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A worker drives forklift to move a Karl Marx statue towards the pedestal in Trier, Germany, April 13, 2018. A 4.4-meter monumental bronze statue of Karl Marx presented by China as a gift to the great thinker's hometown, was erected here Friday ahead of celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary since Marx's birth. (Xinhua/Shen Zhonghao)

TRIER, Germany, April 13 (Xinhua) -- A 4.4-meter monumental bronze statue of Karl Marx presented by China as a gift to the great thinker's hometown, was erected here Friday ahead of celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary since Marx's birth.

Designed by famous Chinese sculptor Wu Weishan, the statue arrived in the Western German town of Trier last month and is scheduled to be officially unveiled to the public on May 5, 200 years to the day Karl Marx was born in 1818.

"This is a gift of friendship which we receive from China rather than a political statement," Trier Mayor Wolfram Leibe told Xinhua, welcoming the statue as a new attraction of the city and expecting more Chinese visitors to come to Trier this year.

A series of events surrounding Karl Marx, including the grand state exhibition as well as two partner exhibitions in his city of birth, will shed light on the life, works, time, and ideology of Trier's "great son" in Germany, particularly in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The "Communist Manifesto," originally known as the "Manifesto of the Communist Party," was written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It has been serving as a guiding principle for the Communist movement and has profoundly changed the world.