Panda Dung

12 Dec 2010 - A former Swiss ambassador to China turned art collector has forked out RMB 300,000 for a replica of the famed Venus de Milo statue - made from panda dung. Children from the southwestern province of Sichuan, the home of the panda, made the unusual statue with the help of famous sculptor Zhu Cheng. The work of art, on display in a museum in the central province Henan, attracted droves of onlookers and was eventually sold to Uli Sigg, who collects contemporary Chinese art. The statue was the main talking point of a recent show, attracting people not because it was a replica of a famous sculture, but because of the material from which it was made. "From time to time, people get closer to the statue and smell this yellow Venus and some claim it smells nice, " one person said.