Artist Hong in Fujian province has sold hundreds of ceramic statues of Mr. Trump meditating, with the highest price being $2,700 each.
The ceramic statue of US President-elect Donald Trump wearing a robe, in a meditative position with eyes half-closed, sitting cross-legged, is the work of carver Hong Jinshi in Dehua town, Fujian province, AFP reported on January 13. Each statue is sold for 999-20,000 yuan (about 140-2,700 USD) depending on size.
These statues began attracting attention on China’s e-commerce platform Taobao since 2021 and have regained interest before Mr. Trump’s second term inauguration.
“After he won the election, the statues received a lot of attention. Usually the topic of politicians is quite boring, but Mr. Trump is very influential online and often says unexpected things,” Hong said. said.
Hong, 47 years old, originally carved this statue just for joking purposes. However, he estimates he has sold hundreds of paintings in the past few years.
“Customers are interested because Mr. Trump’s personality and the appearance of the statue are two polar opposites,” he said.
Each statue is packaged in packaging printed with the Chinese words “Make your company great again”, based on the familiar slogan “Make America great again” of the US President-elect.
Counterfeit versions of this statue even appear on shopping platforms in the US, including Amazon and Temu, for $45. “It’s funny to make fun of people in power and famous people,” Hong said.
Recently, Hong began carving a statue of billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of Mr. Trump and will play a leading role in the Government Performance Committee in the new administration. The statue depicts the image of the American billionaire in the style of Marvel’s superhero Iron Man, but carries with him a large rocket to symbolize the ambitions of the CEO of SpaceX.
Although the statue has a style that is both respectful and satirical, Hong said he greatly admires Musk, who owns the electric car company Tesla, which operates a large factory in Shanghai and has high sales in China.
“Musk’s rockets are amazing, he has lowered the price of rockets a lot. As a businessman, he has done what a country cannot do,” Hong said.
Hong declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s new policy toward China, when many people predict relations between Beijing and Washington may deteriorate after the President-elect takes office.
“I think he is still as funny as before. Every day there is interesting news when he is president,” Hong added.
While the statues remain popular, Hong no longer sells them on websites in China. According to him, the work was removed from the product catalog, possibly because it was considered offensive to Buddhists. However, he still continuously receives orders from visitors to the factory, friends and acquaintances.
“When he was re-elected, people became interested in this statue again, perhaps because Mr. Trump has a lot of backstories,” Hong emphasized.