Goddess of Democracy
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The Goddess of Democracy (Chinese: 民主女神; pinyin: mínzhǔ nǚshén), also known as the Goddess of Democracy and Freedom, was a ten meter (30 ft) high statue created during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
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[edit] History
The statue was constructed in only four days out of styrofoam and papier-mâché over a metal armature by students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The students decided to make the statue as large as possible so the government would be unable to dismantle it. The government would either have to destroy the statue — an action which would potentially fuel further criticism of its policies — or leave it standing.
Many people have noted its resemblance to the Statue of Liberty. Nonetheless, a sculptor present during its construction, Tsao Tsing-yuan, has written that the students decided not to model their statue after the Statue of Liberty because they were concerned that it would be unoriginal and "too openly pro-American." Tsao further notes the influence on the statue of the work of Russian sculptor Vera Mukhina, associated with the school of revolutionary realism (Tsao 1994, 141-2).
On May 30, 1989, it was erected in Tiananmen Square, facing the large photograph of Mao Zedong posted on Tiananmen Gate. The People's Liberation Army destroyed the statue during the June 4 protests.
[edit] Replicas
Several replicas of the statue have been erected to commemorate the events of 1989:
- A replica erected at a vigil attended by tens of thousands of people in Victoria Park, Hong Kong on June 4, 1996.
- A bronze sculpture was begun in 1989, dedicated in 1994, by Thomas Marsh, leading a group of volunteers. It weighs approximately 600 pounds (272 kg) and stands in Portsmouth Square, in San Francisco's Chinatown.
- A copy at the University of British Columbia, erected by the school's Alma Mater Society.
- A gilded replica stands in the foyer of the Student Centre at York University in Toronto, Ontario.
- An unknown artist's fibreglass copy was erected at the University of Calgary in 1995, commemorating students who died in the uprisings six years earlier.
- The Democracy Award given by the National Endowment for Democracy is a small-scale replica of the Goddess of Democracy.
- A 3 meter bronze replica is planned for a Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, D.C.
[edit] See also
- Aura the Finnish Maiden
- Bavaria statue
- Britannia
- Deutscher Michel
- Germania
- Columbia
- John Bull
- Johnny Canuck
- Johnny Reb
- Kathleen Ni Houlihan
- Liberty (goddess)
- Marianne
- Mother Svea
- National personification
- Statue of Liberty
- Uncle Sam
[edit] External links
- Goddess of Democracy at Portsmouth Square in San Francisco Chinatown
- Collection of Goddess of Democracy images
[edit] References
- Tsao Tsing-yuan. "The Birth of the Goddess of Democracy." In Popular Protest and Political Culture in Modern China. Edited by Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom and Elizabeth J. Perry, 140-7. Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 1994.
