![]() The case should be investigated thoroughly," another netizen said. "Build it and then tear it down, how much money will be spent on this?" a Sina Weibo user asked. Many asked to keep the statue considering its huge cost while others questioned that the supervision from local government has been absent since it began construction, and some local authorities are taking the wrong paths to boost tourism. ![]() The government's announcement to move the statue, however, caused another round of criticism for wasting resources and money. "The special working group and relative departments are making every effort to carry out rectification on this project," an official from the local government told the Global Times, refusing to explain in detail about any progress. It came under the spotlight in July when media reports said it is sinking and built without permission from local planning authorities, causing concerns over safety risks and legality.Ĭhina's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) issued a notice on October 8, pointing out that the giant Guan Gong statue damaged the style and historical context of the ancient city, ordering the local government to rectify the project. The statue alone cost about 170 million yuan ($25.9 million) however, its poor operation only earned revenue worth less than 13 million yuan in the past four years, far from what was expected, according to media reports. It didn't pass fire control inspections either before its operation started, reports said. The whole statue, however, didn't gain approval from the relevant authorities, except for its base, a two-story building called the Guan Gong cultural exhibition center. The whole project was built to boost tourism based on the image of Guan Yu and the ancient cultural background of Jinzhou, a city that was listed in the first batch of 24 famous historical and cultural cities in China in 1982 which includes Beijing, Xi'an of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province and Lhasa of Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The statue stands in a Guan Yu-themed park which began construction in 2014 and operation in 2016. Qin Jun, deputy director of Jingzhou's natural resources and planning bureau, admitted that the statue is still "too big and tall," although he noted that there is no explicit height limitations on sculptures in the city's planning rules. Jingzhou has organized experts from planning, architecture, sculpture, and cultural protection areas to formulate a relocation plan for the statue, the Jingzhou government announced on Tuesday, after state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) revealed on Monday that local authorities have been turning a deaf ear to conversations about the two-year-long construction of the statute which actually didn't acquire any official approval.Ĭovering an area of 228 mu (15.2 hectares) and weighing more than 1,200 tons, the illegally-built statue measures 57.3 meters in height, surpassing almost double the 24-meter height limit on buildings where the statue is located, CCTV reported. The giant bronze statue of Guan Gong (or Guan Yu), the renown ancient Chinese general from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), in a park in Jingzhou, Central China's Hubei Province, may have to find another place to stay, after drawing criticism from China's authorities and public who said that its obtrusive size and incompatible appearance have damaged the style and historical context of the ancient city. In 2010, the southern city of Zhaoqing in Guangdong province tore down a 38-meter Guan Yu statue worth 30 million Chinese yuan ($4.6 million) after it, too, was condemned as an illegal construction.The giant bronze statue of Guan Gong in Jingzhou, Central China's Hubei Province Photo: IC It was not the first short-lived Guan Yu statue under China’s construction spree. Local bureaucrats told Beijing News last week that the demolition would take two months, and parts of the statue would be stored somewhere temporarily until a new location is approved. It’s unclear where the statue would be moved to. ![]() The ministry later named the Guan Yu statue as a violation of the rule. Last year, China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban‑Rural Development issued a directive warning against the construction of gargantuan, out-of-touch statues in the name of promoting tourism or traditional culture. But its hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual revenues could barely cover operational costs, according to reports by news outlet Shangyou. Its original entry fee of 120 Chinese yuan ($17) was lowered to 40 yuan ($6) in 2019, while local residents could enter for free. It was designed by Chinese artist Han Meilin, widely known as the creator of the mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.īut the park did not become popular as the officials had hoped. The statue, a central piece of the park, was unveiled in 2016 to much fanfare.
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