News Flash / Keelung's Yellow Rubber Duck Deflates into a Flat 'Duck Pancake' — Gasps All Around

▲ The deflated Keelung duck. (Photo / Reporter Li Yilin)

Reporter Li Yilin / Reporting from Keelung

Keelung’s Yellow Rubber Duck shares the same fate as Taoyuan’s rubber duckling. Just after noon on the 31st, the Keelung yellow duck burst and flattened into a duck-shaped pancake on the water. Sadly, it couldn’t stick around to “see everyone through the 13th to the 14th.”

At the scene, reporters witnessed the Keelung yellow duck suddenly emit a loud “bang” around 1 p.m. on the 31st. In an instant, it flattened into a duck pancake spread out on the sea surface. After the loud noise, gasps and exclamations filled the air. It was reported that the “burst” occurred roughly around the temple area. One visitor said it was rare to come see the Keelung yellow duck on the last day of 2013, but what they saw turned out to be nothing more than a “pancake.”

The Keelung yellow duck has had a troubled fate and has been surrounded by controversies since its exhibition began on the 21st. Until the 28th, its original creator, Florentijn Hofman, had never appeared in Keelung. It wasn’t until the 28th that Hofman posted a photo of the Keelung duck on his official Facebook fan page — and the first image he selected showed a gloomy sky, taken from a distance with the yellow duck appearing very small.

In addition, due to black smoke from nearby boats burning diesel, coupled with the effects of the northeast monsoon and consecutive days of rain, the duck became a “dirty duck.” Even on Christmas Day (the 25th), when the organizers gave the duck a bath, they still couldn’t clean off all the stains. So the team gave the duck another “bubble bath” on the morning of the 28th.

The Keelung yellow duck had finally transformed from a black-and-white duck and a tricolored duck into a clean yellow duck, but alas, it didn’t even make it to 2014. Its original exhibition period was supposed to last 50 days, but it had to say goodbye after just 11 days on display. Goodbye, RIP.

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