Mao Zedong is the former communist ruler of China who has stirred up a bit of excitement in China thanks to his giant gold-plated statue that has been unveiled in Henan. The project was funded by private entrepreneurs and cost $459,000.
It is about 121ft high and has been created using steel, concrete and finally plated using gold. It was completed in December following 9 months of hard work involving labor and construction. Why is this structure creating a commotion? That’s because a few of Mao Zedong policies resulted in disaster and deaths in Henan, thus rendering the site as an insensitive location for the memorial to be located at. His ‘Great Leap Forward’ economic reform is held responsible for a famine in 1950’s and 60’s that is said to have caused millions of deaths in Henan.
Despite this all, the number of folks who hold the monument in reverie is a lot. Most of the online chit chat about this topic is trending on Weibo (China’s version of Twitter). In fact, the current President of China, Xi JinPing, has also shared that Mao Zedong was a great leader while recognizing that he did make some mistakes.
There are many users who didn’t share the same sentiment. One of them said, “Have they all forgotten the great famine to build this?” Another user writes, “This is so embarrassing!” Mao’s rule ceased in 1976 after his death and in spite of his mistakes, a lot of folks pay homage to his legacy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYHYR40YaTY