A rubber duck or a copycat?

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 T-shirts to hand bags, while restaurants created special duck dishes. Giant rubber ducks also appeared on the mainland, in Hangzhou, Wuhanand 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 copycat behaviour 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 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 long-standing 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, entrepreneurship and enthusiasm.

 

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