sorry for the delay on the hong kong and china posts, but i have been plagued by bad technology and jet lag, neither of which left me very blogable.
at any rate, the first (of many) posts based on my trip is dedicated to the beijing summer games mascots (yes, that’s mascots, because everything is bigger in china!), called the friendllies. i think they are ridiculously cute and they were everywhere: on the subway, on buses, billboards, soda cups, candy wrappers, larger than life in parks… you get the idea.
i was a little curious about them (and what on earth they were because other than one being a panda and another being a flame, i was a little mystified at first). i learned that they were created by chinese illustrator han meilin to embody four of china’s popular animals (the fish, the panda, the tibetan antelope and the swallow) and the olympic flame, and that they are loaded with symbolism.
in their origins and headpieces, the five elements of nature (the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky) are rendered in a manner that reflects traditional chinese folk art and ornamentation. they each also have a rhyming two-syllable name (a traditional way of expressing affection for children in china): beibei (the fish), jingjing (the panda), huanhuan (the flame), yingying (the tibetan antelope) and nini (the swallow. when the first sylable of the names are put together (bei jing huan ying ni) they say “welcome to beijing.”
OMG. I am in love. That swallow one is awesome.
— zara · Apr 28, 03:19 PM · #