A Google Maps user was surprised to discover a large message written into the earth in China, and has been told that it could be a political message.
The English-speaking searcher took his query over to Reddit after discovering the huge Chinese characters written into the ground near to the Great Wall of China in order to see if anyone knew what they said.
He shared the Google Maps co-ordinates with the group – 40.4499299, 116.5487750 if you’re interested – and asked: “What does it say?”
The first response wasn’t exactly sure, but gave a flavour of what it could be about.
They said: "Can't identify the first word. Depending on the first word, it should mean: i) For Chairman Mao ii) Begin with Chairman Mao."
The second respondent was a bit more certain, writing: "This is the correct translation. 'Loyal to Chairman Mao' or 'My loyalty lies with Chairman Mao'."
A third agreed, commenting: "First character means ‘loyalty’. So like the other commenter said. 'Loyalty for Chairman Mao'."
Obviously, we’re not experts in Chinese language or politics, but if they both agree we’ve not got too many reasons to doubt them, right?
Mao Zedong – or Chairman Mao, as we’ve already seen him nicknamed – was the communist leader who founded the People’s Republic of China.
He ruled over the country as the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party – hence the nickname – from the country’s establishment in 1949 until he died in 1976.
The existence of a large statement in his honour has led some to believe that the message could have been put there by the government as propaganda.
It’s a strange tactic, relying on people stumbling across the gigantic message on Google Maps.
Maybe they wanted NASA to see it from space, too?
One Reddit user wrote: "I wonder if this is government propaganda?"
Others chimed in to criticise the Chinese government, although admitted that has nothing to do with what the message says.
One such comment read: "F*** the Chinese government That's not what it says, just a fact."
Someone else piped up: "That's not how the word ‘fact’ works. ‘F*** the CCP’ is a statement and ‘CCP is committing crimes against humanity’ is a fact."
Everyone’s got a right to their opinion on that one, and we’ll just leave it at that.
Still, it’s awfully strange that there’s a large message written into the earth near to the Great Wall, right?
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