China

Camouflage Patterns of the Chinese Armed Forces

• Sources indicate the first style camouflage introduced for the PLA (People's Liberation Army) was a four-color disruptive design having black, mid-brown and moss green disruptive shapes on pale green background. Coloration and shapes suggest this may have been a crude attempt at copying the British Army DPM camouflage pattern, possibly from photographs. This pattern dates to the mid-1970s, and would have been limited to use by sappers, commandos and airborne troops.

• The first style Type 81 reversible camouflage uniform was printed on one side with a DPM like design, and on the opposite with a duck hunter camouflage pattern. Introduced in the mid- to -late 1970s, the uniforms would have seen service into the 1980s, including the Sino-Vietnamese War.

• The second Type 81 reversible uniform features a slightly different disruptive pattern printed on one side, with a color variation of the duck hunter pattern on the reverse side. This pattern was also used during the Sino-Vietnamese War.

• The third Type 81 reversible uniform has a sparse three color irregular spot pattern camouflage on one side, and the same duck hunter camouflage pattern as the second type on the reverse side.

• A variation of the duck hunter camouflage pattern printed on the Type 81 uniform was also issued to the Airborne forces of the People's Liberation Air Force (PLAF), from the late 1970s into the 1980s. As with all early Chinese issue uniforms, the fabric was lightweight and not very durable.

• Throughout the 1980s, the PLA experimented with a number of woodland-type camouflage designs for issue to Chinese Special Forces personnel. The two patterns seen below are from the early (1981-82) and late (1989) period.

• The PLA adopted its version of the woodland camouflage pattern in 1987, and continued to field the pattern in one form or another until 2005 when the pixelated designs were introduced. Different style uniforms in this pattern have also been exported to several countries around the world, including Albania and several nations in Africa.

• The People's Liberation Navy (PLN) introduced an "Oceanic" variation of the standard woodland camouflage for use by Chinese Marines in the late 1980s or early 1990s. Using essentially the same drawings, the pattern incoporates black, dark olive and blue woodland shapes on very pale blue background. This pattern would remain in use until approximately 2000.

• Type 91 winter pattern

• Type 03 woodland pattern. A rip-stop version of the Type 99 Woodland pattern.

• Type 99 Air Force Paratroops four-colour urban pattern. Used 1999-2005.

• Type 99 People's Liberation Navy four-colour Oceanic pattern. Used 1999-2005.

• PLA "Flecktarn" pattern used for Physical Training (PT) shirts etc. Used since 2001.

• Type 03 PLA Tibet Region pattern - Tibet Flecktarn. A brown version of the German Flecktarn pattern. Used since 2003.

• Type 04 Special Forces DPM pattern.

• Type 07 general issue digital pattern. Introduced 2007.

• The arid version of the Type 07 digital pattern. Introduced 2007.

• The ocean version of the Type 07 digital pattern. Used by the Chinese Navy.

• The tropical version of the Type 07 digital pattern.

Armed Police

• Armed Police 1st pattern. Used during the 1980s. This is very similar to the first pattern originally introduced for PLA Special Forces, but the shapes are different.

• Type 87 Armed Police bright orange pattern - used by Forest Fighting Units. Used since 2005.

• Type 05 digitized pattern - in use since 2005

• Type 07 digitized pattern - in use since 2007