A giant eight-tonne Chinese-made stainless steel 'goddess of world peace' is on her way to France where she will help mark the 60th anniversary next month of the two D-Day landings of 1944.
Guangzhou sculptor Yao Yuan designed and built the 10-metre Statue of World Peace, which will be assembled at Grandcamp-Maisy at Normandy - the site of a crucial battle to liberate northwest Europe during the second world war.
The statue of a woman with outstretched arms releasing a dove - symbolises a flying goddess from the east and an angel of the west. The outstretched arms represents the Chinese character for peace, a 'V' for victory, and 'W' for world, worship and warmth.
Yao has likened his gift to when the people of France presented the Statue of Liberty to America in 1884.
He told the Sunday Morning Post that the gift was a gesture of friendship between the two countries, which share long histories, traditions and cultures.
'If we say D-Day was to deter war by means of war, then the landing of the Statue of World Peace on Normandy is our effort to deter war by means of peace, Yao said.