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."
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....
