Visitors take photos in front of the copycat version of the China Pavilion on Monday in Funing county, Jiangsu province. [Xinhua]?

BEIJING - While tens of thousands of visitors have visited the China Pavilion, one of the most popular spots at the Shanghai Expo, a copycat version of the pavilion is under construction in a poverty-stricken county in Jiangsu province, causing a huge controversy.

The mimic pavilion lies at the crossroads of two national highways in the south of Funing county, Yancheng city in East China.

The seven-story building is quite similar in appearance to the original China Pavilion in terms of its structure, color and shape. The only difference is that the mimic is just a sculpture, which has limited inside space and cannot be used as a pavilion.

"Construction of the building started after the Spring Festival holiday this year. It was planned to be completed before May Day, but only the main body has been finished and another 20 days are needed to build the square and the facilities around it," a local construction worker for the project was quoted as saying by Xinhua News Agency.

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Documents from the planning bureau in Funing county show that the 23-meter-high sculpture cost about two million yuan ($294,000) and the square covers an area of 8,000 square meters at a cost of 1.5 million yuan.

"Maybe the original intention of the government was not bad, but spending so much money to build such a sculpture, which has nothing practical in it, is not proper, especially in a poverty-stricken county," said Zhang Hailiang, a local villager.

Other issues, including occupying large amounts of land and plagiarizing the design of the China Pavilion, also drew complaints from local people.

But government officials said the sculpture will be an asset to the county.

"The county is in an inferior geographical position to develop its economy as it is not close to the sea and has no expressway. Building an eye-catching sculpture will increase local influence in the outside world," said Li Deping, director of the office of Funing county government.

Xia Yongsen, head of the local planning bureau, said the square, which is under construction, had been planned as early as 1998 to provide an exercise area for local residents.

"When the square project finally started in September last year, the planning bureau decided to build a sculpture on it, which is similar to the shape of the China Pavilion to show the county's participation in the Expo," he said.

Sociologists said local governments officials always neglect public opinion when they launch construction projects to enhance their image.

"To improve local people's livelihood should be a government's core job. However, many officials are not aware of that and pay much attention to building up a good image for the government only," said Chen Ru, deputy dean with the Nanjing Academy of Social Sciences.

Although local officials denied the design of the sculpture was copied from China Pavilion, experts believe the sculpture is an act of tort, which has the potential to draw a civil lawsuit.

"Just like the Bird's Nest for the Beijing Olympics, the China Pavilion is unique for Expo 2010 Shanghai. The design is protected by the State and cannot be used without authorization," said Cao Zengjie, professor with the China Academy of Arts, who is responsible for the design of the Zhejiang Pavilion in the Expo.