One of farmers hangs the huge white cloth on the base of the "trunk" using long ropes. Photo: screenshot of video posted on Sina Weibo

A tourist attraction in East China's Jiangxi Province famous for its mountain peak shaped like the head of an elephant grabbed the attention of netizens after it has the "elephant" put on a huge face mask and announced it set a Guinness World Record for the world's largest cloth face mask.

The face mask was put in place at the end of January as part of the scenic spot's plans to promote the attraction and pandemic prevention measures, local media reported.

According to an article published on the attraction's WeChat account, the giant face mask is more than 12 meters long and over nine meters wide, similar to the size of 10,000 ordinary face masks stitched together.

Eight farmers climbed the cliff of the peak and hung the huge white cloth on the base of the "trunk" using long ropes.

"The face mask is still on the mountain now," one employee of the tourist attraction told the Global Times on Thursday.

The Sina Weibo account of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism announced on Monday that the face mask had successfully been listed in the Guinness World Records Book as the largest cloth face mask.

The news, however, did not receive a warm reaction from netizens, as many questioned the need for the mask or said they felt it was a waste of resources. 

"I cannot see the meaning of this action. Does the tourist attraction have too much cloth?" one netizen commented under the Sina Weibo post of the provincial department.

Some netizens also wrote that the tourist attraction would be better off implementing stricter pandemic prevention measures instead of carrying out "meaningless" stunts. 

Some netizens voiced support for the mask, saying that it was creative and interesting.

The tourist spot has also called on other scenic areas to have their famous landmarks also don face masks to promote COVID-19 safety measures. 

Currently, tourists must show the results of a nucleic acid test taken within seven days if they want to enter the scenic area, the employee said during the call.