37-metre-tall golden Chairman Mao statue appears in the Chinese countryside

Users of China’s popular microblogging service Weibo appeared divided over the statue, with user shenqilei saying, “This is so embarrassing!”, while beijiyisuoqianban took a more patriotic tack, saying: “Long live Chairman Mao!”

The 121-foot-high homage to Mao sits on a wire chair, with his hands crossed in his lap, staring out onto agricultural fields.

So far, it has cost locals approximately 3 million yuan (nearly $460,000) to build, according to local Chinese news outlet Sina.

Another head in Mao’s likeness is placed on the ground next to the giant statue of Mao.

Of course, it’s not the first giant statue of the Great Helmsman. He was in power for three decades before his death in September 1976.

The statue is seated in the middle of the Henan Province of China, the exact spot where the starvation of 1950s wiped clean a major chunk of the population, for which many still blame Mao and his policies. Tens of millions of people died under his rule in what has been described as “economic mismanagement and political terror”, reported NPR. A harrowing piece in the Guardian recounted famine’s toll in one city in Henan, with one in eight citizens dying. A teenage orphan kills and eats her four-year-old brother. The smiling statue has faced criticism online, with some branding it a waste of money and pointing out the potential insensitivity of its location. His remains are still visible in the mausoleum dedicated to him in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. It remains one of China’s poorest regions.