The Fuwa (; literally "good-luck dolls", also known as "Friendlies") were the mascots of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing. The designs were created by Han Meilin, a famous Chinese artist. The designs were publicly announced by the National Society of Chinese Classic Literature Studies on 11 November 2005 at an event marking the 1000th day before the opening of the games. There are five Fuwas: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini. Together, the names form the sentence "", or "Beijing huanying ni," which means "Beijing welcomes you". Originally named 'The Friendlies', they were promoted as 'Fuwa' when concerns arose that the name could be misinterpreted. While originally given amily s(wa)x in his commission, Han Meilin was subsequently requested by officials to include various Chinese designs and fauna in the Fuwa. Han Meilin drew 1,000 models of possible Fuwa (including a

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

and an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

drum) before settling on the five characters. He has since disowned the Fuwa and did not include them in his museum.

Mascots

Media

TV series

A 100-episode Olympic-themed anime series featuring the Fuwa was released in China, primarily on BTV (Beijing's municipal television network), on 8 August 2007. Titled '' The Olympic Adventures of Fuwa'' (), it was jointly produced by BTV and Kaku Cartoon. It ran from 8 August to 1 October 2007. There are also two sequels created by CCTV, Beibei's Promise and the Five Rings.

Video game

The characters made a cameo appearance in the ''

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is a crossover sports and party game developed by the Sega Sports R&D Department. It is the first installment on the '' Mario & Sonic'' series. It was published by Nintendo in Japan and by Sega in other regions, and released on the Wii in Nov ...

'' video game.

China Environmental Awareness Programme

The China Environmental Awareness Programme program, started in 2001, has the Fuwa raising public environmental awareness by spreading clean, green messages.

Fuwa theater show

A large-scale fairy-tale drama entitled Friendlies (or Fuwa) has been directed by Beijing Children's Art Theater Cooperative to promote the five mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As ambassadors of peace, the Fuwa will make a world-tour, visiting all seven continents.

Parodies

Groups seeking to raise political issues in tandem with China's hosting of the Olympic Games have used the Fuwa or have created similar mascots. * Nu Wa, a monkey with a red bandana, was created by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

. Nu Wa means "angry young boy". * Play Fair 2008, a campaign organised by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and the

International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF) was a global union federation. In 2005 it had 217 member organizations in 110 countries, representing a combined membership of over 10 million workers. History The ITGLW ...

(ITGLWF) to raise awareness for the rights of workers involved in the sporting goods industries, have used the Fuwa. * Gengen Genocide, a brown and yellow character wearing a gun and a fuel pump nozzle head-dress that forms a skull and crossbones, was developed by a group seeking to raise attention to the People's Republic of China's involvement in

Darfur Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju, ...

. Gengen's name is derived from the term genocide. In addition, Beijing residents have allegedly created their own Fuwa set consisting of a duck, a dragonfly and a taxi. Collectively their names—"Ya", "Ting", "De"—spell out "bastard" in Beijing slang. (Note that among friends, "ni ya ting de", which means "you bastard", is a common term of endearment but is considered crude by many.)

Superstitions

Wuwa

In the months leading up to the Olympics, coincidental similarities between the characters and several events became were noted on the internet blogs under titles such as "Curse of the Fuwa". Some Chinese citizens have taken to calling the characters "Wuwa" (巫娃, witch dolls). Online criticism of the dolls has frequently been censored. * Nini, a swallow thought to be a kite, was blamed for the "kite city" of Weifang T195 train accident. Nini was also believed to be a locust, and associated with a locust plague that infested Inner Mongolia in June 2008. * Yingying, a Tibetan antelope, for the

2008 Tibetan unrest 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

. * Huanhuan, representing the Olympic flame, for the Summer Olympics torch relay protests. * Jingjing, a panda, for the Sichuan earthquake. The epicenter of the earthquake is very close to the Wolong Nature Reserve. * Beibei, a

Chinese sturgeon The Chinese sturgeon (''Acipenser sinensis''; ) is a critically endangered member of the family Acipenseridae in the order Acipenseriformes. Historically, this anadromous fish was found in China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula, but it has b ...

of water/sea element, for the

2008 South China floods The 2008 South China floods began on 26 May 2008. Four rounds of torrential rains with landslides and flooding lasted for 20 days and affected fifteen provinces in Eastern and Southern China. The first round of floods affected twelve provinces ...

Killer barracuda

Beibei is represented by a

. Five sturgeons were presented by China to Hong KongChinadaily.
Chinadaily
" ''Chinese sturgeon dies in Hong Kong aquarium.'' Retrieved on 2008-07-18. with each fish representing an Olympic ring, in addition to the "motherland's love" for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The smallest of the five sturgeon (1.1 meters) was bitten by one of the barracudas housed in the same aquarium, and died the day after being publicly released into the city's theme park aquarium Ocean Park. Necropsy showed that the bite was not aggressive, but a reflex action from contact between the fish.HKStandard.
HKStandard
." ''No one at fault in sturgeon death says Ocean Park.'' Retrieved on 2008-06-25. Ocean Park said no one is at fault since in the almost 10 years the eight barracudas had been with the park, they had never showed any signs of aggression. Feng shui experts were divided about the death of the sturgeon, there were some that said this event may imply misfortune, and there were some that said 'the public did not need to worry too much because all fish die' and 'Can I say it's a bad omen for the Olympic Games if, for example, my five tadpoles—which I say represent the Olympic rings—die at home?'. Beijing's central government replaced the one that died with five more sturgeons.China.org.cn.
China.org.cn
" ''Beijing to give five more sturgeons to Hong Kong.'' Retrieved on 2008-07-08.

Han Meilin

Han Meilin suffered two heart attacks while designing the Fuwa.

Notes

References

External links

The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (English)

The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (Chinese)

Comments on the linguistics of the Friendlies' names

{{CCTV shows 2008 Summer Olympics Mascots introduced in 2005 China Central Television original programming Chinese culture Fictional animals Fictional characters with water abilities Fictional characters with superhuman strength Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities Fictional characters who can move at superhuman speeds Fictional characters with air or wind abilities Chinese mascots Fictional characters from Beijing Fictional shapeshifters Olympic mascots