After pictures and videos of a giant gold-painted statue of Communist China’s founding father Mao Zedong went viral last week, in a shocking turnover, the state media reported that it has been demolished, apparently for lacking government approval. The seated Mao was about 37 meters (121 feet) tall constructed in a field in central province of Henan. It took nine months and three million yuan ($460,000) to build the giant structure which has been destroyed, the People’s Net news portal cited local officials as saying, adding the reason was “unclear.”