Meet the GREAT Helmsman: Chinese village spends £310,000 building a giant golden statue of Chairman Mao

By Chloe Lyme For Mailonline, www.dailymail.co.uk
January 5th, 2016

With a head as large as a two-storey house, this gigantic golden Chairman Mao Zedong sculpture sits proudly in Tongxu county, central China's Henan Province.

The 121-foot-tall statue - which was funded by a group of entrepreneurs and local villagers – cost 3 million Yuan (£310,000) to build, reports the People’s Daily Online.

The giant sculpture of Communist China's first chairman, who ruled the country from 1949 for almost three decades, sits in the empty fields of the village of Zhushigang in Henan.

Sitting proud: This giant statue of Chairman Mao Zedong towers way above the trees in Tongxu county, central China‘s Henan Province

Striking: The painted gold statue costs nearly 3 million Yuan Photo by: £300,000

Mao's head: Some people online have said the statue in central China doesn't look like Mao Zedong, Communist China’s founding father

The enormous figure has reportedly taken nine months to build, and is almost completed.

Villagers in the area have praised the statue and taken great pride in erecting it, but some people from the online community are confused by it, others think this statue is not the way to show respect.

One online user named Laputan-youxuan said: 'Farmers are so rich.'

Courage094 asked: 'What’s this for?'

Bai Shaolei had a few points to make: '1. Doesn’t look like. 2. Mao Zedong’s theory is important, not his image. 3. Is this built on farming land or housing land?'

Despite being blamed by the western media for killing millions of people in the late 1950's after his economic policies led to a widespread famine, and the cultural revolution in the 1970's, Communist China’s founding father Chairman Mao is still widely respected in China, almost 40 years after his death in 1976.