Rubber duck becomes hot topic for Chinese netizens

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Press Trust of India Beijing
Last Updated : Sep 08 2013 | 3:40 PM IST
A giant inflated rubber duck floating at an expo park here turned to be a major embarrassment for the organisers as it looked like a chicken after its beak dropped and skin wrinkled due to drop in air pressure.
Visitors to the International Garden Expo Park were shocked to find the inflatable duck, a brainchild of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, with a drooping beak, making it look like a chicken, official media here reported.
The beak was supposed to be upturned and flat. The duck also looked wrinkled and not as perky.
It was first exhibited in Hong Kong in May and June and later a number of cities started floating imitation designs.
Trying to cash in on the publicity over the duck organisers are charging 100 yuan (USD 16) as fee to visit the lake where it is floating.
The disgruntled looking 18-meter-tall duck became a hot topic on the popular microblogging site Sina Weibo, state-run Xinhua news agency said in its report.
"He must have disguised himself as a chicken so that he won't be taken away by Quanjude," an Internet user said in jest.
Quanjude is China's most famous restaurant chain that serves the famous Beijing roast duck.
"There were some flaws when inflating the duck, and we have adjusted it overnight," Zeng Hui, deputy manager of the Beijing Design Week Organising Committee Office, which is in charge of the duck's copyright import.
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First Published: Sep 08 2013 | 3:40 PM IST

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