A statue of a revolutionary heroine in the eastern Chinese city of Shaoxing, in Zhejiang province, has had its sword stolen seven times since it was erected in a public square in 2010, the Qianjiang Evening News reports.
The statue of Qiu Jin, who was executed following a failed uprising against the Qing dynasty in 1905 at the age of 32, is popular not only with many people who come to take its photo – but one or more persons who come to take its sword, a manager of the square said.
The management company had tried many ways to secure the sword to the statue, but it kept being broken off and taken away.
The Qiu Jin statue is not the only one in the park targeted by vandals. People often climb the statues to take pictures or scribble graffiti on them.
A statue of a woman walking a dog is missing the dog, while another of a famous poet playing with three geese is now gooseless.
The manager said the company could not install surveillance cameras because it did not own the areas where the statues were erected.