The stone statue of Zhinyu. [Photo/Beijing Youth Daily]

Mr Wei, a 55-year-old Doumen town resident, thinks the statues of Niulang and Zhinyu are good-looking. "They are from the Western Han Dynasty, and have a long history of more than 2,000 years. How could they be not pretty? Pretty!" he said. It is said that Niulang and Zhinyu were Doumen residents, so local people love them.

Professor Yu Gengzhe, from the School of History and Culture in Shaanxi Normal University, who posted the images of Niulang and Zhinyu on Weibo, originally intended to popularize knowledge, didn't expect such heated discussions. He said that, "The stone carvings from the Han Dynasty are just like that, and the stone statues are how Niulang and Zhinyu appeared in Han Dynasty people's minds. But it doesn't mean that their images in other dynasties were also like this."

Yu said that the two stone statues witnessed the reign of Emperor Wudi in the Han Dynasty and are national key protection units and have high cultural values.

Yu also added that the stone statues have never suffered from deliberate destruction, and their damage is within normal range.

"To restore a relic into its original appearance is not always good protection; instead we have to accept what it looks now, just like the Venus with the missing arms," he said, referring to the famous ancient Greek statue, Venus de Milo.