Many of China's more opinionated web users have been none too pleased about Yuyuantan Park's new inflatable frog in Beijing. The giant new installation has been receiving a lot of aesthetical criticism, but most interestingly netizens have also been using the frog as a proxy to mock former president Jiang Zemin.
The super-sized amphibian, it has been claimed, bears a striking resemblance to the former national leader, and with a pair of his trademark glasses photoshopped on it's not hard to see what they mean.
When the toad was deflated after just two days, the comparisons became even more befitting — and bleak.
Jiang Zemin has been reported to be suffering from health problems, and his death was a matter of much speculation in 2011 when he suddenly stopped appearing at public events. Several news media outlets in China and abroad even erroneously reported these rumors as fact, and an internet crackdown was initiated to stem such whimsical whispers from spreading:
*Note to readers: Jiang Zemin is still alive and kicking
Although Hu Jintao is understood to have operated largely in Jiang Zemin's shadow, Xi Jinping belongs to a seperate faction within the party and is credited with being the most powerful Chinese leader since Deng Xiaoping, consolidating military power far more quickly than his predecessors. Behind the curtains of power, it is believed that much of Xi's anti-corruption campaign has in fact been a crusade wresting power from members of Jiang's faction such as Zhou Yongkang.
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