Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The giant golden statue of Mao Zedong (pictured) that had been erected in Henan has been demolished due to a “lack of authorization”.
According to media reports state, the gigantic image, 36.6 meters high, was built on the initiative of some businessmen and some rural communities that had collected 3 million yuan (about 459mila dollars).
Made of steel and concrete and painted gold, the statue, which was completed in December, immediately aroused mixed reactions. Comments that appeared on Weibo, the main Chinese social media, in fact called it both "embarrassing" or "a tribute" to the father of modern China.
Some of the criticisms also questioned its construction in Henan, a region that suffered a famine caused by the economic policies of Mao in the late 1950s that lead to an estimated 40 million deaths.