'Obama-Mao T-Shirts' Removed from Great Wall Shops as Michelle Obama Visits

Weekly Standard ^ | 3/23/2014 | DANIEL HALPER

[markomalley]

According to a pool reporter who was at the Great Wall of China for Michelle Obama's visit there today, "Chinese authorities made sure, for a day, that Mutianyu [a section of the Great Wall] was visibly free of Obama-Mao t-shirts." For $60, however, a merchant told the pool reporter that she'd sell him one of those t-shirts. 

Here's the relevant part of the pool report:

After taking the gondola back down to the parking lot, several reporters fanned out and stopped at t-shirt stalls to investigate a tip — that merchants had been told to temporarily suspend sales of t-shirts that show President Obama in a Mao hat. 

That tip turned out to be true. Several merchants denied carrying such items, but one merchant quietly took this correspondent to the back of her tent and showed off a whole box of the popular, normally seen t-shirts. As we were negotiating prices - she wanted 360 yuan, or roughly $60, an outrageous starting price - other merchants came by, and in Chinese, told her to be careful. The merchant became visibly rattled and put the t-shirts away.

Another reporter in the pool had a similar experience with a separate vender, but managed to snap a photo of one of the t-shirts. I would be glad to share with anyone who wants to investigate why Chinese authorities made sure, for a day, that Mutianyu was visibly free of Obama-Mao t-shirts.

Here's the full pool report:

Prior to leaving for the Great Wall, the pool received a short briefing, on background by a senior administration official, about FLOTUS’s roundtable this morning, referenced in the first pool report. The briefing was cut short when FLOTUS motorcade was suddenly prepared to depart.

[Elsie]

...showed off a whole box of the popular, normally seen t-shirts.

[Elsie]

The yuan (元/圆) (sign: ¥) is the basic unit of the renminbi, but is also used to refer to the Chinese currency generally, especially in international contexts – the ISO 4217 standard code for renminbi is CNY, an abbreviation for “Chinese yuan”.

[Bulwyf]

If you still have to ask if the media is compliant with what’s going on, you’re either not awake or woefully under informed.

[azishot]

I'm gonna check ebay, right now.