The Chronicle reports:
The hometown of China's terra-cotta army boasts two new statues that are rapidly becoming famous, to the chagrin of the college that commissioned them.
They depict Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, and Nuwa, a Chinese mother goddess, guarding the library of Modern College, an affiliate of Northwest University in Xi'an.
It turns out that helmeted Athena's homely features belong to Ms. Guo, a major donor who is the college board's chairwoman (and who, like many Chinese officials, was identified in news accounts only by her surname). Nuwa portrays Ms. Liu, another donor and board member. The statues have attracted ridicule from China's army of bloggers and tweeters, who hoot that they are proof of corruption, servility to donors, and disregard for academic standards.
Modern College has given no information about the two women's donations or the origin of their funds.
Read more: http://chronicle.com/article/College-in-China-Loses-Face/130243/?sid=gn&utm_source=gn&utm_medium=en
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