Haibao (), meaning "jewel of the sea", is the

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

of Expo 2010, which was held in the city of

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

from May 1 to October 31, 2010.

Meaning

"Hai (海)" means the

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

in Chinese inscribed from the name of the host city, and "Bao (宝,寶)" means the

treasure Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...

. Its figure is in the shape of the

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...

"Ren (人)" (meaning

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

). Haibao was produced by

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

designer Wu Yong-jian and adopted as the official mascot of the World Expo on December 18, 2007. He was selected out of 26,655 entries as part of an international competition.

Similarities to Gumby

It is sometimes pointed out that Haibao resembles Gumby, the green

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and ''-oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20t ...

figure shown on American television from the 1950s–'60s. (Japanese) The expo's secretariat said that it is an original design and they had never heard of Gumby.Shanghai Expo designer denies mascot copy of Gumby
/ref>

Notes

External links

上海万博の公式マスコットキャラクター「海宝(ハイバオ)」にも盗作疑惑が浮上
FNN NEWS(Tokyo),22 April 2010 Expo 2010 Mascots introduced in 2010 Male characters in advertising World's Fair mascots Chinese mascots {{mascot-stub

Meaning

Similarities to Gumby

See also

Notes

External links