In June, rat was served as duck to students who were told they should call it a duck if the authorities say so. Now, toys alluding to the incident are seized by the police.
by Lei Shihong
One month ago, Bitter Winter was among the first international media that reported about the “calling a rat a duck” scandal. In a college canteen in Jiangxi, a student found a rat’s head in what was served to him as duck. He posted a video on social media. He was compelled to delete it and the college principal summoned him. He basically told the student: “A rat is a duck if the Party says so.”
You cannot stop a video once it has become viral, and both the incident and the principal’s reaction led tens of thousands of netizens to ridicule the CCP.
As we predicted, the story did not go away. Some enterprising toy and souvenir manufacturers started producing rat-duck toys and key rings and other memorabilia commemorating the incident, which quickly became nationally successful. Some even tried to obtain patents and trademarks for them.
Now toys and any other objects mixing rats with ducks and alluding to the Jiangxi incident have been banned in China. Toys and souvenirs are being hunted down by the police and destroyed. Their sale online is strictly prohibited, to the protest of the manufacturers who spent money to produce them.
Obviously, the great hunt against rat-duck toys has also been commented by netizens, with further ridicule directed against the authorities. The story of the Party who told students that they should believe a rat is a duck if the CCP says so is becoming a permanent addition to Chinese folklore.
