It's the Year of the (Giant Inflatable Trump) Rooster at one Chinese factoryThu Jan 12, 2017 | 9:29am EST
A factory in eastern China is racing to keep up with demand for its new
clutch - giant inflatable rooster balloons that bear what some say is
an uncanny resemblance to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
The Zhejiang-based factory has already produced 30 of the inflatables,
some of which are up to 20 meters (65.6 feet) in height, and all
sporting puffed-up combs of gold.
Li Haiyan, manager at Caile Inflatable Products Co, said he still has
plenty of orders to go before the Lunar New Year arrives on Jan. 28.
The likeness to Trump is pure coincidence and unintended, Li said, and
many Chinese will only associate its appearance with that of this
year's zodiac animal - the rooster.
Li would not say where the inspiration for the design came from, but
local media have commented on the inflatables' remarkable likeness to
a statue that appeared in front of a shopping mall in northern Shanxi
province in late December.
Seattle-based U.S. graphic artist Casey Latiolais, the statue's
designer, said he was commissioned to produce something rooster-like
but agreed there were some similarities.
"I can definitely say Mr. Trump has a lot of similarities in that he
likes to tweet," Latiolais said.
"And he also likes to tweet at or around sunrise, and if you take away
the fact that roosters are kind of loud and self-absorbed, then I
think you can start drawing similarities that way."
China is paying close attention to Trump as he takes the reins on Jan. 20.
During his election campaign, the billionaire and former reality show
star took an aggressive tone with China, blaming Beijing for U.S. job
losses and vowing to call China a currency manipulator on his first
day in office.
"Maybe the meaning (behind the statue) is in that 2017, the year of
chicken, there will be a bigger and better breakthrough in diplomacy
(between the U.S. and China)," said Taiyuan resident and teacher Wang
Hainan.
($1 = 6.8950 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Xihao Jiang, Thomas Sun and Joseph Campbell; Additional
writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Jeremy)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-lunar-newyear-trump-idUSKBN14W201
A visitor is seen in front of inflatable chickens that local media say
bear resemblance to President-elect Donald Trump at a factory ahead of
the Year of the Rooster in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, China.
REUTERS/Aly Son