Mao Giant Statue (Photo : Twitter)
About $465,000 of Henan Province funds went down the drain after embarrassed officials of the Chinese province ordered the tearing down of a giant golden statue of former Communist Party of China Chairman Mao Zedong.
The New York Times reports that demolition teams arrived on Thursday morning and immediately demolished the giant gold statue of China's former leader. A pile of rubble and a big mountain-size embarrassment among province officials was all that was left as of Friday morning.
It was when the images of the statue become viral on the internet that attracted criticism of extravagance, which led to the destruction of the 120-foot statue that was almost finished two days after. Ironically, the statue was built in the middle of a rice field in Henan, one of the worst hit Chinese provinces by famine attributed to Mao's Great Leap Forward policy.
The demolition crew, men in olive-green greatcoats, were sent by officials of Tongxu Country to demolish the humungous eyesore.
Villagers point to Sun Qingxin, head of conglomerate, Lixing Group, which makes machinery and runs food processing facilities, is said to be the brainchild behind the statue. A local describes Sun is crazy about Mao and has a house full of Mao statues.
It was allegedly built without permits, reports The Washington Post. Despite having died years ago, Mao is considered like a god by many Chinese, along with other deities such as the Jade Emperor and the God of Wealth. His intervention is sought by people from rural area for getting rid of bad luck, having a baby boy and becoming wealthy.
