In 2017, residents of Nigeria's Imo state were surprised when South African President Jacob Zuma marked his visit to the region with a giant bronze statue… of himself. Statue of South African President Jacob Zuma in Nigeria Statue of South African president… in Nigeria Now, the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has ordered the relocation of Guan Yu, stating it 'ruins the character and culture of Jingzhou as a historic city' and is 'vain and wasteful.' On top of the initial cost to taxpayers, the relocation project added some additional ¥300 million ($46 million). This gamble, which came with a ¥1.5 billion ($232 million) price tag, proved unsuccessful, with the park housing the statue taking in only ¥13 million ($2 million) since it opened four years ago. While Jingzhou, the central city where the Guan Yu statue was built, used to be a strategic hub linking northern and southern China, its development has lagged behind coastal cities since the launch of economic reforms a generation ago.Ĭity policymakers hoped Guan Yu - portrayed in the 14th-century Chinese classic 'The Romance of the Three Kingdoms' as a righteous and loyal warrior - would draw tourism to Jingzhou. These “ white elephant” monuments are often more aimed to score political points than benefit civilians. One of the most striking is a 58-meter, 1,200-ton statue of Guan Yu, a widely worshipped military figure from the third century Eastern Han Dynasty. In recent years around China, politicians have invested in large-scale “signature buildings” to set their cities apart.

Statue of Guan Yu in Jingzhou Park, China Laura Boldrini, a member of parliament with the center-left Democratic party, told EuroNews that the monument was 'an offense to women and to the history it is supposed to celebrate.' Still, the city’s mayor, Antonio Gentile defended 'La Spigolatrice' on Facebook, writing it’s a “very important work of art which will be a great tourist attraction for our town.” For his part, the sculptor, Emanuele Stifano, said he was “appalled and disheartened” by the criticism and that he tries not to hide the human form, for both his male and female sculptures. Many politicians, pointed out that her appearance took away from the deeper meaning of the poem. But instead of being praised for honoring their country’s literary heritage, authorities in the province of Sapri faced criticism for the statue’s see-through dress. The 1857 poem written by Luigi Mercantini depicts the female gleaner who joined the Italian revolutionary Carlo Pisacane's failed campaign against the Kingdom of Naples.

The goal was to construct a statue honoring the heroine of “La Spigolatricen di Sapri” (“The Gleaner of Sapri”). 'The Gleaner of Sapri' statue in her see-through dress One of the very few things I promised them was that you might not like everything that I do, but you're never going to say I sat around and didn't do anything.” As Pucket told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “The voters obviously don't see the importance of that, but they knew going in. Still, Pucket said he doesn’t regret the project, which he hopes the new administration will finish and convert into an Airbnb. Pucket ended up losing by a whopping 95%, and now the uncompleted 19-foot-tall bird literally casts a shadow over Fitzgerald. The project has so far cost the town some $291,000 and became a point of contention during the recent mayoral election.

The mayor's dream to build a tourist attraction (including a live cam showing building progress) soon turned fowl. The project was inspired by the wild Burmese chickens that run around the town. Jim Puckett, the mayor of Fitzgerald, Georgia, was not playing chicken when he decided to construct the world’s largest topiary. The giant chicken imagined by former Mayor Jim Puckett, stopped mid-construction

Guan yu statue