Businessmen pay $40,000 to take pictures with Obama

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Photos of Chinese businessmen with former US president Barack Obama started to pop up in the picture-sharing "Moments" section of China's social media platform Wechat.

These pictures, originally posted on the businessmens' Wechat accounts, are alongside captions boasting that they were greeted by Obama because of their high-quality products and successful businesses.

An online seller takes real picture with former US president Barack Obama/Global Times

However, netizens discovered that these businessmen were all online sellers, mainly selling their products through Wechat. They are also called “Wechat businessmen” or ”Weishang” in Chinese.

Due to lack of regulations, many of these Wechat businessmen are selling low-quality products. At first, many netizens suspected these pictures were generated by Photoshop, and used as advertisements for the businessmen.

Some even thought this was a publicity stunt and these people just took pictures with Obama’s wax statue.

The authenticity of these pictures was later proved by several media organizations. According to a report by The Beijing News, these pictures were taken during Obama’s attendance at the 3rd Global Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Summit in Shanghai on November 28.

During the summit, some participants received the opportunity to meet Obama, which could be obtained through sponsorship. Shaking hands with Obama needed 6,000 yuan (around 900 US dollars), while taking a photo with him cost almost 250,000 yuan (around 40,000 US dollars).

A screenshot of the price list in Chinese/Global Times

The price list of “Obama meeting ticket” sparked wisecracks from Chinese netizens’ online. “What a miserable retirement life. Welcome to China, Mr. Obama,” said a netizen.

Other netizens also joked that new “gold rush” had emerged in China for retired foreign leaders. Previously, expensive meeting tickets were also sold during former US president Bill Clinton and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair’s China visit.