Beijing puts foot down on ‘Oba Mao’ T-shirts
Posted: Friday, November 13, 2009 5:21 PM
Filed Under:
Beijing, China
By NBC News' Bo Gu
BEIJING – Liu Mingjie expected that President Barack Obama’s first visit to China would bring more business to his little boutique shop in Beijing’s popular Houhai area, a lakeside district filled with trendy restaurants and bars, souvenir shops and lots of tourists.
Until last weekend, Liu had been interviewed by both Chinese and foreign media about what he was selling: T-shirts that superimposed Obama's face over that of China's late Chairman Mao Zedong on the front, and the words "Oba Mao" on the back.
But Lui’s brisk business was suddenly terminated by local government officials, just days before Obama’s arrival in China, without any explanation. He says he was simply told, "No, you cannot sell Obama T-shirts anymore."
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| Liu Mingjie shows off the “Oba Mao” T-shirt he was selling out of his shop in Beijing, that is until the authorities told him to stop. |
While the culture of mocking celebrities and politicians is not yet widely embraced in China, the possible embarrassment brought to the president of the United States by having his image on T-shirts dressed in the uniform of China’s infamous Red Guards, who caused mayhem during the Cultural Revolution, was too much of a ticking bomb for local officials. Liu doesn’t know when or whether he’ll ever be able to sell his T-shirts again, but he’s not the only one who is confused and upset.
Qi Zhiyong, a former factory worker who lost one leg during the crackdowns on student demonstrators 20 years ago that culminated in the infamous Tiananmen Square protests, has found himself suddenly forbidden to talk to the media and has been followed by plainclothes police for the last few weeks.
However, after protesting for two decades, Qi is used to constant harassment and forced silence during politically sensitive moment, like the Beijing Olympics in 2008, last month’s 60th anniversary of communism in China and Obama’s upcoming visit. Qi and other dissidents are routinely locked up or kicked out of Beijing by the police to prevent them from talking to foreign delegations or the media.
‘I don’t care’
But while Liu’s and Qi’s lives have been temporarily derailed by the president’s visit, the general public in China hasn’t showed too much fervor over it.
A survey by China’s leading Web portal Sohu.com and the English newspaper China Daily asked, "What’s your viewpoint on Obama’s visit to China?" Almost 40 percent of respondents said "I don’t care" or "I have no expectations."
When asked "On what issues do you think China and America will reach more agreements after Obama’s trip?" 56 percent answered, "I don’t think the two countries will reach any more agreements."
And when our NBC News team went to Wangfujing, one of Beijing’s most popular shopping areas, to speak with people about Obama’s visit, more than half of the people we approached were unaware he was coming.
However, in our unscientific survey, those who were interested in the visit agreed on what they cared about most: trade. And according to online surveys, more flexible trade policies and communications between the two countries are the top concern of Internet users.
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| Frederic J. Brown / AFP - Getty Images |
| A woman is reflected in the mirror of a shop selling coin purses with the "Oba Mao" design by entrepreneur Liu Mingjie for sale at his shop on Sept. 23, 2009. |
Knock down the Great Firewall of China!Chinese bloggers and Twitter users actually have great expectations for Obama’s trip. Their hope is that the so-called
Great Firewall of China,
the online filtering and surveillance program run by the communist government’s Ministry of Public Security, is torn down with a push from the American president.
"President Obama did stress that he is going to talk about human rights with President Hu, which is a big surprise to a lot of Chinese intellectuals," said Bei Feng, an activist and blogger who was invited by the U.S. Embassy to a briefing ahead of Obama’s arrival. Dozens of other bloggers joined the briefing on Thursday and raised many of the issues they are most concerned about.
Bei is optimistic about the Obama’s trip but remains cautious on what Chinese netizens can expect out of it. "A small portion of Chinese intellectuals do believe if President Obama is willing to talk about human rights with China, it may spur China’s democracy progress. But in fact, if you rest your hope on a foreign president, it’s not practical. It needs our own efforts."
Still, out of all of China’s 1.3 billion residents, there is one who may be looking forward to the big arrival most: Mark Obama Ndesandjo. He is Obama’s half-brother, a Kenyan businessman who lives in Shenzhen, in southern China, just 15 minutes from Hong Kong.
Beneath the spotlight of both Chinese and Western media, Ndesandjo published his first book in China last week, "From Nairobi to Shenzhen." The semi-autobiographical story is about his personal journey from Kenya to China, with a lengthy account of the allegedly abusive father he shared with Obama. Ndesandjo is reportedly already on his way to Beijing to meet his half-brother.
NBC News’ Adrienne Mong also contributed to this report from Beijing.
