CNN reporter gets detained in Shanghai over 'Oba-Mao' shirt

Emily Chang, a Beijing-based correspondent for the U.S. television network, said in a blog post on CNN.com that she hunted down the shirt after hearing they had been banned amid fears they “may offend the American president.”

The shirt shows Obama, who is making his first visit to China as president, in a Red Army uniform staring into the distance in a pose made famous by the former Chinese leader.

The front of the shirt says “Serve the People” in Chinese, Chang said. “Oba-Mao” is written on the back in English. Chang said she held the shirt up to the camera while filming a story in a Shanghai market.

“Two security guards happened to pass by at the moment I announced to the camera: 'This is the T-shirt everybody is talking about,'” she said. “We ended up being detained for two hours in the cold, maze of a market,” she said.

Chang refused to surrender the offending shirt and joked that a number of jealous White House and CNN colleagues had tried to “bribe” her for it.

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