Two weeks ago, we reported about Huang Yibo, a 12-year-old Chinese boy in Wuhan, in “Overachieving Chinese Boy Looks Like Party Boss, Ridiculed“. He became famous after media reports of his accomplishments and ambitions as a member of the China’s Young Pioneers organization. He then became infamous after Chinese netizens circulated the photographs he posted on his own blog featuring him wearing the well-known red scarf that is the uniform symbol of Young Pioneers, leading other children at school, and him posing like government of Communist Party leaders.
One thing netizens noted in his photos was the five-stripe badge on his sleeve that he seemed to wear everywhere. They noted this because in the Young Pioneers organization, the normal highest “rank” should only be three stripes. So why does he have five stripes?
Now, you too can be a 5-stripe Young Pioneer just like Huang Yibo!
Many “five stripe” or “five bar” t-shirts have begun appearing on popular Chinese ecommerce website Taobao, featuring different colors and designs but all including the now infamous “five-stripe badge”, usually printed on the t-shirt as being “pinned” on the upper left-hand sleeve:
Some other designs:
