Hat worn by Mao in famous Snow photo on display

During his four-month stay in Yan'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi province in 1936, American journalist Edgar Snow took one of the most iconic photos of Mao Zedong, the founding father of New China. It showed the late leader in a Red Army hat that featured a red star at the center of its front face.

Snow was then conducting interviews with top leaders of the Communist Party of China, following the Red Army's completion of the Long March. The Communists bega'n a two-year strategic retreat in 1934 to evade capture by Kuomintang forces.

The hat Mao wore in the photo was borrowed from Snow. He had received it as a gift along with a Red Army uniform when he arrived at the revolutionary base in July 1936.