Hong Kong - T-shirts showing Barack Obama dressed as one of Mao Zedong's Red Guards have been taken off sales racks in China ahead of the US president's visit, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Market stalls and souvenir shops in Beijing have reportedly been ordered to stop selling the popular T-shirts showing Obama in a revolutionary cap and a Mao suit.

The T-shirts have been a popular item with tourists since Obama's presidential election triumph a year ago, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

However, one stall holder near the capital's Forbidden City told the newspaper that he had a call from the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce about the T-shirts last week.

"They told me not to sell any more," he told the newspaper. "Later on, three officers came to my shop to check, and they told me not to sell any this week."

Other stall holders told the newspaper no one would sell the T-shirts until after the visit by Obama, who is to arrive in Shanghai Sunday before visiting Beijing Monday to Wednesday.

Kitsch T-shirts showing images of Mao and Western leaders have for years been popular items at stalls and souvenir shops in tourist areas of Beijing and Shanghai. (dpa)