World's largest Chairman Mao statue under construction

As China marches toward the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China this October, the number of tributes to Mao Zedong keep cropping up. In the chairman’s home province of Hunan, the world’s largest statue of the late leader is currently under construction. The statue features the head of Mao as a young man.

Located on Juzizhou Islet in Changsha, the structure has a height of nearly 33 meters (106 feet). By contrast, the Statue of Liberty in New York is 46 meters (151 feet). The total construction area is reported to be 4,000 square meters. Once completed, the architects estimate the design will last at least a century.

The statue was generally supported by Chinese citizens on Internet forums, although some complained about the cost of the project. It has previously been reported that the project cost nearly 300 million RMB ($43 million USD). Statues of Chairman Mao are present on virtually all college campuses in China and other public areas.

Mao was born in Shaoshan which is 100 kilometers southwest of Changsha. Mao wrote a celebrated poem about Changsha in 1925.