A rubber duck or a copycat?
By Suwatchai Songwanich, CEO Bangkok Bank (China)
The huge rubber duck floating in Hong Kong harbor in the beginning of June became a star attraction
and stimulated a rash of replicas across China. Although the rubber duck, a 16.5 meter-high bright
yellow art installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, had been shown in 13 cities across
the world, before coming to Hong Kong it had never received such a warm response.
Upon arrival in the port, the duck was greeted by a brass band and cheering crowds. For the brief
duration of its stay, duck mania gripped the city, with hundreds of thousands of locals and tourists
striving to catch a glimpse of it. Stalls and shops sold duck replicas and merchandise ranging from
tee-shirts to hand bags, while restaurants created special duck dishes. Giant rubber ducks also
appeared on the mainland, in Hangzhou, Wuhan and Tianjin, as businesses seized on the image as a
useful gimmick to attract potential customers to their projects.
There was, however, one negative response to the rubber duck craze, which came from the People's
Daily, China's most-circulated newspaper. It condemned the imitators for unoriginal copycat
behaviour. The duck, it said, was a symbol of "humanity's shared culture and childhood memories,
pure art and anti-commercialisation". The People’s Daily further commented that this tendency
towards copycatting in China stifles creativity and will damage the country in the long run.
I wonder, is this a fair point?
Certainly few could deny the strength of the copycat culture in China, with imitations quickly springing
up whenever something new or exciting appears on the scene. A classic example is the Baidu Eye
which popped up after soon after Google Glass was unveiled.
However it can be argued that copycat behavior is part of economic development, as manufacturers
in emerging economies can learn from the advanced technologies of other countries, and then apply
this knowledge to leapfrog ahead.
Perhaps the problem is that Chinese companies have become too good at this. They are experts at
reverse engineering – taking apart products to figure out how they are made, then producing
something similar themselves. This strategy of copy and develop has helped fuel China’s longstanding economic boom, as local producers have quickly acquired knowledge, learnt short-cuts and
shot ahead of their rivals, often including the company that came up with the original idea.
It is important to note that the Chinese government takes breaches of copyright seriously. China is the
world's largest payer of royalties for patent rights and trademark rights and one of the largest markets
in the world for buying licensed software.
While supporting the sentiment behind the comment of the People’s Daily, I think that most
importantly, the rubber duck phenomenon reflects the Chinese capacity for fun, entrepreneurialism
and enthusiasm
For more columns in this series please see www.bangkokbank.com