Statue to be decorated with Christmas lights; creator Yoshiyuki Tomino spoke at China

Chengdu Guosetianxiang, an amusement park in the central Chinese province of Sichuan, has erected a 15-meter-tall (about 49-foot-tall) statue with a striking resemblance to the title robot from Gundam science-fiction anime franchise. According to the official website of the park, the statue will be decorated to "light up the Christmas night."

The "Nicchū Bunka Kōryū" to Kaite Ota Katsudō to Yomu blog and Narinari.com website posted images of the statue during construction, while a user on the Photobucket website posted an image of the completed statue. Chengdu Guosetianxiang's statue is shorter than the 18-meter-tall (59-foot-tall) Gundam statue that once stood at Tokyo's Odaiba Island and now stands in the central Japanese city of Shizuoka.

In a separate development, Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino visited Beijing last month and gave a talk at Beijing University to an audience of approximately 500 Chinese students. More were forced to wait outside due to arriving late. According to The Japan Times newspaper, Tomino received a positive response from his audience, even when he suggested that he "was not impressed" with the Chinese animation he had seen so far.

Thanks to dormcat for the translations.