Monday, a CNN reporter was detained by Chinese security agents for showing off a t-shirt portraying Barack Obama as Mao Tse Tung.

The shirt, which has become a popular fashion statement in China, features the slogan “Serve The People” in Chinese characters on one side, and the word “ObaMao” on the reverse.

While filming in Shanghai, CNN’s Emily Chang was displyaing the shirt, only to be accosted by a pair of China’s finest government-controlled security guards.

“We ended up being detained for two hours in the cold, maze of a market,” she said.  “They wanted our press cards, our passports, but most of all, they wanted the shirt.”

Chang refused to give in, and managed to keep the offending shirt upon her release.  She said later that several White House officials had tried to purchase it from her.  No doubt they wanted it as a retirement gift for Anita Dunn, the White House Communications Director who claims Chairman Mao as one of her favorite political philosophers.

- Robert Laurie