Hong’s loose white clothing, shaved head, and softly spoken nature bear little resemblance to the eccentric subjects of his sculpting.
He recently began designing a similarly tongue-in-cheek effigy of another American luminary: Trump backer Elon Musk, who seems set to play a major role in his administration.
The statue casts the controversial billionaire in the style of the Marvel superhero Iron Man, clad in a rippling suit of metal armour.
In Hong’s version, though, a large rocket protrudes from Musk’s groin to symbolise the SpaceX CEO’s galactic ambitions.
Despite toeing the line between homage and offence, Hong said he has a lot of admiration for Musk, whose electric-vehicle company Tesla operates a massive factory in Shanghai and enjoys robust sales in China.
“Musk’s rockets are awesome — he’s brought the price of rockets down a lot,” he told AFP.
“He has done, as an individual entrepreneur, what an entire country can’t even do.”
Zen and the art of the deal
Hong declined to comment on Trump’s policies towards China, a sensitive topic in the Asian nation.
But many expect relations with the United States to deteriorate further after Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
On the campaign trail, Trump took a tough line on Beijing, vowing even higher tariffs on Chinese imports.
He previously imposed onerous levies during a bruising trade war in his first term — measures largely preserved by his successor Joe Biden.
Trump also angered Chinese leaders with his brash rhetoric, notably blaming Beijing for the decline of American manufacturing and calling the pathogen that causes Covid-19 the “Chinese virus”.
Yet the 78-year-old still appears to have many admirers in China.
“I still think he’s just as funny (as before)”, said Hong. “Every day there’s interesting news when he’s president.”
