Authorities in China’s Hubei province are dismantling a massive statue of the military deity Guan Yu, a general of the Three Kingdoms, after the Chinese Communist Party called it a wasteful eyesore. The crackdown on waste of taxpayer funds, which has toppled big Buddhas and other icons, comes amid a tightening of controls over faith and ideology that experts say is aimed at weakening beliefs that challenge the CCP’s monopoly on ideology. The orthodoxy is now “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” based on the speeches and writings of the CCP chief.