hell yes. you'd be my hero forever if you did, haha

is this political

you do understand teh shirt right?

giggle.

it wouldn't be the worst shirt to be shot dead in.

Yes, this shirt is political. And it shows Mao Zedong having a drink, and he is still honoured as you know on the Tiananmen Square. I'm unsure whether the Chinese government will find a shirt with a drinking Mao okay, since the Chinese government isn't really the best you can have probably (and that's said nicely)...

Also they (read: the Chinese government) are a shame to communism, being capitalist and still calling themselves communists! Can't say anything in that country that you can relate to (extreme)-lefties in politics in other countries..

Dude you should do it!

ha that would be cool,

but i would DEFINATELY advise wearing a nice zip-up jacket and take it off when you are taking a picture or something. haah.

the chinese goverment is scary, man.

but since you are a visitor nothing would happen to you most likely i guess.

oh MAN!

I am going to China in two weeks, and I was originally not going to bring it at all, for fear of offending anyone. But then, after a while, I started thinking about trying to take a picture really quickly in Tiananmen in front of the Mao portrait. But I was worried about how much trouble I could get into if someone saw.

So I came here to make a post asking if other people thought it was a bad idea.

What a weird coincidence! If you're going to be there on December 26, I'll meet you there. We can get arrested together :)

O no, I completely understand the shirt and I love it. I am just not sure about how sensitive the Chinese government will be to this shirt. As AquilaNL mentioned Mao IS still being honored in China. The shirt may not be slandering Mao's image, but it ain't a great picture of him either. The symbols in the back will definitely catch attention too.

I've already thought of keeping it under a jacket (Beijing is REALLY cold right now), but the problem is if they will let it in the border. I've heard of books on Fa Lung Gong being confiscated and people arrested when they got off the plane. Whether that's true or not I don't know, but I don't really want to risk it.

and to lostlo: OMG! It would make my YEAR if we could actually do it. But I won't be in Beijing on the 26th. :( Man! I think you'll be okay to bring it since you're blond and obviously not Chinese. They probably won't be able to do much IF they see you.

I on the other hand is Chinese, so I don't know....

i'll be in beijing on the 26th (: debating whether to buy this shirt or not though...

I would definitely do it. I also wouldn't wear anything to cover it, unless it was cold outside, but I'd probably take it off for the pic.

I did it, and I didn't get arrested. Mainly because nobody saw/noticed. I put it on when we were at Tiananmen Square, and wore a jacket over it (it was incredibly cold anyway). For the pic I just unzipped for a few seconds. I took it off afterward because cotton is awful for really cold weather.

I probably didn't need to be as careful as I was, but my traveling part was pretty paranoid. I would not recommend being reckless, though, as there are a LOT of military and police around that area at all times. The big Mao portrait is at the entrance to the Forbidden City, across the square from his tomb. I had to cross the street to the Forbidden City to get a decent picture because the smog was soooo bad.







Overall I recommend the experience, and I hope someone else tries it again. I'm disappointed in my pictures, mostly because of the smog and my group being such pussies. Just try and avoid the officers. The regular military guys seemed very nice and pretty laid-back, but the officers are (predictably) not so nice.

Your mileage may also vary if you're not a weird blonde foreigner. People seemed to just assume I was stupid and so I got a lot of slack.

I think those pictures are great.. kudos to you for having the guts to do it.

Thanks! I was terrified before I did it, but luckily none of the many, many, many cops/military around even noticed.