Move over ‘monkey Jesus’, China’s technicolour Buddha joins the wall of shame for botched repair works
Garish paint job, which just like notorious Spanish fresco was work of overzealous amateurs, exposed by cultural relics enthusiast
The botched restoration of a historic stone Buddha statue in southwest China has prompted a storm of protest after photos of the “cartoonish” paint work came to light.
The work on the Song dynasty (960-1279) relic in Anyue township, Sichuan province was actually carried out in 1995 but the authorities have only offered an explanation after the photos went viral on Chinese social media.
The work, apparently conducted by unqualified amateur restorers, has prompted comparisons with other botched restoration jobs, including the “monkey Jesus” in a Spanish church that attained global notoriety.
The latest incident was spotted by Xu Xin, a cultural relics enthusiast who has spent the last four years working at the Dunhuang grottoes in Gansu province, one of the country’s most celebrated Buddhist sites.
He published the photos from Anyue on Saturday on his Weibo profile, saying he received the information from a friend.
The “restored” sculpture had been covered with garish colours and appeared cartoonish.
Xu’s posts prompted angry online criticism and were instantly forwarded more than 15,000 times, with many commenters condemning the “restoration” and demanding an explanation from the local government.
