Check Out This Insanely Huge Golden Statue of Chairman Mao
Businessmen in China went all out to pay tribute to Mao Zedong.
Chinese businessmen and villagers spent nearly $500,000 to build a massive, 120-foot-high golden statue of Communist dictator Mao Zedong in the center of an area brutally affected by famines he helped cause. Under Mao’s watch, upwards of 45 million people -- mainly peasants -- are believed to have died in just four years.
Chinese businessmen and villagers spent nearly $500,000 to build a massive, 120-foot-high golden statue of Communist dictator Mao Zedong in the center of an area brutally affected by famines he helped cause. Under Mao’s watch, upwards of 45 million people — mainly peasants — are believed to have died in just four years.
The gaudy new statue — which features a gold-painted Mao calmly looking into the distance with his hands folded across his lap — was erected in a rural area of Henan province. It is reportedly made out of concrete and steel, and took nine months to build.
Take a look below:
Photo credits: ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images; ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images; STR/AFP/Getty Images
More from Foreign Policy


A New Multilateralism
How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.


America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want
Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.


The Endless Frustration of Chinese Diplomacy
Beijing’s representatives are always scared they could be the next to vanish.


The End of America’s Middle East
The region’s four major countries have all forfeited Washington’s trust.