MCLC: big yellow toad

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: giant yellow toad
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Source: Sinosphere blog, NYT (7/23/14):
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/23/giant-yellow-toad-disappears
-online-after-resemblance-to-chinese-leader-noted/

Giant Yellow Toad Shrinks Online After Resemblance to Leader Is Noted
By AUSTIN RAMZY 

There was something familiar about the giant yellow inflatable toad, some
Chinese noted online, shortly after it appeared in a Beijing park. Part of
the recognition stemmed from its similarity to the big rubber duck created
by the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, which attracted huge crowds in Hong
Kong and Beijing last year and triggered knockoffs in several other
Chinese cities.

Part came from the similarity of the 72-foot-tall inflatable amphibian, by
the Chinese artist Guo Yongyao, to the “wealth-beckoning toad” statues
that sit in the homes and businesses of many feng shui devotees.

And part of the feeling of familiarity came after someone photoshopped a
pair of large, square eyeglasses on the toad
<https://twitter.com/Thats_Beijing/status/491392661299818497> and pointed
out just how much it looked like Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese president
and head of the ruling Communist Party.

That suggestion may have been too much for the state news agency Xinhua.
After the Jiang Zemin comparison began circulating online this week,
Xinhua and the Internet portal Sina deleted stories about the toad from
their sites, Agence France-Presse reported
<http://news.iafrica.com/worldnews/950744.html>.

No reason was given for the stories’ disappearance. Xinhua’s site simply
said <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2014-07/20/c_133496780.htm>,
“Sorry, this news has been deleted.” The censorship was limited, however,
and reports on the golden toad were still available on other mainland
Chinese news sites and microblogs like Sina Weibo.

The toad, which was installed in Yuyuantan Park in northwest Beijing last
weekend, is scheduled to remain there until Aug. 20.

Online discussion of Mr. Jiang, 87, who retired as party chief in 2002 and
as president in 2003, has triggered censorship before. In 2011, rumors
about his health led to the blocking of several search terms related to
his surname, which means “river.”

Mr. Hofman’s yellow duck has also been the subject of online censorship in
China. Last year, during the June 3-4 anniversary of the deadly crackdown
on the 1989 protests in Beijing and other Chinese cities, an altered
version of the famous Tank Man photo appeared online, with the Chinese
Army tanks replaced by yellow ducks. As a result, “Big Yellow Duck” became
a blocked term during the sensitive anniversary.