Whether proof of the growing power of social media in China or simply evidence of official embarrassment over an unusual shrine, authorities this week tore down a 120-foot-high golden statue of Mao Zedong built on farmland after images of it spread across the Internet.
The sudden dismantling of the edifice in central Henan Province followed a social media firestorm of criticism. Remarks ranged from lamenting that the money spent on the project — reportedly $455,000 by a local businessman — could have been better used for improving education; to suggesting the statue made it look like the great leader was sitting on a toilet.
The state-controlled People's Daily newspaper tweeted Friday that the statue had been demolished because it lacked approval from local government officials. The project in village of Zhushigang was the brainchild of a local businessman, Sun Qingxin, head of a conglomerate that manufactures machinery and owns hospitals, schools and food-processing plants, according to the The New York Times.
"He is crazy about Mao," a local potato farmer identified as Mr. Wang told the newspaper. "His factory is full of Maos."
But the statue was also taken down at a time when Chinese leaders have become increasingly worried about the deification of the revolutionary leader and founder of the People's Republic of China who died in 1976.
The state-owned Global Times newspaper, run by the People's Daily, reported last month that officials are concerned rural Chinese have come to view Mao as "a god and spiritual leader, and that there are temples to worship him."
The newspaper said central government officials are discouraging that practice and quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping as saying that "we cannot worship (revolutionary leaders) as gods just because they are great people, not allowing others to point out and correct their errors and mistakes."
Critics say examples of Mao's fallibility can be found in the region where the golden statue was constructed. Henan Province was severely impacted by famine caused by his Great Leap Forward program in the late 1950s that led to millions of deaths.
