The statue will be placed on the Changsha plaza which is under construction in Gonggar County, making it the first plaza in Tibet with a statue of Mao.

Changsha, the capital of central-south China's Hunan Province, donated 6.5 million yuan (about 812,500 U.S. dollars) for the plaza.

The statue measures 7.1 meters tall and is made of quality chiseled stone from Dingzi Township, Wangcheng County of Hunan Province, according to designer Zhu Weijing, who is also head of the Changsha Sculpture Institute.

The statue, which began its journey Monday, will go through five provinces including Hubei, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai provinces to reach Tibet.

Mao Zedong, born to a farmer's family on December 26, 1893, was the founder and leader of the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China. He is remembered and revered by people in China and the world.