“Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: How nice to see children running on the grass! The second tear says: How nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running on the grass!” – Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being ~
"It's not just children who like it. The core value of the rubber duck is to bring back childlike innocence to all of us, especially weary adults." – Zeng Hui, head of the Beijing Design Week Organizing Committee
Florentijn Hofman's rubber duck is the goldmine that will never be depleted. Deflated, maybe, but never depleted. This we know because his rubber duck arrived in Kaohsiung, Taiwan on Thursday ahead of Typhoon Usagi -- that storm that's killed 33 people in southern China and southeast Asia so far, i.e. around where Taiwan is located -- and attracted half a million spectators.
That rubber duck -- you know the one -- looked pretty sad in its new environs of Beijing last week. Check out these photos via AP, and the accompanying story via Reuters:
As we in Beijing eagerly await the arrival of the Rubber Duck, here's a reminder that large floatation thingies do require upkeep. This picture was taken at Yuantouzhu Scenic Area in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, posted to Sina Weibo and highlighted by China Navis.
Ever since we found out that Florentijn Hofman's famous Rubber Duck was coming to Beijing, the question has been: where will it be placed? Houhai? The National Center for the Performing Arts ("The Egg")? Zhang Xin's personal swimming pool?
