A exhibition of Kumamo is held in Shanghai. Photo: VCG
One of the sculptures was discovered about 1.6 kilometers away from its original position after floodwaters receded on Friday. It was later returned back to its “home,” but the second one has not yet been found.
The hashtag “drifting Kumamon has not returned home” had been viewed 140 million times on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo as of Sunday afternoon. Many netizens have mobilized to track down the sculpture.
Kumamon is a mascot created by the government of Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture in 2010 for a campaign to draw tourists to the region. Since then it has gained quite a following among Chinese people.
These two sculptures had originally stood by the side of a street and out of a restaurant in Chongqing.
According to a video posted on Sina Weibo by Toutiao News, some local residents recorded the Kumamon sculptures as they were carried away by the rising waters. Only the head of the sculptures could be seen poking from the surface of the water.
Some Chongqing residents posted videos and photos on Sina Weibo, saying that the second sculpture has drifted to Zhongxian county, which is more than 200 kilometers away from the urban area of Chongqing.
“Please provide us more clues to get our second Kumamon to come back,” the company that owns these two sculptures posted on Sina Weibo.
“It has been traveling for 200 kilometers. If it is not salvaged, will Kumamon float to Japan along the Three Gorges?” one netizen joked.
The water levels of the Yangtze River in Chongqing exceeded historical highs early Thursday morning, posing an unprecedented threat to the city.
At around 8 am on Thursday, the water level at the Cuntan hydrologic station in Chongqing reached 191.55 meters, 0.14 meters higher than the record in 1981, and was still rising.
Chongqing, located in the upper reaches of China's longest river, upgraded its flood-control response to Level-I on Tuesday, the highest rung in the four-tier emergency response system for floods.
