After People’s Republic of China was founded, the fashion in China was ideology changed. Western-style suits and cheongsams was considered as products of capitalism, gradually faded from the mainstream. By contrast, people prided themselves on wearing Zhongshan zhuang (Mao suit) and Junbian zhuang (military uniforms). Gray, blue and green were the colors of choice.
The Mao suit shows classlessness and uniformity of dress. "Any deviation from the rigid dress code could result in life-threatening consequences because of the association of fashion with a bourgeois lifestyle."(Wu,2009)
A typical Red Guard Dress includes a grass-green army uniform, wide leather belt, Mao Zedong badge, a Red Book (a compilation of Chairman Mao quotes) and a grass-green canvas messenger bag. As it was not easy to obtain all the pieces, some young Red Guards would dye their Zhongshan suits to the appropriate green color.
Women dressed themselves like men in their similar loose-fitting outfits. "For women in particular, the suit signified that the battle for Mao’s ‘permanent revolution’ was more important than any superfluous concerns over appearance." (Montefiore, 2015)
Mao Zedong declared: “It is necessary that for urban youth to go to the mountainous and farming villages to accept the education of farmers and poor peasants.” Then more than 16 million people, one of tenth of the Chinese population, were sent to the countryside in the late 1960s. The destinations are many rural areas such as Yunan, Guizhou, Hunan and Heilongjiang, etc. This anti-urbanization action in China became a fad among educated young people.
However, this "Up to the mountains, down to the villages" movement failed due to the rugged environment in remote districts. Many sent-down youth came back to the urban cities in the end.