Shanghai plans own "Wall Street bull": report

BEIJING (Reuters) - Wall Street may be down on its luck, but China's growing business hub, Shanghai, plans to install its own version of the Street's famed charging bull statue, casting in metal its hopes to eventually rival New York.

The China Daily reported on Saturday that Shanghai's bull will sit on the city's famous Bund riverfront, across from the Pudong financial district, weighing 6 metric tonnes, compared with Wall Street's 3.2 tonne beast.

Xin Yaqin, an official in Shanghai's Huangpu district, said the statue was intended to "bring confidence and fortune to the Chinese people in times of economic uncertainty," the paper reported.

"Shanghai is different from New York, so we'll ask the artist to add Chinese characteristics to the sculpture," Xin said.

The city is home to China's biggest stock market and the regional base of many multinationals.

China is passing through the year of the ox in the traditional 12-year cycle of animal symbols, and the report said the sculpture will be in place before the next lunar new year starting in February 2010.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Alex Richardson)