Symbol Is Unshaken : Temblor, Technocrats Fail to Move Chinese Protest Monument

Standing tall against both temblors and technocrats, a hastily erected 23-foot-high replica of the “Goddess of Democracy” statue destroyed by Chinese troops during the Beijing massacre won city permission Monday morning to remain atop a Civic Center footbridge.

The 1,500-pound monument, built of wood and plastic foam, was installed within 45 minutes by a band of Los Angeles arts activists Monday morning--without a city permit. When police and fire officials arrived minutes later, they quickly declared it a hazard to the Temple Street traffic below and ordered it removed.

Councilman Michael Woo and city cultural affairs chief Adolfo (Al) Nodal stepped in. Calling the statue a “terrific symbol,” Woo rushed to the Board of Public Works, which had a regular meeting scheduled at 9:30 a.m. The board agreed to cut through red tape and take up the unusual matter half an hour later.

‘That Tells You Something’

Then, at three minutes before 10 a.m., the earth shook. But despite the 4.5 magnitude quake, the statue stood unbowed.

“That tells you something,” said Tom Van Sant, the artist who began designing and constructing the sculpture at his Santa Monica studio last Thursday. “Nature can’t get it down; only the Department of Public Works can.”

When the Board of Public Works finally took up the matter, its members--citing the earthquake as a true test of the statue’s stability--voted unanimously to allow it to remain in place for a week.

“I guess it just got a special test of its structural integrity,” board President Edward J. Avila said. “This board would not consider this matter in other circumstances, but the force of this message (for democracy) is of such magnitude we believe it is important that the symbol remain up.”

Tethered With Cables

On the recommendation of Public Works engineers, the board directed that the monument be tethered with metal cables. Van Sant, who also designed the footbridge for the city in 1974, assured the board that the arched span can support his artwork.

“You can put 1,000 people on that bridge and it would not compress,” Van Sant said.

Seconds after the board vote, a 4.3 magnitude aftershock hit, but the statue again remained unshaken.

A Public Works crew then went to work at the footbridge, supplying two cherry pickers and guy wire. As appreciative onlookers watched, Van Sant boarded one of the cranes to crown the monument with a torch held high.

“All right!” yelled Bill Lasarow, former president of the local chapter of Artists Equity Assn., a national visual artists service organization.

Lasarow’s group of eight artists had decided to erect the monument last Monday, two days after Chinese troops stormed Tien An Men Square, killing scores of students and bulldozing the towering symbol of their movement.

The statue “is saying we support the aspirations of the Chinese people--freedom, democratic reforms and a more open society,” Lasarow said. “We want to say we’re watching what the Chinese government is doing.”

Van Sant was initially moved to build the statue after he watched a protest by 400 Chinese students during a trip to Boston last week. He and other Artist Equity Assn. members notified city officials that they planned to erect the monument, but did not say where it would go up. Because time was of the essence, the artists explained Monday, they decided to act first and then seek a permit.

Police and fire officials who had sought to have the statue removed took pains to say that their concerns dealt with safety, not the monument’s message. “We all support what the statue symbolizes; it’s just unsafe,” LAPD Sgt. Robert Grant said.

After the vote, police helped block off Temple Street, between Main and Los Angeles streets, to assist the Public Works crewmen as they secured the statue. Grant joined in the applause when the torch was affixed.

The pedestrian walkway, which connects City Hall East and the north end of the downtown Mall near the Los Angeles Children’s Museum, will be closed through next Monday. During that time, the Board of Public Works will search for another site for the statue.

‘It’s Beautiful’

The replica, one of several that have sprung up across the nation in the last week, drew support from passers-by. “I think it’s beautiful,” said Dan Wing, a Civic Center worker. “This is a time when we have to state our thoughts and support the movement in China.”

Others, though, questioned the statue’s seemingly precarious perch. And a handful remained downright perplexed. “I don’t know what it is,” said a city traffic officer directing vehicles away from the roadway beneath the bridge. “It has something to do with China?”

By early afternoon, the statue had become a certifiable tourist attraction. An elderly Chinese couple, who had emigrated from Hunan to Cerritos and just received their permanent U.S. residency papers at the nearby Federal Building, posed in front of the goddess. And an artist sat at the foot of the statue, hoping that his portrayal of the goddess can be sent back to China via a facsimile machine for use as a poster.

Buoyed by the response to the project, Van Sant said he wants to build a permanent monument.

“We’ll make it out of Georgia white marble,” he said. “And when (the Chinese) finally get democracy and personal freedoms, we’ll give one to them.”