President Xi Jiping is not going to be happy about this.

In 2014, President Xi expressed dissatisfaction with China’s “weird architecture”. Although foreign architects have been invited for years to submit unique designs, Chinese distaste for strange buildings has resulted in a government ban on the so-called “weird architecture”.

The ban, which was implemented early this year, was too late for Beijing’s new airport. As a prominent blogger on Weibo pointed out, the design of what is expected to be the largest airport in the world might, when viewed from a certain perspective, resemble part of the female anatomy.

Yesterday, Yang Jinlin posted a photo of the model of the new airport, along with this text:

“Here’s a bird’s-eye view of the design for the new Beijing Airport. Do you know the name of the designer?”

There is nothing really provocative about Yang’s post; but, netizens quickly followed Yang’s lead and remarked that the resemblance was uncanny: “This is worship of the reproductive (organs).” Others simply didn’t see it: “It’s clearly a starfish…everyone’s imagination is running too wild.”

The architect who designed Beijing’s new airport, Zaha Hadid, is a famous English designer of Iraqi descent. Despite her fame, Chinese netizens strangely insulted her with names like “witch”, “female devil”, “crazy”, and “alien”.

Most netizens make sense of new buildings by referring to them by what they resemble. Sometimes the comparison is benign, such as how the Shanghai World Financial Center looks like a bottle opener. Other times, the comparison is much more comical, such as how the People’s Daily Building resembles a penis (above left), or how the CCTV Tower looks like a pair of pants (above right).

The comparison prompted one netizen to complain, “The (building for the) People’s Daily is standing; the (building for the) CCTV is squatting; and now the airport in the capital is lying down. These new landmark buildings are such nonsense!! Oh Beijing, Beijing: where have your characteristics gone?”

Regardless of how netizens feel about the design, Beijing’s new airport is currently under construction, which began last year and is expected to finish in 2019.

If you happen to be one of the people who can’t see what all the fuss is about, then don’t expect the Chinese media to tell you. In news reports about the scandal, no mention is made of what the airport design resembles.

But if you do need some help, this Weibo user helps us with this particular interpretation: