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By Satarupa Bhattacharjya Xiao Jiguo's career will likely be affected once US President Barack Obama remits office in January. Be it in the streets of Beijing or on regional television, the Chinese actor now charges up to $6,000 for a one-time appearance as Obama. But the 30-year-old former construction worker, who was born in Southwest China's Sichuan province, doesn't think his market value will diminish overnight. After all, the real Obama has some fans in China because of his wit and charisma, Xiao told me and another journalist over a meal of spicy curry and rice at a roadside eatery in Beijing last week. Xiao doesn't speak English. He offers gibberish while imitating mannerisms - mostly the famous frown and a few hand movements - of the US president. "I will continue to act and sing," Xiao said, adding that while a market for duplicates exists, imitation, however flattering it may be to their subjects, cannot be an end in itself for the actors. Although he has done many Obama acts for events since last year and participated in a popular reality TV show, Xiao has yet to be cast in a presidential role on the big screen. He will start to shoot a zombie movie in December, he said. Previously, he has played the manager of a traditional drama troupe, a monster and other roles. In September, at the height of his Obama impersonation, Xiao cut a music video titled I am Oba. In the Chinese video, he is seen in a dark suit greeting onlookers and shaking hands with another actor who is pretending to be Kim Jong-un, president of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. | 
