Why did China's Cowherd and Weaving Maid statue draw flak?
Vanity projects in China often do not pan out as planned, and the latest project to make the headlines is a sculpture of the Cowherd and Weaving Maid in Lushan county in Henan province, which has been criticised for being expensive and ugly, and possibly a copy of another sculpture. Another factor is possible corruption and personal benefit, which is also difficult to root out.
China's Lushan county in Pingdingshan city, Henan province spent 7.15 million RMB (US$0.98 million) on a sculpture depicting the legend of the Cowherd and Weaving Maid, sparking a wave of criticism and an official being dismissed.
An expensive and ugly sculpture?
The 17-metre tinted cast copper relief sculpture was unveiled on 22 August, the Qixi Festival.
The bidding documents released by the Chinese government's procurement website on 6 July showed that a company called Ruize Art (Shenzhen) (睿泽艺术) won the bid with a price of 7.152 million RMB. The procurement content included costs incurred for sculpture design, production, clearing of rocks from the installation site, and overall logistics and installation costs, with delivery and installation of the sculpture 50 days after the contract signing.
... Chinese netizens are clearly unimpressed, with the sculpture being criticised and many calling it "ugly and expensive".
Lushan claims to be the birthplace of the folktale of the Cowherd and Weaving Maid that the Qixi Festival is based on, and was hoping to tap on this to spur tourism. The sculpture was to be a symbol signalling a fresh image of Lushan as a cultural city and a tourist destination.
However, Chinese netizens are clearly unimpressed, with the sculpture being criticised and many calling it "ugly and expensive".
The Cowherd and Weaving Maid sculpture was later found to bear a striking resemblance to a sculpture of the "Xiangjiang Goddess" that was unveiled in 2021 in Changsha. Save for the base and characters, the main structure, materials, colours and relief sculpting all appear similar, leading some to accuse the former of plagiarism.
Many netizens even felt that the Cowherd and Weaving Maid sculpture was not as intricately made as the "original", pointing out that the Xiangjiang Goddess sculpture had a moon with delicate sculpting whereas the moon on the Cowherd and Weaving Maid sculpture "looked like a section of a yellow banana".
Besides mocking Lushan for "not even plagiarising properly", there were also online comments that the Cowherd and Weaving Maid sculpture cost 42 times more than the Xiangjiang Goddess, stirring suspicions of possible pockets being lined.
According to a report by CCTV, since 2018, Ruize clinched five sculpting projects in Pingdingshan totaling 14.82 million RMB, with three projects in Lushan alone; someone surnamed Ma, one of the designers of the Cowherd and Weaving Maid sculpture and Ruize's biggest investor, was photographed alongside several key officials from Henan province.
As for the Chinese City Sculpting and Construction Research Institute (中国城市雕塑建设研究院) and the Chinese Association for the Promotion of Culture and Economy (中国文化经济促进会) where Ma held positions, there was no information that they were officially registered.
Amid these questions, an official from Lushan's housing and urban-rural development bureau said on 28 August that the project for the sculpture "adhered to the bidding process and was monitored throughout... not just by the public but also by various governmental authorities. It would not have gone through just based on one person's say-so."
However, when asked what materials were used for the sculpture and why it cost 7 million RMB, the official said he was unclear, "but it is surely worth the price."
Six 'don't know', one 'unclear'
What really caused the topic to snowball was the nonchalance and abrasiveness of officials towards questions.
When a reporter from the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald tried to contact the Lushan People's Government office on 28 August to clarify the controversy surrounding the statue, the attending staff responded six times "I don't know" and once "I'm not sure".
The reporter has asked whether the sum of 7.15 million RMB was used entirely for the construction of the statue, whether they were aware of the comparisons drawn to the Xiangjiang Goddess of Changsha, whether they knew of the conversation surrounding this online, and which department to approach with questions about the sculpture.
Also, a journalist from "The People's Concerns" (百姓关注) programme of the Guizhou Radio and Television Station contacted Lushan's housing and urban-rural development bureau for an interview, only for the staff to hurl insults: "To hell with monitoring the government, scram!"
"... judging by how they are clamouring to cover things up, who knows how serious the issues behind this statue incident are?" - Chinese netizen
A popular netizen tour guide called "Xiaohei Zhuming" (小黑诸鸣) uploaded a video on 29 August claiming that after he criticised the Cowherd and Weaving Maid sculpture on 26 August in one of his videos, he received a letter threatening him to "immediately delete any videos related to Lushan." More importantly, the letter included his son's identification number and his home address.
A netizen described this incident as "an abuse of authority in revealing personal details of an ordinary citizen, and a demonstration of local officials who are used to throwing their weight around... judging by how they are clamouring to cover things up, who knows how serious the issues behind this statue incident are?"
Amid the storm of public debate, the investigation team set up by Lushan announced on 29 August that an official surnamed Dang - the party secretary and director of the county's housing and urban-rural development bureau, who was directly responsible for this project - was removed, while an official of the department surnamed Ma - who insulted the reporter - was given a major demerit.
The team also committed to comprehensively reviewing the project design, construction cost, bidding process and other issues.
A netizen described the official response as "too nonchalant", adding that the authorities "cannot just be satisfied with tackling the issue on its surface, but need to go deep to identify the root of the problem, and resolve it from there."
Negative vanity project
In recent years, various locations in China have sought recognition as former residences of famous people or the source of myths and legends, and have worked to erect large-scale sculptures as cultural landmarks; several have bombed.
From setup to removal, the Guan Yu monument cost a whopping 320 million RMB.
In 2016, the city of Jingzhou in Hubei province spent 170 million RMB on a 57.3-metre, 1,200-tonne figure of Guan Yu. The bronze statue, said to be the largest in the world, was at one point an iconic landmark in Jingzhou, and was even included in China's cultural database as a key project.
Unfortunately, in 2020, it was found that the figure had cracks on its surface and its base was sinking, among other issues, and it was also alleged to have been constructed without approval. This was a blow to the historic city's image and cultural history, and local authorities spent 155 million RMB in October 2020 to relocate it.
From setup to removal, the Guan Yu monument cost a whopping 320 million RMB. Some members of the public criticised that "putting it up and taking it down cost hundreds of millions. Who lined their pockets, and who paid for it?" Others mockingly commented that Guan Yu might not have expected to be beheaded again thousands of years later.
Elsewhere, monuments like Wuhan's "Life" and Beijing's "Wangjing Welcomes You" were also criticised for being expensive but devoid of beauty, even making it on a list of weird structures compiled by netizens. However, such controversies are often only discussed, without any officials being taken to task.
Lushan's 2022 economic and social development report showed that public revenue for 2022 was 1.2 billion RMB, while public expenditure was 5.1 billion RMB.
Since Q2 of this year, China's economic revival has weakened, with a lacklustre real estate market causing a sharp decline in key revenue for local governments.
With their straitened finances, it is hard for local governments to continue to close one eye when it comes to vanity projects that cost tens or hundreds of millions of RMB. This is especially so for the centre of the storm, Lushan county, with its bleak finances given that it had just announced in 2020 that it was out of poverty.
Statistics from Lushan's 2022 economic and social development report showed that public revenue for 2022 was 1.2 billion RMB, while public expenditure was 5.1 billion RMB.
Recently, Chinese authorities have also frequently noted the problem of vanity projects. In the last two weeks, the People's Daily and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China have written to criticise certain local leaders for engaging in cost and labour-intensive vanity projects, wasting resources and adversely impacting economic growth while damaging the prestige of the local party committee and governments.
Yuzhong's projected public revenue for 2023 was 670 million RMB, while public expenditure was 1.2 billion RMB, with expenses exceeding revenue.
Besides Lushan, Yuzhong county in Lanzhou city, Gansu province, also set up an investigation team on 31 July to look into a 952 million RMB unfinished "citizens park".
Yuzhong was an extremely poor county, only making it out of the poverty list in 2019. Citing public data, The Paper reported that Yuzhong's projected public revenue for 2023 was 670 million RMB, while public expenditure was 1.2 billion RMB, with expenses exceeding revenue. The 952 million RMB "citizens park" project began in 2016.
These examples show that when large-scale projects by local governments are not what people want and lack proper oversight, or are not in line with the region's circumstances, problems might come up and a project that was intended to convey a positive image of a region would become a source of negative sentiment.
To be labelled "ugly and expensive" is a comparatively minor issue, but the damage goes beyond mere aesthetics if there are also underlying problems with direct or indirect conflict of interest or dishonesty.
This article was first published in Lianhe Zaobao as "715万人民币的牛郎织女雕塑何以翻车？"
