Obama's half-brother Mark Ndesandjo helps raise RMB250,000 for orphans in Shenzhen charity event

Thomas Crampton points us to a special fundraiser held Friday night in Shenzhen by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China to benefit orphans. Star of the evening was none other than Presidential-elect Barack Obama's half-brother Mark Ndesandjo. The media spotlight was firmly on him as reporters turned up in full force to get close to Ndesandjo.

Since Obama's election win, Mark Ndesandjo has been shunning media attention, and no mention of his relationship to the incoming US president was made in publicity materials for the event and at the concert itself where Ndesandjo performed three piano pieces -- first a Chinese tune called "Liuyang River" followed by "Chopin's First Nocturne" and a jazz tune by Fats Waller called "Viper's Drag". Throughout the event, Ndesandjo declined requests for interviews from journalists.