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Agence France-Presse

Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China the US president-elect sits in divine contemplation.
Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed, in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of America’s divisive leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi.
The Zen-like figures – which Hong sells for between 999 yuan and 20,000 yuan (US$135 and US$2,700) depending on their size – first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Taobao is operated by Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post.
And ahead of Trump’s second term, they have become hot property again.

“In the days after he won the election, there was a lot of interest,” said Hong, who originally designed the statues as a joke.
“Politicians are normally so boring, while [Trump] is this massive online figure who often says fantastical things,” he says.
Hong, 47, says he has shifted hundreds of the ceramic creations in the last few years.
They raise a smile among customers because Trump’s “personality and the shape of the statue are two opposite extremes”, he says.
Each figure comes in packaging emblazoned with a Chinese phrase that translates to “Make your company great again”, a play on Trump’s well-worn slogan for restoring American supremacy.

Copycat versions have even appeared on shopping platforms in the US – including Amazon and Chinese-owned Temu – for up to US$45.
“It’s a good laugh to poke some fun at authority figures and famous people,” says Hong, sitting barefoot on the floor of his minimalist studio.
He recently began designing a similarly tongue-in-cheek effigy of another American luminary, Trump backer Elon Musk, who seems set to play a major role in his administration.
The statue casts the controversial billionaire in the style of the Marvel superhero Iron Man, clad in a suit of metal armour.
In Hong’s version, though, a large rocket protrudes from Musk’s groin to symbolise the SpaceX CEO’s galactic ambitions.
Now he’s been elected again, the sculpture has exploded in popularity once more. Trump is someone with a lot of backstory
Hong Jinshi, Chinese sculptor and designer
Despite toeing the line between homage and offence, Hong said he has a lot of admiration for Musk, whose electric-vehicle company Tesla operates a massive factory in Shanghai and enjoys robust sales in China.
“Musk’s rockets are awesome – he’s brought the price of rockets down a lot,” he says.
“He has done, as an individual entrepreneur, what an entire country can’t even do.”
Hong no longer sells his Trump statues on Chinese sites after they removed his listings – perhaps, he said, because they were deemed insulting to Buddhists.
Still, orders keep rolling in from tourists who visit Hong’s workshop, as well as from friends and acquaintances.
“Now he’s been elected again, the sculpture has exploded in popularity once more,” Hong says.
Perhaps, he adds, it is because “Trump is someone with a lot of backstory”.


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A sculpture of US president-elect Donald Trump in a pose evoking the Buddha. Photo: AFP

Chinese artist Hong Jinshi sitting next to a sculpture of US president-elect Donald Trump in a pose evoking the Buddha. Photo: AFP

Artist Hong Jinshi holds one of his Buddha-like sculptures of Donald Trump. Photo: AFP

The statues went viral in 2021, and since Trump’s re-election, are becoming popular again. Photo: AFP

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Archaeology experts catalogue destroyed artefacts at Nimrud. Photo: AFP

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YouTube star and pianist Hayato Sumino, aka Cateen, on stage at the University of Hong Kong on January 5, 2025 playing a grand piano and a stripped upright piano simultaneously. Photo: Keith Hiro@HKU Muse

Hayato Sumino, aka Cateen, signs autographs after a concert at the University of Hong Kong on January 5, 2025. Photo: Keith Hiro@HKU Muse

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How Jimmy Carter’s art, furniture and poetry show a creative side to the late US president

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Lousy’s body paint on a nude woman. The anonymous Hong Kong graffiti artist paints bold designs on young, naked women then photographs them in erotic poses. Photo: Lousy                                                         

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Sculptor Hong Jinshi’s Buddha-like Trump figures went viral in 2021, and since the US election are back in demand. His new focus? Elon Musk


Sculptor Hong Jinshi’s Buddha-like Trump figures went viral in 2021, and since the US election are back in demand. His new focus? Elon Musk.


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