A controversial building in China, which has been slammed by locals for ‘looking like a penis’, has become the unlikely star of a fake viral video purporting to show fireworks firing out of its roof.
The Guangxi New Media Centre, located in the autonomous region of Guangxi in south-eastern China, has taken nearly two years to build.
But locals in the Chinese province, on the border with Vietnam, have been less than impressed with the design of the structure.
One social media user in China was so outraged by the design, they released a heavily edited video showing a bright spray of fireworks being shot from the top.
Video posted on the Chinese social media site Douyin showed fireworks coming out of the top of the building in love-heart shapes
In the video footage, which was posted by a user two days ago onto Douyin, a popular video sharing platform in China, aerial shots of the illuminated building at night clearly show its resemblance to male genitalia.
The clip shows the building lit up with pulsating pink colours which turn blue as heart shapes explode in the night sky.
In the post, the user named ‘He Er Bu Tong’ said that the building looked ‘ridiculous’ when it was accompanied by the fireworks and the background music.
The 14-second clip quickly went viral on various Chinese social media platforms and across the globe – attracting even more ridicule over the design.
One user wrote on Douyin: ‘The building will surely become famous.’ And another said: ‘How creative!’
The Guangxi New Media Center in the autonomous region of Guangxi has been blasted by locals for its phallic appearance
The building has taken a painstaking two years to build and has been mocked by thousands of social media users
Commenting on the viral firework video, a spokesperson from the Guangxi Broadcasting and Television Network Company confirmed the video was fake.
The spokesperson told Chinese viral video website Pear Video that the firework scene was computer generated and it had been done by web users.
‘We turned on the lights on the façade of the building and it showed the image of a moon. Some (web users) photo-shopped extra lights, others photo-shopped fireworks and fountains onto it. All sorts of things.’
The spokesperson said fireworks were not allowed on top of the building, adding that the structure was still under construction.
Although the phallic structure has been widely mocked, reports said that the architects’ intention was to base it on the terraced landscapes that the provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan are famous for.
A spokesperson for the building later confirmed that the firework clip was computer generated
According to the architects of the building the horizontal slats are supposed to be evocative of the region’s rice paddies
It is not the first building to be erected in China which has been likened to a phallus – however.
A structure in Beijing, used as the headquarters of newspaper People’s Daily, received the Golden award in an architecture competition.
But it was widely criticised by locals during its construction as scaffolding appearing near the top of the building appeared to be very awkwardly placed.
The 33-storey tower was completed in 2015 after four years of construction and eventually ended up looking
A structure in Beijing, used as the headquarters of newspaper People’s Daily, which was finished in 2015 also drew criticism two years ago for its likeness to a male bodypart