Wangjing Panda Statue Gets a Sci-Fi Inspired Replacement

Wangjing Panda Statue Gets a Cyberpunk-Inspired Makeover

Vincent R. Vinci, Contributing Editor | Dec 28, 2021 3:02 pm | Add a comment | 397 reads

If you’ve walked between Line 14's Wangjing South Station and 798, you’ve most likely noticed an interesting sight: a statue in the middle of a roundabout depicting a panda and panda cub munching on bamboo. If you haven’t had the chance to catch it, though, that chance is now gone, as the statue has been given something of an upgrade.

And this upgrade is decidedly sci-fi inspired.

Meet what we’d like to call the Panda Mech – a big giant panda in a big giant mech suit exoskeleton type thing.

This fella replaced the other panda statue because, well, the other one was too old, according to city engineers. Constructed way back in 2012, the old pandas were showing signs of aging and decay, but rather than go through the trouble of refurbishing, the city decided to completely replace them.

The Panda Mech was designed by artist Bi Heng (毕横), and it seems to be a smaller version of other panda mech statues – one at Beijing Expo Park and another at Jinan, Shandong Province (which has also made appearances at other spots around the country).

These aren’t the only mech pieces Bi has designed, though. The artist also designed a mech bull which graced Sanlitun Taikooli around Chinese New Year this year.

Prior to that, the artist unveiled a giant swimming mech dragon at Galaxy SOHO, as well as a mech version of the Monkey King and a Transformers-inspired take on Guan Yu.

Despite the impressive mechanized pedigree behind the Panda Mech, a few netizens have noticed a minor difference with the Wangjing version – unlike its two siblings in Expo Park and Jinan, this one has what looks to be a wifi symbol on its chest instead of a yin-yang.

The difference has led to many a joke on the Chinese internet, with some netizens wondering if they’ll get free wifi if they stand close enough to the new statue.