Watch out! That panda's got a gun!

[locker_monster]

On occasion, my Chinese class can actually be kind of amusing. We've been learning sports words this week and my prof brought up the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She showed us the mascots for Beijing and I have to admit they are the cutest things ever. Just look:

From left to right they are: a fish, a panda, fire, a Tibetan antelope, and a swallow. The fish one is a little creepy, but the others are cute. :-D

And each Fuwa, I think they're being called Friendlies in English, is shown performing a summer sport here. My personal favourite is this one:

I'm reminded of Eat, Shoots, and Leaves. This one's pretty good, too:

There's a whole bunch of these. I'm so tempted to make some icons out of them, just for my own enjoyment. :-D

ETA: Damn, the link changed. It doesn't show you the Fuwa acting out the sports anymore. And they were so cute, too.

Comments

[aryas_zehral]

Lol. I was just thinking of making a panda shooting icon too, or the fencing one. I liked the fencing one. Lol. (That'll teach me for clicking on the link before the cut.) I agree that the fish is creepy but I kind think the swallow one is odd too.

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

It's so bizarre to see something so cute holding a gun. :-D

Each Fuwa character has a meaning, so I'm sure having a fish and a swallow makes sense. ;-)

[aryas_zehral]

Yeah, the Fire one seems a bit out of place too what with it being a thing rather than an animal but I trust that it really does "fit" I just don't know the reasoning. :) Maybe it's elements or something? Fire is like only representable by itself but fish could be water and bird could be air. As for the other two, does Chinese astrology not have like metal and wood instead of earth so one could be metal and one could be wood? I may be rambling. :D But it's a theory. Lol.

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should read the stuff they have on the website before I start pilfering the images to make icons. :-D

Yeah, each Fuwa represents an element - the sea, forest, fire, earth, and sky - and fire is in there because it represents the Olympic Flame. Plus each Fuwa matches the colours of the rings in the Olympic flag. I didn't even notice that. The stuff you learn every day. :-)

I think most people will think "Cute!" and not even think about the meaning.

[aryas_zehral]

I didn't notice the colour thing either which is so... duh! Lol. So which is the forest and which is the earth? Panda the former and... whatever the other thing was again the latter?

I'm sure most people will think cute because they are cute. The other stuff is interesting but not really overly important IMO. *Smile*

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

I think the order is fish/sea, panda/forest, fire, antelope/earth, and swallow/sky. Pandas hang out in forest and Tibetan antelopes hang out on mountains(?).

Cuteness is definitely a factor. When the Olympics were here in 1988 we had two polar bears dressed up in Western wear named Hidy and Howdy. Weird, but cute. ;-)

[kefira.livejournal.com]

Do you have a link with more info? I like these :)

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

It seems the links have changed on me over night, but this looks to be the same page:

http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/n214068254.shtml

And for more cuteness, here's the promo video about the mascots:

http://en.beijing2008.cn/video/promotional/fuwa/