China censors inflatable frog mentions after comparisons to retired leader

One queerest attraction that could be spotted in Beijing is a large installation of a yellow-colored toad in the middle of a pond at Yuyuantan Park. Nonetheless, ABC News said it became a popular attraction to park visitors, native and foreign alike, as it stood like an alien to an otherwise beautiful but traditional landscape in China's capital. Moreover, the animal is a good luck sign to the Chinese, and figurines of the frog with gold coins spitting out of its mouth have been a popular trinket in businesses and homes in the mainland.

On the Internet, however, the frog had somewhat lucked out. Although the installation is bound to make news, mentions of the inflatable frog are nowhere on the Chinese's official Xinhua News Agency and popular Internet portal Sina.

The New York Times said the symbol of the frog had taken a new meaning when someone shared his thoughts online about the installation bearing the resemblance to Jiang Zemin, who is the former Chinese president and head of the ruling Communist Party.

The newspaper said that online censorship is no longer foreign on Chinese websites. Discussion about the 87 year-old politician also elicited action to scrub off various search terms related to his last name, which is "river" in English, in 2011, when he was rumored to have died or dying. Moreover, the original art that inspired Chinese artist Guo Yongyao to make the 72-foot-tall inflatable amphibian was also subject to online censorship before. During the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown of protests in China, a person decided to alter the Chinese Army tanks in the famous Tank Man photo and substitute it with the big yellow rubber duck created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman.

In the meantime, Guo wouldn't have to worry about his toad installation to be taken down. The installation will reportedly remain at the park pond until August 20.

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China inflatable frog, Guo Yongyao, Guo Yongyao inflatable frog, Sina, Xinhua News Agency, Jiang Zemin

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