It’s a Chinese thing. And everything is big, wild, without measure.
China has started to dismantle the giant statue of the famous general Guan Yu in the city of Jingzhou, after strong criticism of the project.
Workers recently removed the head of the 58-metre-high statue by order of the country’s government and began moving it to a new location eight kilometers away.
Now the monument’s owner, the state-owned Jingzhou Tourism Investment and Development Group, has to spend 155 million yuan ($23.9 million) to move it.
The statue cost more than 170 million yuan ($26.3 million) and was completed in 2016, with ambitions of a Guinness World Record.
However, the project faced strong criticism from the authorities.
Last year, China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said the monument “destroyed Jingzhou’s character and culture as a historic city”.
Additionally, the statue is currently in an area where buildings over 24 meters tall are prohibited.
However, it was revealed that the builders only requested the corresponding authorization to create the base of the monument: a ship-shaped museum.
Therefore, the construction of the statue turned out to be illegal.
Guan Yu was a military leader of the Three Kingdoms (220-280 AD) in ancient China and is considered one of the country’s greatest warriors.
