Beijing chooses 5 dolls for Olympic mascot

[Hez]

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing chose five stylized doll mascots for the 2008 Olympic games on Friday representing a panda, a Tibetan antelope, a swallow, a fish and the spirit of the Olympic flame.

Announced in a live nationwide broadcast with only 1,000 days to go before the opening ceremony, the mascots will join the official games slogan "One World, One Dream" and running man emblem which looks like the Chinese character for "capital".

"They reflect the cultural diversity of China as a multi-ethnic country," Liu Qi, head of the games organizing committee, said. "They represent the enthusiasm and aspirations of our people."

The mascots are called "Beibei", "Jingjing", "Huanhuan", "Yingying" and "Nini", which together mean "Beijing welcomes you."

Coloured in the five hues of the Olympic rings, they also represent the sea, forests, fire, earth and air.

Multiple mascots are not uncommon. The 2000 Sydney games had three native Australian animals and two years later in Salt Lake City a hare, coyote and bear represented the event.

"We have approved them," International Olympic Committee coordinating commission chairman Hein Verbruggen said in Beijing. "That means we like them, otherwise we wouldn't have done that."

But Tibetan groups, which campaign against Chinese rule in the mountainous land controlled by Beijing since 1950, condemned the choice of a Tibetan antelope, an animal on the verge of extinction due to hunting for its soft coat used to make shawls.

"It is wrong to misuse this freedom loving animal of the Tibetan plateau to serve the propaganda purposes of the Chinese regime," Wangpo Tethong, chair of the International Tibet Support Network Olympics Campaign Working Group, said in a statement.

The selection of China's mascots generated plenty of debate, and caused headaches for a design team trying to select something that could best represent a country which has a written history going back more than 2,000 years and much tradition to draw on.

"The most agonizing thing of all has been the design of the mascot," Han Meilin, head of design team, told the People's Daily overseas edition.

And not all Beijing residents warmed to the five dolls.

"The colors look fine together, but if I look at each separately they seem a little like the uninspiring figures from the Chinese cartoons of my childhood," said university student Zhong Ling, 21.

"I see them and I don't feel anything yet," said Du Xiaoxi, 25, an office worker out shopping in the fashionable Wangfujing district. "2008 is too far away."

Yet if unloved, they can always be fired and replaced.

Unpopular mountain goat "Chamois" at the 1992 Albertville winter games lost her footing to a fat blue snow imp called "Magique".

As a Chinese, my feeling of it is that it's too old in style, the design team did not have too much creation ability, hehe. That's true. What's your feeling?

[DreAming in DigITal]

I think your right...that looks too "old school". Kinda looks like something from the '50's.

Edited November 11, 2005 by DreAming in DigITal

[youyou]

i am chinese and i like them very much~not old school at all

[DreAming in DigITal]

I like them much better in this picture :yes: ...I think the drawing of them makes them look older....

Edited November 11, 2005 by DreAming in DigITal

[ShaneSparky_YYZ]

Looks fine to me, very oriental (Y) :)

[Hankyone]

pokemons! :o

[tiagosilva29]

pokemons! :o

586796803[/snapback]

Pok?mons are japanese, The-One-Hanky.

But Tibetan groups, which campaign against Chinese rule in the mountainous land controlled by Beijing since 1950, condemned the choice of a Tibetan antelope, an animal on the verge of extinction due to hunting for its soft coat used to make shawls.

"It is wrong to misuse this freedom loving animal of the Tibetan plateau to serve the propaganda purposes of the Chinese regime," Wangpo Tethong, chair of the International Tibet Support Network Olympics Campaign Working Group, said in a statement.

I am too against it.

[....]

Ugly, and too childish.

They're the friggin powderpuff girls.

[John S. Veteran]

Ridiculous looking, this is the olympics, not an anime festival. How in the world did China get the Olympics anyway?

What sort of events can we expect to see in Tiananmen square? Should we bring our own tanks or will they be supplied?

[mattmatik]

I like them much better in this picture?:yes:: ...I think the drawing of them makes them look older....

586796738[/snapback]

That does look better.

I think it's alot more enjoyable than the pathetic one used in Atlanta. I'll see if I can find a picture of that little "thing".

Here:Izzy>

[Mx]

Wow, sad.

[DreAming in DigITal]

Ridiculous looking, this is the olympics, not an anime festival.? How in the world did China get the Olympics anyway?

What sort of events can we expect to see in Tiananmen square?? Should we bring our own tanks or will they be supplied?

586797059[/snapback]

Have have the seen the crap used for other Olympic games?? They all suck...some just worse than others guess

The do kinda look like chinese power rangers though...

Edited November 11, 2005 by DreAming in DigITal

[shihchiun]

That is teh silly.

Have have the seen the crap used for other Olympic games?? They all suck...some just worse than others guess

There were other mascots? :blink:

[John S. Veteran]

oh my....apparently so

[DreAming in DigITal]

/\ haha...I don't remember "Ollie", "Syd", and "Millie".

[qdave]

hmm, i dont like them at all. previous were better.

[Apollo]

telletubies! ack!

[smis101]

Hmmmmmmm is it just me or do they remind you of the teletubies. and no i did not ever watch it :blush: :unsure: :whistle:

[LispyGlitter2]

I think they are okay considering what else we've had. I mean really....what the hell is Izzy?!

[Trauma]

I think they suit the event and especially the country the games are held in. I am content with these. :)

[Ayepecks]

Looks like what I'd expect from an Olympic mascott. I don't see a problem.

[Hawkeye]

Alright. Just for the record, most of the mascots tend to be unusual, in look and name, so people sayingn it looks stupid may have not seen some past mascots.

For example, here are the mascots for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy:

BOOG, most of the mascot designs are specifically created to appeal to children! ;)

[Mystical112]

power rangers...

[icecaveman]

OMFG they are disgusting.

Makes a man want to go out with his shotgun after them, don't you think?

[Lighthalzen]

Well... it always better than nothing. :laugh:

I guess they wanted to create a more loving atmosphere?