红太阳广场

The massive statue of Mao Zedong stands at the center of Red Sun Square, rising high above the surrounding Lijiang streets. During the Cultural Revolution, the square served as the primary site for public political gatherings, where residents gathered to pledge loyalty to the state. In nineteen sixty-nine, workers hauled the heavy bronze figure into place to dominate the view. Local families still gather here to dance in the evenings, decades after the political fervor that commissioned the statue faded away.