Hallucinogenic mushrooms may be to blame for US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen‘s cringeworthy bows to China’s vice premier after she ordered four portions at dinner three nights before their meeting, sources claim.
Jian shou qing mushrooms, which have psychedelic properties if they are not cooked thoroughly, formed part of a traditional dish Yellen polished off at Beijing restaurant Yi Zuo Yi Wang on July 6.
The usually stately politician, 76, then came under fire from Republican opponents for bowing to her Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng, three days later on July 9.
It has now been suggested her behavior may have been the result of the mushrooms Yellen appeared to enjoy so much – although the restaurant claims the mushrooms had been properly prepared.
‘Our staff said she loved mushrooms very much. She ordered four portions of jian shou qing. It was an extremely magical day,’ the restaurant posted on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media site.
Yellen’s meal soon trended on the site and prompted discussion of the mushroom’s purported properties.
‘I have a friend who mistakenly ate them and hallucinated for three days,’ Peter Mortimer, a professor at the Kunming Institute of Botany in Yunnan told CNN.
Mortimer explained that the mushroom was considered poisonous because it could be hallucinogenic.
‘Scientists have not, as of yet, identified the compounds responsible for causing the hallucinations. It remains a bit of a mystery and most evidence is anecdotal’ he added.
However, it is commonly understood that the mushroom loses any psychedelic effect if it is properly cooked.
Jian shou qing – which look very similar to porcini mushrooms – translates literally as ‘see hand blue’ – named for the way the mushroom’s inner surface turns blue when you apply pressure to it.
During the two-day trip Yellen held meetings with senior Chinese officials, including the premier Li Qiang, the deputy finance minister Liao Min, and Pan Gongsheng, the new Communist Party chief of China’s central bank.
After her repeated and effusive bows to He Lifeng, Yellen was criticized for showing weakness on behalf of America and a ‘lack of effective leverage’.
‘An American official does not bow. It looks like she’s been summoned to the principal’s office, and that’s exactly the optics the Chinese love’ Bradley Blakeman, a senior White House staffer under George W Bush, told the New York Post at the time.
Author Max Murray said: ‘She did not realize bowing as an American official was a breach of protocol.
‘They don’t reciprocate. He even backs away to give her more space to kowtow.’
Tensions have been rising between Washington and Beijing in recent months.
A Chinese spy balloon that crossed over the US mainland before it was shot down in January, brought tensions to the fore.
Ongoing hostilities are also simmering over the war in Ukraine and increased Chinese intelligence operations in Cuba. (Full Story)