<p>BEIJING, China – The mysterious removal of a statue of Confucius opposite Beijing’s Tiananmen Square sparked an online flurry of speculation Saturday by Chinese looking for an explanation. One report says the monument was simply moved inside a nearby museum.</p> <p>The statue of the 2,500-year-old sage was unveiled just three months ago in the Communist government’s most visible endorsement yet of a cultural icon it had once reviled.</p> <p>On Saturday, it was missing from the pavement on the north side of the recently reopened National Museum of China, with no notice as to where or why it had gone.</p> <p>Online forums were abuzz with speculation as to its fate. The news portal sina.com quoted a museum staffer saying it had been moved inside to a new sculpture garden. The staffer, who wasn’t identified by name, said the statue had been displayed outdoors while the garden was being completed.</p> <p>Museum officials would not comment and told The Associated Press that no tickets were available Saturday to go inside and check. A woman who answered the phone at the office responsible for the district encompassing Tiananmen Square said she had no information on the statue and told reporters to call back Monday.</p> <p>The 31-foot (9.5-meter) bronze sculpture of a robed Confucius had sat just northeast of Tiananmen Square roughly facing a massive portrait of Mao Zedong, founder of China’s Communist regime, hanging from famed Tiananmen Gate at the entrance to the Forbidden City.</p> <p>Confucius was at the centre of Chinese civilization for nearly two millennia but was widely denigrated by Mao, who railed constantly against traditional culture and what he called “feudal thinking.”</p> <p>Thirty-five years after Mao’s death, the statue’s appearance was seen as proof of Confucius’ rehabilitation as an underlying ideology for a society that has largely discarded communist ideology, even as it retains the one-party Leninist political system.</p> <p>Already in recent years, Confucius has featured in new books and training courses, as well as in a poorly received state-funded biopic last year starring famed Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-Fat in the title role.</p> <p>While the statue’s new location could not be verified, Internet users speculated as to whether its removal had been planned all along, or had been prompted by political pressure.</p> <p>The website maoflag.net favoured by hard-core Maoists critical of China’s pro-market leadership, heralded the statue’s removal as a sign of the government giving way to popular sentiment against building up ideological rivals to the foreign leader.</p> <p>”Dump Confucius into the sea! Mao’s words are loved because he cared for all of the people, not just the elite,” said one comment on the site signed “Leftist.”</p>
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