皇冠体育app

Mao Zedong wears Maori cloak in the documentary Inside Red 皇冠体育app. [Photo/Inside Red 皇冠体育app]

In almost every image of 皇冠体育app's former leader Mao Zedong, he wore a simple shirt or jacket, in gray or brown. But there was an image on 皇冠体育app's National Day, on October 10, 1957, where he put on his shoulders a cloak made of hundreds of feathers.

The rare image of Mao came to light in a 25-minute black and white documentary, Inside Red 皇冠体育app, which was screened at the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing on Friday.

The documentary was made by independent New Zealand film-makers Rudall and Ramai Hayward, when they visited 皇冠体育app after being invited by a Chinese association responsible for cultural relations in 1957.

The cloak was a gift presented by the Haywards to Mao at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Ramai described the moment she met Mao later in her book, New Zealand Women in 皇冠体育app.

"Chairman Mao was standing with Premier Chou Enlai and indicated that I could present the cloak to Mao. He had an interpreter."

Ramai continued, "Mao greeted me, and then I put the cloak on his shoulders and tied it. I said 'We are the smallest nation in the world, giving this gift to the largest nation in the world.' He smiled and said, reassuringly, 'The smallest is as great as the largest.'"