A company that smashed a giant statue of Mao Zedong last month while redeveloping a district in Hainan province has come under fire from leftists, who labelled the action 'subversive' and an attempt to overthrow the socialist state.
Erected on October 1, 2008, in the town of Longlou in Wenchang, the 9.9-metre, white marble statue had attracted many visitors, China News Service reported.
Internet users on leftist websites demanded authorities severely punish the unnamed real estate developer for smashing the likeness of the Great Helmsman into five pieces.
'Why can't Longlou tolerate a magnificent statue of Mao Zedong?' China News Service quoted an internet user as saying. 'It's not only a humiliation to people in Longlou, but also a humiliation to Hainan people.'
Internet users on maoflag.net and wyzxsx.com - two major leftist websites - were furious to see two photos of the broken statue posted online and widely circulated on the mainland's Twitter-like microblog platforms. One photo featured the head of the statue, its nose and forehead damaged.
Many internet users said the way the statue was toppled was 'extremely cruel', akin to the way the statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down by American soldiers in Iraq 2004.