Shanghai plans bigger Wall Street bull statue

2009-07-04 08:07:03 -

BEIJING (AP) - China's financial capital Shanghai plans to build a bigger version of New York's charging bull statue that sits near Wall Street in lower Manhattan for its waterfront, state media said Saturday.
The giant statue will weigh more than 13,200 pounds (6,000 kilograms) compared to the 7,000 pound (3,200-kilogram) bull in New York, the China Daily newspaper said.
The report didn't specify the dimensions but said it would be larger than the 16-foot (4.9 meter) long bull at the foot of Broadway in New York
It is being built to mark China's Year of the Ox and should be finished by February 2010.
The bull will hopefully «bring confidence and fortune to the Chinese people in times of uncertainty,» said Xin Yaqin, director of Huangpu district's office of financial services.
Xin said the artist designing the statue will give it Chinese characteristics to distinguish the Shanghai version from New York's.
Artist Arturo Di Modica was inspired to create the New York bull as a symbol of strength and hope after the 1987 stock market collapse. It took him two years to complete and cost him more than $350,000.
China's government has approved plans for Shanghai to become a global financial center, and the city is developing a district expected to be a 1 square mile zone (2.6-square kilometers) along the west bank of the Huangpu River.