A group of high school students from Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, wear their city's representative high school uniform on March 16, 2014. Photo: CFP

A standard Shenzhen high school uniform is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK. Photo: Sun Wei/GT

Would you be surprised to find a mass-produced Chinese high school uniform displayed in a magnificent high-end British museum? Chinese social media certainly was, as netizens spent an entire week buzzing about a uniform that was added to the Victoria and Albert Museum's (V&A) All of This Belongs to You exhibition.

In contrast to the high-end designs displayed in the China galleries due to their influence in Victorian Britain, this mass-produced uniform definitely stands out.

"The uniform has created an identity for the citizens of a city that didn't exist 40 years ago, " V&A curator Kristian Volsing told the Global Times. Volsing was responsible for the "Civic Objects" display section of the All of This Belongs to You exhibition where the uniform is included.

"Civic Objects" is a mix of historic and contemporary objects dispersed throughout the museum's permanent displays, across all departments and categorizations. Each of them represents a part of public life as it lives today.

A uniform in any country makes the wearer recognizable as a participant in a certain area of public life. The uniform displayed has an even farther-reaching meaning because it was designed for schools in the recently developed city of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.

Residents of the city continue to wear it after they graduate, because of its comfort and practicality, and as such they are recognized as citizens of Shenzhen when they are elsewhere in China or in the world. The uniform has become an icon of the city, reflected in popular media including comic books and television, Volsing added.

Volsing confirmed that the uniform has been permanently acquired for the V&A's collection. The permanent acquisition was organized by curator of Contemporary Product Design Corinna Gardner as part of the V&A's rapid response collecting display.

Rapid response collecting is a process of curating design in a timely manner by collecting designed objects that reflect major moments in history.

In 2013, the V&A was asked to participate in Shenzhen's Urbanism and Architecture Bi-city Biennale. Together with Chinese colleagues, Gardner instigated a call-out for objects that the people of Shenzhen felt reflected the city. This resulted in a wide-range of objects, from wire-free bras for electronics factory workers who needed to go through metal detectors to take away menus featuring China's different local cuisines in order to reflect the make-up of the city. The school uniform was suggested by a Shenzhen student named Feby Ting.

According to the Chongqing Morning Post, Shenzhen first began unifying school uniforms in 2002. The uniform displayed at V&A is a unisex high school winter sportswear uniform. 

The V&A's Design, Architecture and Digital Department is very interested in telling the story of this anonymous design, which people encounter in contemporary everyday life in China.

Alongside the uniform displayed among Chinese couture garments lies a book, Notes of Landscape in Shenzhen. The book guides readers on how to look at the city from another view point, highlighting the elements of flora and fauna in the area so they may look at the city's public spaces in a different light.

All of This Belongs to You exhibition runs until July 19.