Ugly giant golden statue of Chairman Mao built in China
Enormous gold-painted figure of the “Great Helmsman” constructed in one of China's poorest provinces then torn down days later
A giant statue of Chairman Mao that was erected in a poor part of Chinanearly 40 years after the Communist revolutionary’s death has been torn down after it became the subject of ridicule.
Maoism may be seeing a renaissance in China (ImagineChina/REX /Shutterstock) Photo: ImageChina/REX
The 36-metre statue, near the village of Zhushigang in Tongxu county, Henan province, where Mao's policies were blamed for deaths of millions, was built from steel and concrete, with a coating of gold paint.
It became a talking point at the start of this week when locals and visitors began taking selfies at its feet but just days later a image surfaced showing it being pulled down. The lower half of the torso of one of history’s most ruthless leaders has disappeared and a black bag been placed over his head.
Work on the statue started last March and was completed in mid-December, according to Sina, a Chinese news site. It said that the construction was funded by entrepreneurs, along with donations from local residents.
Local entrepreneursand villagers reportedly paid for the construction
Mao Zedong’s mid-century development policies, including his “Great Leap Forward”, are widely held as the cause of millions of deaths as failed agricultural reform led to widespread famine. Henan province was badly hit by the crisis, and is still one China’s most impoverished areas.
Chinese men took selfies in front of the statue
But revivalism in modern China means Mao Zedong is often revered, and he is already commemorated with statues across the country and a portrait over Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. In 2013, to mark the 120th anniversary of his birth, a solid gold incarnation worth 200 million yuan (£20 million) was inaugurated in his home village of Shaoshan, with busloads of followers flocking to pay tribute.
The anniversary saw Xi Jinping, the President of China, promise to “hold high the banner of Mao Zedong Thought forever”, according to state media reports.
Professor Michel Hockx, Director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London, said the statue was "a massive act of nostalgia, mixed with popular religious sentiment" but that the people who erected the figure had no impact on politics, and were just hoping for good fortune.
"There has been an enormous amount of Mao nostalgia for at least a decade already, if not longer. Memorabilia from the 1950s and 1960s (Mao badges, little red books) are on sale everywhere and popular not only with local Chinese but also with tourists", he added. He said that there were fewer statues of Mao around now than when he first visited China in the 1980s. "The main reason why people are interested in Mao these days is nostalgia, which is not the same as being a 'follower' or portraying loyalty."
Online commentators had criticised the effigy, noting its apparent lack of resemblance to Mao Zedong himself and the expenditure. “How about using the money for poverty alleviation first?” one Sina commenter, quoted by Hong Kong Free Press, asked. “Besides, it’s so ugly—doesn’t look a bit like [Mao].”
"There is a tradition in poorer areas in China to erect blingy statues of popular deities in the hope of gaining good fortune. It seems that this particular community has raised Mao to that level. But this will have no effect on national policy."
Prof Michel Hockx, Director of the SOAS China Institute
Prof Hockx said the criticisms were reasonable, but that there was a tradition in poorer parts of China to build "blingy statues" of popular deities in the hope of gaining good fortune. "It seems that this particular community has raised Mao to the level of a local deity. But again, this will have no effect whatsoever on national policy."
Liu Jianwu, the dean of China’s Mao Zedong research centre, told The Guardian newspaper that the statue appeared to have been designed to “commemorate a leader”.
“In contemporary China, Mao Zedong represents the embodiment of fairness and justice,” Liu claimed. “In the hearts of ordinary people, Mao represents fairness and justice. So people hold these kinds of emotions towards him.”
However, he said he did not condone the construction of large Mao statues, and like Prof Hockx said that there was not any political importance in the Henan residents’ decision to build the latest figure.
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