A visitor grabs a photo opportunity with a statue of Bruce Lee in the Expo Park during the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

There are thousands of sculptures scattered all over public squares and parks in Shanghai. The question is, do these works of art truly reflect the pulse of the city? Wang Zhenghua finds out opinions are clearly divided.

Are they valuable works of art, or just vulgar, ostentatious displays? Do public sculptures decode Shanghai and offer insight into where our city has been, as well as where it will be going?

There are currently about 3,500 statues in public spaces, about three times the number from 10 years ago. Some believe they serve as testament to the financial hub's efforts to show off a soft power more in tandem with its global clout in international business.

In 2004, a spokeswoman of the municipal government admitted that things could be better. Of the 1,024 public sculptures in Shanghai, only about 10 percent are excellent works, while another 10 percent drops to the bottom of the spectrum. The rest, she said, were somewhere in-between.

There is a lack of coordination and overall planning in Shanghai's display of public art, and the best pieces are not displayed at the best sites, said the spokeswoman Jiao Yang.

"There are no city sculptures that could represent Shanghai's identity as a global metropolis."

With this mission in mind, the city put forward a general plan aimed at boosting the artistic levels of the city's public art.

By 2020, there would be 100 important city sculptures and a total of 5,000 works in residential areas, company premises and streets. The city also intends to put in place landmark statues that represent Shanghai, according to the outline released in 2004.

But whether there is a notable improvement in the artistic levels of the city's public sculptures over the past decade remains a sticky point.

Public opinion is pretty straightforward: Of the 69 respondents polled in a recent survey on China Daily's WeChat service, about 73 percent of users said the aesthetics of the city's public art is barely satisfactory. Even worse, some actually said they hardly notice these public sculptures, perhaps because they were not impressive.

The negative feedback is shared by Mathieu Borysevicz, the founder and director of BANK gallery in Shanghai, who has worked in the Chinese art world since the 1990s.

"I have been in Shanghai for seven years and I'm not sure that there has been a specific improvement in the city's public sculpture," he said.

One example of public folly is the Shanghai Bull, a copycat derivative of Arturo Di Modica's Charging Bull installed in late April 2010 and unveiled on the Bund in Shanghai on May 15, 2010.

The 2,300-kg work of art is said to have the same height, length and weight as the New York City Charging Bull.

"In my mind, it shows a dire lack of originality on the part of the Shanghai government. I mean how can you take the emblem of another major city and use it as your own, and right in the city's most important area?

"And the unfortunate positioning of the sculpture allows traffic on the Bund to look right up the animal's buttocks - it's not even good fengshui," said Borysevicz.

"It's important to leave artistic decisions to those who are qualified. This may mean that the city planning bureau should employ or regularly consult experts who come directly from the art world, or that the city should have public sponsored organizations that can initiate and execute projects around the city," he said.

For instance, NYC has both Creative Time and the Public Art Fund, both of which are run by experts and oversee both permanent works and a temporary program of public projects around the city.

"Public art also needn't mean big, hulking sculptures around the city. It can also be performances, videos on electronic signs, temporary installations or anything else that more directly reflect the fast-paced nature, ideas, and aspirations of Shanghai residents," he added.