...a lot of disappointment can ensue or perhaps merely shrieks and screams. It seems thousands of visitors in the Taiwanese city of Keelung were waiting to snap photos of a giant inflatable duck, designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, waddled in the harbour as part of the city's New Year celebrations. Unfortunately, life does not always happen as planned. Alas, eleven days after it went on display, the huge 18 m-high creature suddenly burst in the afternoon, hours before the countdown to 2014 was to begin. The demise of the art piece is perhaps a fitting end to the bath toy replica which had travelled throughout Asia with a brief stop in the US. The poor duck also became the centre of political controversy in China where counterfeits popped up and censors banned internet searches for "big yellow ducks" following the appearance of a scandalous Photoshopped version online.

Indeed, in November a predecessor model met a similar fate during a display in the northern province of Taoyuan. Organisers claimed an earthquake, which led to a power outage thus denying the creature of the air it so desperately needed to keep afloat, had caused the deflation of the bird. When they tried to pump it full of air again, its back end exploded…Oh well, at least it can be hoped that the year ended in bang as the mighty rubber duck's did!

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The sudden and unexpected ending of the giant duck in Keelung as a video clip on YouTube