{"id":175483,"date":"2014-07-23T14:57:09","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T21:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=175483"},"modified":"2014-07-23T15:21:33","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T22:21:33","slug":"river-crabbed-toad-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2014\/07\/river-crabbed-toad-story\/","title":{"rendered":"River Crabbed: Toad Story"},"content":{"rendered":"
One of\u00a0Florentijn Hofman\u2019s giant rubber ducks sat in Hong Kong\u2019s harbor last year<\/a>, inspiring knock-offs in China<\/a>. Taking inspiration from the big bird, a 72-foot inflatable yellow toad arrived in Beijing\u2019s Yuyuantan Park<\/a> over the weekend. The toad\u2019s creator, Guo Yongyao, meant to invoke the traditional symbolism of the \u201cwealth-drawing golden toad\u201d (\u62db\u8d22\u91d1\u87fe). But the toad invokes something else for Chinese netizens: former president Jiang Zemin.<\/p>\n As soon as the connection was made, Xinhua and Sina deleted their stories about the giant toad<\/a>. Related keywords do not seem to have been blocked on Weibo search, but a number of posts about the toad have been filtered, as FreeWeibo<\/a> has documented.<\/p>\n Jiang Zemin is often called \u201cThe Toad\u201d for his resemblance to the broad-faced amphibian. But even posts that make no reference to Jiang are being blocked.<\/p>\n A selection of deleted posts, archived by FreeWeibo and translated by CDT:<\/p>\n \u8471\u54af\u54af\u54af<\/a>: On NetEase this morning I read that there\u2019s a big inflatable toad in Beijing park. Everyone who commented on the news seemed to all know what\u2019s up, but they wouldn\u2019t say. Until I found this picture on [Baidu] Tieba…<\/p>\n \u65e9\u4e0a\u5728\u7f51\u6613\u770b\u5230\u5145\u6c14\u5927\u86e4\u87c6\u5165\u9a7b\u5317\u4eac\u67d0\u516c\u56ed\u7684\u65b0\u95fb,\u8ddf\u5e16\u7684\u5404\u4f4d\u4f3c\u4e4e\u90fd\u77e5\u9053\u4e9b\u4ec0\u4e48,\u4f46\u5c31\u662f\u4e0d\u8bf4\u3002\u76f4\u5230\u6211\u5728\u8d34\u5427\u53d1\u73b0\u4e86\u8fd9\u5f20\u56fe\u3002\u3002<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n DC\u80d6\u5154\u5b50<\/a>: The inflatable toad in Beijing’s Yuyuantan Park is 22 meters tall. No wonder netizens say the toad got fat. He’s even bigger than the tiger<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u5317\u4eac\u7389\u6df5\u6f6d\u516c\u5712\u7684\u5145\u6c23\u5927\u86e4\u87c6\u670922\u7c73\u9ad8,\u96e3\u602a\u6709\u7db2\u6c11\u8aaa\u86e4\u87c6\u517b\u80a5\u4e86,\u6bd4\u8001\u864e\u8fd8\u5927\u3002<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u5e38\u6740\u4eba\u7684\u5fae\u535a<\/a>\uff1aI heard that in Beijing a big yellow duck was eaten by a big yellow toad!! Now the big yellow toad is flexing his muscles where the big yellow duck once sat! I heard there’s a grass-mud horse<\/a> in Changsha’s pedestrian zone!! I heard the weekend will soon be over! I have to go to work today!! Life is so busy!!!<\/p>\n \u542c\u8bf4\u5317\u4eac\u7684\u5927\u9ec4\u9e2d\u88ab\u4e00\u53ea\u5927\u9ec4\u765e\u86e4\u87c6\u5403\u6389\u4e86!!\u73b0\u5728\u5927\u9ec4\u9e2d\u7684\u4f4d\u7f6e,\u5927\u9ec4\u765e\u86e4\u87c6\u5728\u8000\u6b66\u626c\u5a01\u5462!\u542c\u8bf4\u957f\u6c99\u6b65\u884c\u8857\u4e0a\u6709\u8349\u6ce5\u9a6c!!\u542c\u8bf4\u5468\u672b\u5f88\u5feb\u5c31\u8fc7\u4e86!\u4eca\u5929\u53c8\u8981\u4e0a\u73ed\u4e86!!\u4eba\u751f\u597d\u5598\u554a!!!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u5317\u4eac\u751f\u6d3b\u6742\u5fd7<\/a>: #BeijingRevealed “Giant Golden Toad Leaks… Lies Down (Ha Ha)”: @\u5bbf\u8fc1\u8001\u6f58a<\/a> That big toad in Yuyuantan just arrived two days ago, and now it\u2019s deflating and lying down on its stomach.<\/p>\n #\u5317\u4eac\u7206\u6599#<\/a>\u3010\u5927\u91d1\u87fe\u6f0f\u6c14\u513f\u4e86\u3002\u3002\u3002\u8db4\u4e0b\u4e86[\u54c8\u54c8]\u3011@\u5bbf\u8fc1\u8001\u6f58a<\/a> \u5317\u4eac\u7389\u6e0a\u6f6d\u90a3\u53ea\u5927\u86e4\u87c6,\u521a\u767b\u573a\u4e24\u5929\u5c31\u6f0f\u6c14\u8db4\u4e0b\u4e86<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u80e1\u5a9b<\/a>: Aerial view of the big toad. I just want to say that this city\u2019s taste is incorrigible…<\/p>\n \u9ad8\u7a7a\u4fef\u77b0\u5927\u86e4\u87c6\u3002\u6211\u53ea\u60f3\u8bf4\u8fd9\u4e2a\u57ce\u5e02\u7684\u5ba1\u7f8e\u6ca1\u6551\u4e86\u3002\u3002\u3002<\/p>\n