The latest tribute to China’s Great Leader is truly great, if only by measure of its size.
According to local media, a statue was built on farmland in Tongxu county in Henan province as a tribute to Mao Zedong, who ruled the country from 1949 to 1976.
The statue reportedly stands 36.6 metres tall.
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People’s Daily reports that the gigantic golden-coloured structure was funded by businessmen and local villagers. It cost nearly three million yuan (CAD $645,000) to construct.
In the 1940s, the area was hit with a severe famine due to a combination of war and drought that claimed the lives of three million people.
According to author Yang Jisheng, the province was hit hard again in the 1950s and 1960s during The Great Famine, which was blamed on government policies.
Chinese state data lists Henan as one of China’s more impoverished regions.
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