KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — The statue of a woman breastfeeding her mother-in-law in China’s Zhejiang province has been removed following complaints from visitors and internet users.

Chinese portal Global Times reported that tourists and internet users had criticised the statue at Yingpan Mountain Scenic Spot in Huzhou as they claimed it was hard to understand why the woman would breastfeed her mother-in-law.

The statue was inspired by an ancient story that highlights the good virtue of filial piety and was intended to educate people about filial duty. 

According to the portal, this was not the first time such statues had sparked controversies.

It noted that a park in Beijing had in September 2019 used statues to recreate filial stories, such as the son who tasted his father’s feces to learn about his illness, and the man who buried his three-year-old son alive to save food for his mother. 

These stories come from the ancient Chinese book "The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars”.

Chinese internet users, however, said the connotation and pursuit of morality have changed with time and some outdated interpretations about filial piety in the ancient book should be discarded. 

Filial piety is a traditional value that Chinese people have been passing from generation to generation since China’s Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC — 771 BC).