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[Forkball]

WHY NOT?

Nearly 40 years after the death of China’s “Great Helmsman” a gigantic golden statue of Chairman Mao has been erected in rural China by admiring business people and villagers.

The 36 metre tall mega-Mao, which reportedly cost 3m yuan (about £312,000), towers over Tongxu county near the city of Kaifeng in Henan province.

Chinese media reports say the statue is built from steel and concrete and decorated in gold-coloured paint.

Mao Zedong, who ruled China until his death in September 1976, has been blamed for the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese citizens when his “Great Leap Forward” push for breakneck industrialisation caused a calamitous famine.

Henan province, still one of China’s poorest regions, was one of the areas worst hit by the famine, which some believe claimed up to 45 million lives.

Entrepreneurs and villagers in Henan’s Tongxu county reportedly began construction on their Mao tribute in March last year and completed the statue in mid-December. Photographs of China’s colossal chairman spread rapidly on the Chinese internet this week after being published by a Henan-based news website.

Liu Jianwu, the dean of China’s Mao Zedong research centre, said 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, the golden effigy drew online criticism. “How about using the money for poverty alleviation first?” one user of Weibo, China’s micro-blogging site, wrote, according to the Hong Kong Free Press website.

Mao, whose portrait still stares out over Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and appears on banknotes, has enjoyed something of a revival under Xi Jinping, who became president three years ago.

Mao’s favourite revolutionary opera was recently remade for stage and screen while a professor at one of China’s top universities has started offering an online course on “Mao Zedong Thought”.

In 2013, Xi marked the 120th anniversary of the chairman’s birth by promising to “hold high the banner of Mao Zedong Thought forever”.

“Mao is a great figure who changed the face of the nation and led the Chinese people to a new destiny,” Xi said.

Despite the nascent Maoist renaissance, Liu denied there was any political significance to Henan’s decision to honour the Great Helmsman with a glittering statue. “This doesn’t exist,” he said.

The academic cautioned against such super-sized tributes to China’s founding father. “There is no need to build such a big statue and I do not suggest people imitate this either,” he said.

More pictures at the link

 

[braves01]

lol, Mao "embodiment of fairness and justice" gtfo

 

[Ban Puncher]

China still can't get their bootleg Gundam right.

 

[Shuggananas]

I read mario statue lol
statue of zeus btfo
that cost though ?

 

[ClosingADoor]

Bit disappointing it isn't really from gold.

 

[Ratrat]

Its hideous.

 

[Concrete Charlie]

First thought I had was that looks like a giant Pez dispenser.

 

[Goro Majima]

That's the cheapest giant statue ever.

I imagine a similar statue in the US would cost 10-100x as much.

 

[Grasshopper]

Nothing says fairness and justice like letting 45,000,000 of your own people die to hunger.

 

[Majine]

The head looks weird.

 

[Chuckie]

Now build one for Stalin and Hitler and we're done.

 

[schlongdog]

LOOK CLOSER LENNY

 

[Real Hero]

amaozing

 

[Fuu]

amoazing

you mean amaozing

 

[C0unter]

" statue is built from steel and concrete and decorated in gold-coloured paint."

I was expecting it to be made completely from gold. This false advertising, smh.

I am guessing there is a big divide in how Mao is perceived by the 'peasants' in rural areas vs city folk, or not?

 

[AoM]

In the middle of nowhere.

 

[Acrylic7]

"45 million lives"!?

From that description I'm not sure he deserves it lol.

 

[JadedWriter]

Damn it's like either Mao never died or his spirit just hovers over the area forcing the people to worship him. He's probably an apostle from Berserk.

 

[Kinyou]

I have a feeling it wont look that pretty anymore in a year or two

That's the cheapest giant statue ever.

I imagine a similar statue in the US would cost 10-100x as much.

It really sounds like quite the bargain.

 

[PillarEN]

Texas better build statues for both Bush presidents and make space for a potential third.

 

[BGBW]

£312,000?

That's cheaper than most kickstarters. I think I'll try to crowdfund a giant statue of myself.

 

[Drazgul]

That's the cheapest giant statue ever.

I imagine a similar statue in the US would cost 10-100x as much.

Probably filled with trash and styrofoam like their bridges:

http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/02/05/shanghai-wonderbridge-trash-collapses/

 

[Ban Puncher]

£312,000?

That's cheaper than most kickstarters. I think I'll try to crowdfund a giant statue of myself.

I'm in for a fiver but only if the statue is of your current avatar.

 

[GraveHorizon]

I read mario statue lol
statue of zeus btfo
that cost though ?

Same here. That honestly would have been better than this.

 

[Dennis]

lmao

 

[Nokagi]

Looks like he's taking a shit.

 

[TapeDispenser1000]

 

[Silphonica]

I read mario statue lol
statue of zeus btfo
that cost though ?

Imagine the cost if it was all solid gold.

 

[PeskyToaster]

Took me a second to reconcile the solid gold statue with such a low price tag. Call me when it's real.

 

[injurai]

science has gone too far

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

put a toilet under his butt

 

[Rhomega Beta]

He looks like he could be friends with Doshin the Giant.

Also: "REMEMBER ME!"

 

[GrizzleBoy]

It's not even real gold.

 

[Silphonica]

It's not even real gold.

I would describe that colour as gold.

 

[GrizzleBoy]

I would describe that colour as gold.

It is not even real gold tho.

 

[Silphonica]

It is not even real gold tho.

That colour looks like gold to me.

 

[GrizzleBoy]

That colour looks like gold to me.

The statue isn't real gold.

 

[Chuckie]

Guyz....please stahp.

 

[Silphonica]

The statue isn't real gold.

Looks like gold to me.

 

[John Kowalski]

isn't there a gigantic statue in china of mao's wife's head or something that they haven't even finished yet?

oops, it's actually of young mao

 

[GrizzleBoy]

Looks like gold to me.

But it isn't.

 

[Social]

Next statue will be in North Korea of the great leader. It will be 2x the size and 100% gold.

 

[wonzo]

respect the mao

 

[jstripes]

In the middle of nowhere.

I guess they want tourists?

 

[Silphonica]

But it isn't.

Pretty sure I know what gold looks like.

 

[Chuckie]

But it isn't.

Gold, besides the element, is also the name of a color. So technically this is a gold statue. It could have been a red statue, a blue statue but it is a gold statue.

 

[Bedameister]

Every mass murderer deserves a statue like this, that's for sure. I think Stalin and Hitler need one, too.

 

[Nicktendo86]

John McDonnell to go to the opening ceremony.

 

[Sheentak]

Read the thread title as Giant gold Mario.

 

[EmptyCanO'wupass]

How long until Mao collapses due to rushed construction?