Avian flu? Hong Kong's rubber duck deflates
Bright yellow art installation in Victoria harbour sparks social media conspiracy theories to explain why it suddenly shrank
Duck soup: Florentijn
Hofman's Rubber Duck floats – flattened – in Hong Kong's Victoria
harbour, prompting a slew of conspiracy theories. Photograph: Jerome
Favre/EPA
A huge inflatable duck that has been floating in Hong Kong's
Victoria harbour for the past two weeks has been unexpectedly reduced
to a puddle of yellow plastic, drawing howls of protest – and
accusations of 'fowl play'.
The 16.5m-high yellow piece of conceptual art, created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, has drawn tens of thousands of visitors since it bobbed into town on 2 May. It is scheduled to be on display in Hong Kong until 9 June.
The 16.5m-high yellow piece of conceptual art, created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, has drawn tens of thousands of visitors since it bobbed into town on 2 May. It is scheduled to be on display in Hong Kong until 9 June.
Hong Kong's duck in happier times. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/Getty Images
But on Tuesday night, the waterfront shopping mall Harbour City,
which organised the exhibit, announced the duck's imminent dismantling
on its Facebook page. "Special announcement: attention, duck fans! The
rubber duck needs some rest, and to undergo a quick body check. The rubber duck will resume its 'duck' shape in no time," it said.
That didn't stop microbloggers in mainland China from speculating on more likely reasons for the duck's demise. By Wednesday afternoon'Big yellow duck loses air and collapses' was the number one trending topic on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.
In a post that has been forwarded more than 8,000 times, user Huxiang Mountain Person proposed 10 tongue-in-cheek explanations, including: "Avian flu was too strong," "Asia's water quality was too rough," and "It worked overtime for seven days in a row and suddenly died".
Many Hong Kong residents were disappointed by its untimely leave of absence.
"The sky looks like it is crying for me – I took time off from work just to see the duck, now it is just a blob," 45-year-old clerk Mirinna Chan told Agence France-Presse. "It's really our childhood dream, because when we bathed as children, we would have one or two of the rubber ducks next to us."
The installation, called Rubber Duck, has appeared in 13 cities since 2007, including Osaka, Sydney, São Paolo and Amsterdam.
That didn't stop microbloggers in mainland China from speculating on more likely reasons for the duck's demise. By Wednesday afternoon'Big yellow duck loses air and collapses' was the number one trending topic on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.
In a post that has been forwarded more than 8,000 times, user Huxiang Mountain Person proposed 10 tongue-in-cheek explanations, including: "Avian flu was too strong," "Asia's water quality was too rough," and "It worked overtime for seven days in a row and suddenly died".
Many Hong Kong residents were disappointed by its untimely leave of absence.
"The sky looks like it is crying for me – I took time off from work just to see the duck, now it is just a blob," 45-year-old clerk Mirinna Chan told Agence France-Presse. "It's really our childhood dream, because when we bathed as children, we would have one or two of the rubber ducks next to us."
The installation, called Rubber Duck, has appeared in 13 cities since 2007, including Osaka, Sydney, São Paolo and Amsterdam.
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