During the Cultural Revolution in China (1966-1976), the Mao suit became the official and dominant form of dress, suppressing Western fashion influences, including denim. Denim, associated with Western capitalism and decadence, was largely absent from Chinese society during this period, as citizens were encouraged to adopt the uniform of the revolutionary state. The suppression of denim in China reflected the garment's political symbolism and its association with Western culture.

The suppression of denim in China during the Cultural Revolution became a subject of fascination for poets who wrote about the intersections of fashion, politics, and identity. The absence of denim in Chinese society during this period was noted by Western poets who traveled to China, as well as by Chinese poets who experienced the Cultural Revolution firsthand. The garment's later resurgence in China, following the economic reforms of the 1980s, became a symbol of the country's opening to the West, a theme explored in contemporary Chinese poetry.