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Puffer fish tower makes waves
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A VIEWING tower in the shape of a giant copper puffer fish has created an online furore about bizarre and pricey targets of state investment.
Encased in 8,920 copper plates and costing 70 million yuan (US$11.4 million), the tower on an island in Yangzhong County, in the eastern Jiangsu Province, stands 15-storey high.
Locals who welcome the fish say it improves the county’s image. Less enthusiastic residents question whether such expensive and impractical structures are needed.
“To spend so much money on something so meaningless, I really admire these ‘wealthy’ people,” microblogger Mother988 posted on Sina Weibo.
Public records show Jiangsu’s local government bodies are the most in debt in China. Jiangsu says its debt is manageable but this week announced plans to control land sales, the first provincial government to do so.
Yangzhong aims to promote the tower as the world’s biggest metal construction by volume, the People’s Daily said.
Central Henan Province drew controversy in 2011 when a state-backed charity tried to build an eight-storey sculpture of Soong Ching-ling, honorary chairwoman of China. Construction was scrapped half-way through.
Zhejiang Province also came under the spotlight after it modeled one of its city court houses on Capitol Hill.
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