'Marilyn Monroe' fails in her effort to lift up district's business spirits

The image of Marilyn Monroe holding down her dress as it is being lifted by a draft from a subway grate epitomizes the mixture of sexiness and innocence of the American movie star.

Ubiquitous as it may be, that image found a most unconventional incarnation as an 8-meter statue by developers in a small Chinese city hoping to lure renters and shoppers to its high-end property.

The Bali Real Estate Development Company erected the statue on Dec 29 in Guigang, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. It even looked forward to possible lawsuits from whoever held rights to the image from the 1955 movie The Seven Year Itch.