For those who can't find a representative figure, why not build a 40-meter tall potato in Dingxi, Gansu Province, a 50-meter peony in Luoyang, Shanxi Province, and maybe a 60-meter green onion in Zhangqiu, Shandong Province? There is surely no lack of local politicians who will contend for attention by coming up with huge, strange constructions. However, this kind of attention will not last and is definitely not a responsible or sustainable concept. Some may point out the many landmarks hyped on social media precisely because they are peculiar, big or even ugly. This was definitely not a cost-effective investment and obviously functions neither as a city icon nor a cultural tourism brand as the city authorities had hoped. Alas, since the park opened its doors more than four years ago, the revenue to date is a mere ¥13 million ($2 million). In total it cost ¥1.5 billion ($232 million) to build the statue alone was ¥173 million ($27 million). Opened in June 2016, the park hosting the statue comprises a surface of 228 acres. With the aim of luring tourists, the city leaders decided to use him to create the city's core attraction, their own IP. He is portrayed in the 14th-century Chinese classic "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" as a righteous and loyal warrior. This is why the city's policymakers came up with the idea of using the place's most popular and glorified personality, Guan Yu (who some refer to as Guan Gong). But its development has lagged behind coastal cities since the launch of economic reform a generation ago. Long ago Jinzhou was a strategic hub linking the North and the South of China. The statue of Guan Yu in Jingzhou is a perfect example. Unfortunately, due to a dearth of true creativity, too many cities' expression of their rich cultural heritage is reduced to just building peculiar cultural landmarks. The over the top government buildings, which for numerous years mushroomed in many corners of China, even in the poorest regional cities, are the most obvious examples.Ī project truly catering to people's benefit would address their most urgent needs and would be systematically conceived of and designed to play a practical role. You can see right away when construction projects neglect the physical conditions of their location. It doesn't take much to be able to differentiate between a project constructed to score political points and a project destined for the people's benefit. Some of these " white elephant" projects, even if they reach the scale of the Guan Yu statue, or do not necessarily violate any regulations, are a real problem for society. And now, it is the construction of cultural landmarks. But by now, we have often seen negative consequences of such projects, which evolved from luxurious government offices to skyscrapers for businesses and residences. In recent years local authorities in China have often raced to create what is euphemistically dubbed IP (intellectual property), in the form of a signature building in their city. Huge monuments as "intellectual property" for a city
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