Beijing 2008 Olympic Mascots
By Jian Shuo Wang on 2005-11-11 23:57 · Olympics 2008The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games was unvieled today:
Image in courtesy of Beijing-2008.org
How do you like it?
Related entry: Beijing 2008 Olympic Emblem Unvieled
Update November 14, 2005
Huge traffic to this site again. Seems it has been indexed by Google 3 days after it was posted as the first page result for terms like olympic mascots, beijing mascots, even Beijing 2008. Amazing…
Since everyone is here, let me share some Beijing 2008 resources with you.
Report from Sina, China’s largest portal
60 Comments
When would you guys ditch your distorted lens and realize that even the Japanese language itself was based (hated to say borrowed from) on Chinese?
Oh, yeah, Japanese culture is hip. Oh, no Chinese pls. Give me a break.
where is Jap's culture from?
haha
it is a difficult task to find a suitable mascots, but in my opionion it is not the best choice.
So, please, for the sake of Wang Jian Shuo's blog, enough about the politics between China and Japan. These are Olympic mascots, for crying out loud!
It's AMAZINGLY similar to REKOKO, 5 Japanese cartoon character.
The BJ2k8 5: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5151/1443/1600/200511112109370.jpg
The REKOKO: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5151/1443/1600/wall01_1024b.jpg
"On the second floor of the Silk Street Market, Beijing's crowded counterfeit center, Xu Chao peddles knockoff Adidas, Mickey Mouse and Diesel T-shirts. But shoppers won't find fake versions of products bearing the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games logo at his stall or anywhere else at the market, a few steps from the U.S. Embassy.
"The penalties for selling Olympic items are several times higher than for other brands," Mr. Xu says. The red logo of a running Olympian is the one brand peddlers of fakes can go to jail for stealing, he says.
China is notorious as a knockoff haven, where poor law enforcement has turned a potentially huge consumer market into a land of 75-cent pirated DVDs and $10 fake Louis Vuitton handbags. Yet even amid growing consumer demand for 2008 Games trinkets, counterfeit Olympics goods are hard to find. Now, U.S. trade officials, business groups and intellectual-property lawyers want to know why the Chinese government can't make other counterfeit goods just as scarce."
Voila! It's not that Chinese government CAN'T, but WON'T crack down pirate Hollywood DVDs. They could, but they are only serious when they protect their profits, their own IP. They are just playing a dirty trick with the West, ripping the West off, piling up illegal wealth at the expense of western firms, one of them Microsoft, WJS's formmer employer.
Something you'll never heard from this (in)famous Shanghai blogger.
Sorry, my mistake, friendlies!
The Mandarin saying goes: 杀熟！Yes, friend lies.
A clear sign that you are not living in China, or you just don't blend in. (/sarcarsm)
Just don't get it...
I haven't seen any chinese characters with that look so far. ONLY japanese.
This style do NOT origin from China.
Suitable for 8-12 year old schoolgirls yes, but not suitable to promote a multi billion yuan sports event, huh ?
Jianshuo, what do you think of these dolls yourself, as a chinese ?
You just get it right. Yes, they are just poor mock-ups of the antiquated anime figure: Astro Boy (鉄腕アトム, or 铁臂阿童木 in China, Japanese series now bought by FoxKids).
My personal choice for mascot would be:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ivan.regina/boycott_pekin.gif
and the best postboy for Beijing 2008:
http://loten.ch/loten_new/galery/pictures/loten.jpg
rich cultural meanings
I love them!
http://www.mapsofworld.com/olympic-trivia/olympic-mascot.html
Fake Olympic stuff could be found EVERYWHERE in Beijing in the past, now its a bit harder, but not too bad, if you look, you'll find it (more like the sellers will find you!). The problem is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to buy official things, with only one location in the entire city actually selling official goods (in a small space inside a department store on Wangfujing) and a small stand at the airport.
You are really...
BT!
And really I don't feel they look like the 'Japanese Cute', therefore no need to start a topic that when did the Japanese start to borrow our school art book characters ;-)
But, but, I don't like these mascots, because of the same reason that I didn't liked their 'brothers and sisters' in my school art book 20 years ago... they look so dull, not at all creative, no imagination.
I have to say that I am disappointed to see the mascots - I had expected some better design.
However, there must be a lot other Chinese who liked them, or I wouldn't have read that customers were queuing to get those?
plus the meaning behind them have little cultural meaning collectively.
The International Campaign for Tibet has criticized Beijing's adoption of the Tibetan antelope as one of five doll mascots for the 2008 Olympics, saying that it should not co-opt this symbol of Tibet's wildlife heritage, especially without better protecting its survival as a species.
"The appropriation of the Tibetan antelope as the Olympic mascot is a way of China attempting to assert the legitimacy of its rule over Tibet," said John Ackerly, President of ICT. "It is ironic that they have chosen a species that is endangered in Tibet partly as a result of the Chinese presence in the region."
The Tibetan antelope is believed to have numbered approximately a million at the turn of the 20th century, but thousands were slaughtered for sport and meat by soldiers of the Peoples Liberation Army in the 1950s, '60s and 70s. In the 1980s, when the antelope's fine wool, called shahtoosh, became popular internationally, Chinese and Tibetan poachers began taking a large toll, up to 20,000 animals per year. The total number is estimated to have dropped to under 100,000 in the mid 1990s. Although it has since recovered slightly, the animal is still in danger of extinction, and China's record at protecting it is poor.
The railway currently being constructed from Golmud in Qinghai to Lhasa in Tibet may endanger the Tibetan antelope further. While tunnels have been built to allow the antelope to cross the railway line, the railway will bring many more people - and potentially more poachers - closer to the antelope's breeding grounds and habitat.
The Tibetan antelope was listed as a protected species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1975. In 1979 all international trade in Tibetan antelope parts and derivatives became illegal. The U.S. government listed the Tibetan antelope, also known as chiru, as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act in 2003.
"The threat to the Tibetan antelope's survival can be compared to the threat to the survival of the Tibetan people's unique cultural identity as a result of hard-line policies and fast-track development by Beijing," said John Ackerly, President of the International Campaign for Tibet.
As for americans criticizing china, I guess we didn't kill all the Indians, all their culture and take all their land so why not preach! Easier than doing something at home.
LOL
That's because his head is on fire. Each mascot represents something either related to the Olympics or to China. The red one is the Olympic flame. Hence, the fire.
For anyone who doesn't know (and is curious), the mascots are cartoon renditions of: a panda, a carp, a Tibetan antelope, a swallow and the Olympic flame.
(PS, The mascots are incorperated with elements of the land, Fire, Sea, Forest etc)
"les ch'tits copains" ! (http://www.chine-nouvelle.com/pekin2008)
What do you think?
sure they are "cute" but I don't think japan is the only country allowed to produce "cute" things. I think bashing on them for their japanese influence is sort of like bashing on almost every modern american rock band because much of their sound came from the british invasion... or almost every hollywood action movie that uses elements of HK cinema. that's how pop culture works. (if you could call the olympics "pop" culture.... I don't see why not) when something is extremely successful everything that comes afterward ends up looking a little bit like it. -then the lines between what's "british" "american" "japanese" or "icelandic" get blurred.
and that's supposed to be a good thing, right?
really, I think they are tastefully done.... expecially when compared to the mascots of other recent olympic games.
"China copies everything"
"Japanese culture came from China"
"You should all give back Chinese gold".
Well, Bellevue, don't be suprised that Wangjianshuo won't mention anything political. If you want something insightful and thought-provoking, then you are on the wrong site. Try an intellectual one (not mine).
To all - why waste your already wasted time by caring and arguing about Japan/China.
Many people dislike the mascots. With the basis of not really giving a shite - I think they're OK. I'm sure kids will like them, which is all that matters.
And if China is twisting things politically with them? Who cares. If you don't expect that then you're in the wrong country.
All countries use various means to get just a little piece of propaganda across. Hang on a minute - propaganda... panda... THAT RHYMES!!!! I THINK I'M ONTO SOMETHING!!!! etc.
http://www.mascotsofchina.com/home/beibei_jingjing_hauhaun_nini
But it's a little sad to be getting so het up about it. Some people like them and some people don't. Get over it.
My question is:
What am I?
I am one of the athletics events.
My event is very long. I begin in one place and finish at the olympic stadium on the last day of the games.
If you find an answer for my question, plase e-mail me at tlc.isabella@gmail.com.
Thank You!
xoxo
AND GO KPS Hi Alex.W
umm what mascot is indangerd it is for my school progect lol.