Chiang's statue arrives in pieces

BEIJING, March 16 (UPI) -- The mayor of Tashi, China, wanted a statue of the late Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek to find a home in his birthplace of Zhejiang province.

Mayor Su Wen-sheng arranged to ship the statue, about 26 feet in height, from Taiwan.

But when Chiang's statue arrived in Tashi, officials found what The China Post calls "piles of scrap bronze." A Tashi official said the chunks are "worth next to nothing."

Chiang's remains are kept in a temporary mausoleum in Tashi.

Mayor Su hopes to have the pieces welded back together, the Post says.

The original statue showed Chiang in a sitting position. The China Post says many pieces of the original are missing.