipei, Taiwan.

  Taiwan businessmen and government officials, 1989