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A photo of the 120-foot-high golden statue of Chairman Mao erected in rural Henan Province in China. The edifice was later torn down.(Photo: EPA)
Whether proof of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the growing power of social media in China or simply<span style="color: Red;">*</span>evidence of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>official<span style="color: Red;">*</span>embarrassment over<span style="color: Red;">*</span>an unusual shrine, authorities this week tore down<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a 120-foot-high golden statue of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>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<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ranged from lamenting that the money spent on the project<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— reportedly<span style="color: Red;">*</span>$455,000<span style="color: Red;">*</span>by a local businessman<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— could have been better used for improving<span style="color: Red;">*</span>education;<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to suggesting the statue made it look<span style="color: Red;">*</span>like the great leader was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>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<span style="color: Red;">*</span>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<span style="color: Red;">*</span>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<span style="color: Red;">*</span>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<span style="color: Red;">*</span>rural Chinese have come to view Mao as "a god and spiritual leader,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and that there are<span style="color: Red;">*</span>temples to worship him."
Another image of the Chairman Mao statue build in rural Zhushigang, China.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: EPA)
The newspaper said central government officials are discouraging that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>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<span style="color: Red;">*</span>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.
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