JIAXING, CHINA: A Chinese factory has been doing a brisk business selling giant inflatable roosters, some as tall as five metres, based on a design widely perceived to resemble Donald Trump.
Yifang Inflatables, a factory in the city of Jiaxing, near Shanghai, began selling the inflatables after images of a large sculpture of a similar design outside a shopping centre in the northern city of Taiyuan went viral on social media last month.
The original statue was designed by US-based artist Casey Latiolais, whose website displays the rooster next to a similar design that borrows elements of a Trump election slogan. Chinese state media have described the rooster as "sporting the President-elect's signature hairdo and hand gestures".
Wei Qing, owner of the factory in Jiaxing, said it hade sold around 100 of the roosters, in sizes from two to five metres tall, to shopping centress in mainland China and Taiwan.
Wei said some customers thought the rooster resembled Trump but he insisted that the manufacturers had no say over that.
The social media sensation comes as China prepares to celebrate the lunar Year of the Rooster starting on Jan 28, the country's most important traditional holiday.
"It does seem like it's got a personality, more so than chickens in previous years'' in the Chinese zodiac, Wei said. "But because this is China's Year of the Rooster, it has gone viral on the internet.'
"I think this chicken is really special, so I decided to manufacture it."