'I Think Chinese People Find Her a Little Scary'

Some serious heartache at NBC News. Michelle Obama didn't make the trip to China with her husband, resulting in a depressing lack of slobbering over her.

OK, I confess. If a Web site features a photo gallery of Michelle Obama’s latest fashions, I click on it.

Like many other American women, I have a certain fascination with our first lady.

So there was a frisson of anticipation when we learned President Barack Obama would travel to China. Would Michelle come with him? What would she wear? Not red, surely? What about when she met Chinese leaders? Or when she met Chinese people? (Had anyone here noticed the fact that she chose a dress by Jason Wu, an ethnic Chinese designer for the inauguration? Even though he was born in that renegade province, Taiwan?)

As it turns out, Michelle Obama isn’t visiting China.

It also turns out the Chinese public doesn’t have quite the same fascination with her as many others around the world.

"I don’t really pay attention to her," was the common reply when, in an unscientific survey, we asked people on the streets of downtown Beijing what they thought of her.

When we tried searching for "Michelle Obama" on people.com.cn, a popular chat room in China, we turned up no results.

And the absence of coverage of Michelle Obama in the Chinese media is noticeable compared to how much attention she receives from the Western press.

"She has been overshadowed by Obama," said Li Xin, a former international editor of a Chinese financial magazine which has profiled Hillary Clinton but not Michelle Obama. "Chinese media coverage will pay more attention to substance – what will make a difference to policy toward China rather than who [the Obamas are as people]."

Yet there's a deep, dark underlying cause to her lack of coverage, and frankly I'm surprised they even report this.

But there’s also another reason some people were willing to comment only anonymously. "I think Chinese people find her a little scary," said one 30-year-old female Beijing resident. "She’s not that attractive to us."

Li put it more diplomatically. "Michelle Obama is seen as feminine in the U.S., but in China the perception of beauty is very different," she explained. "The Chinese standard would maybe prefer someone softer, more petite. She’s so strong and independent and tough. [I’ve heard] from some co-workers and friends, they don’t see her as pretty and don’t understand why she was on the cover of Vogue U.S."

Neither do I.

Naturally, like most American media outlets, MSNBC has a fawning tribute:

SLIDESHOW: Michelle Obama's effortless style

Yeah, her style is so effortless she forgets to realize she's wearing an ammunition belt in public.