Oh Really?: Fuwa

The Fuwa ("good luck dolls") are the official mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. I'm about to literally write verbatim from wikipedia. There are five fuwa, each one representing many different elements such as the colors of the Olympic rings. The theme of the day is me wanting something that I have deemed wickedly adorable. Seriously. I crave and I covet these cute cuddlies. The mascots were created by a famous Chinese artist, Han Meilin. The names of the five fuwa are BeiBei, JingJing, HuanHuan, YingYing and NiNi. Taking the first parts of each name and combining them yields: "BeiJing HuanYing Ni" which translates to "Beijing welcomes you". Although they were supposed to represent luck, recent events in China have led the Chinese to believe that each of the Fuwa have cursed their country. Read each Fuwa description for more detail.


Name: BeiBei
Gender: Female
Cultural Inspiration: Fish; Traditional Chinese New Year lotus and fish design.
Olympic Ring: Blue
Element: Sea
Fengshui Element: Water
Sport: Aquatic Sports
Curse: In June 2008, one of the worst floods in 50 years hit much of Southern China and forced 1.6 million people to evacuate their homes.








Name: JingJing
Gender: Male
Cultural Inspiration: Giant Panda; Song Dynasty lotus.
Olympic Ring: Black
Element: Forest
Fengshui Element: Wood
Sport: Weightlifting, Judo, etc.
Curse: Who could forget the massive earthquake that devasted the Sichuan Province in May 2008. The Giant Panda is the animal native to Sichuan.








Name: HuanHuan
Gender: Male
Cultural Inspiration: Olympic Torch; Fire design from Mogao Grottoes.
Olympic Ring: Red
Element: Fire
Fengshui Element: Fire
Sport: Ball Sports
Curse: The Olympic torch relay was dogged with protests. Some cities even opted not to participate because of escalating danger and riots.








Name: YingYing
Gender: Male
Cultural Inspiration: Antelope; Tibetan and Xinjiang ethnic costumes.
Olympic Ring: Yellow/Orange
Element: Earth
Fengshui Element: Earth
Sport: Track and Field
Curse: Two words, Free Tibet!









Name: NiNi
Gender: Female
Cultural Inspiration: Swallow; Sand Martin Kite
Olympic Ring: Green
Element: Sky
Fengshui Element: Metal
Sport: Gymnastics
Curse: Nini is a swallow that resembles a kite. In April, there was a deadly train crash in the city of Weifang, also known as the 'kite city'.