He stands atop of a huge billboard in southern China's Fujian Province as typhoon Saomai hits the surrounding area. He shouts at the typhoon, but without doubt, he too is taken away. This is only one plot from the popular cartoon series Bunny Suicides.
This fluffy little bunny is China's newest cyberspace celebrity. He, who always dons a pair of sunglass, seeks to kill himself at spots of public significance.
Recently, the Bunny Suicides was published after gaining huge popularity among over 100 million Internet users across the country. The Star Daily reported on Thursday.
The suicidal bunny always shows up at the most dangerous and incredible places and seeks to kill himself. When poisonous half-cooked snails were served at a Beijing restaurant, he was there. Likewise, when carcinogenic red yolk eggs were on market, he bought them.
The comedies creator, Liu Gang, says that the cartoon rabbit actually stands for those people who are being abused by their daily life. The rabbit is a small and unimportant character in society, but one who suffers many little abuses in his every day life, abuses he cannot escape.
Liu began creating the cartoon in last August. In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Liu admitted that his work is loosely based on a character created by British cartoonist Andy Riley, but he says that it's not copying. Besides looking different to its British counterpart, his rabbit is put into many situations with a distinctively Chinese characteristic, reflecting what he calls the "black humour" of the Chinese people.
(CRI.cn June 14, 2007)
