Perhaps it was inevitable. Given the huge popularity of the six-story, yellow rubber ducky that's been bobbing around in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, companies in a number of mainland Chinese cities have decided to copy it.

New ducks have popped up in the central city of Wuhan, the ancient city of Xi'an, the northern port city of Tianjin and Hengdian, a town in Zhejiang province that is home to a massive movie studio.

中部城市武汉、古都西安、北方港口城市天津和浙江省的影视基地横店，都相继涌现出了山寨版的“大黄鸭”。

The duck doubles have raised questions over copyright issues, according to China Daily. When contacted by China Daily, the companies that set up the ducks in Tianjin and Wuhan "declined to reveal their motives, or say if they had the authorization to do so."

根据《中国日报》的报道，山寨“大黄鸭” 也引发中国国内对版权问题的讨论。《中国日报》的记者联系了天津和武汉两地的大黄鸭负责公司，而他们都“拒绝透露自己的动机，也未透露是否获得授权。”

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The man behind the original duck in Hong Kong, Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, told The Wall Street Journalthat he had no copyright agreements with any of the knockoff duck-makers on the mainland.

目前在香港的正版大黄鸭的设计者是荷兰艺术家弗洛伦泰因·霍夫曼，他对《华尔街日报》表示自己并未与任何内地的山寨大黄鸭制造商签订版权协议。

"If people want the real duck, they have to come to me," he said. While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, Hofman said he wasn't at all amused by China's sudden overpopulation of giant ducks.

“如果他们想要正版的大黄鸭，可以直接与我联系。” 霍夫曼这样表示。虽然这样的山寨模仿，从某种形式上来说是出于对大黄鸭设计的喜欢，霍夫曼却表示对于中国大黄鸭数量的突然剧增，他一点不觉得开心。

"I've always said the rubber duck is a yellow catalyst," he told the Journal. "Right now what it is showing is that there is a lack of trust in China, and that is an enormous problem."

他对《华尔街日报》表示说：“我一直都在说，大黄鸭是黄色催化剂，帮大家调节心情的。但现在我看到的却是中国的信任缺失问题，这是非常严重的问题。”

Since 2007 Hofman’s duck has travelled to 13 different cities in nine countries ranging from Brazil to Australia in its journey around the world.

自2007年以来，霍夫曼的大黄鸭游遍全球9个国家13个不同城市，从巴西到澳大利亚足迹遍布世界。

本文来源：沪江英语