chinese war god submit humbly to communist party. Forced to relocate
China built a massive 190-foot statue of a god of war that locals don't like. Now it'll cost more than $20 million to move the hulking work of art.
Cheryl Teh
Wed, September 8, 2021, 1:54 PM·3 min read
The 190-foot-tall statue of Chinese warrior god Guan Yu is located in Jingzhou, China. It's currently being relocated, piece-by-piece, to a spot eight kilometers away - though the price of moving it will cost the government an eye-popping $20 million. Weibo
- Chinese officials are wincing at the hefty $20 million cost of moving a 190-foot-tall bronze statue.
- An order was issued in December 2020 to relocate the colossal monument of Chinese warrior-god Guan Yu.
- It cost close to $26 million to build, but the Chinese government later said it ruined the area's landscape.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
It'll cost the Chinese city of Jingzhou a whopping $20 million to relocate a 190-foot-tall statue of Chinese warrior-god Guan Yu.
The eye-watering sum drew the ire of local anti-graft officials, who released
a sharply-worded statement on September 7 calling for more oversight when approving "large projects" - like the construction of this colossal bronze statue back in 2016.
Guan Yu, a famed Three Kingdoms-era warrior, is
worshipped and venerated in the country as a god of war.
"It's a waste of more than 300 million yuan ($46 million). First, it was constructed illegally, and then removed," local officials said of the statue in the central Chinese province of Hubei.
This was because the titanic version of the Chinese general
cost around $26 million to build in 2016. Additionally, it is located in an area where city regulations ban buildings from being taller than 78 feet, but the statue's advocates
managed to wriggle around a regulatory loophole to get its construction greenlit.
The statue was touted at its unveiling as the world's biggest bronze statue of the general, per the
South China Morning Post.
This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
Update your settings here to see it.
But not everyone was a fan.
The Chinese central government said that the statue "ruined Jingzhou's historical appearance and culture," and The Jingzhou Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development
opted to move it from its original location at Guan Gong Park last December. Some of the city's residents also complained that the attraction was an eyesore, telling local broadcaster
Sina News that "Jingzhou locals don't go there."