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2008Olympics > Designers
Han Meilin, designer of the Fuwa
By Cruz Fang (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-08-22 22:20
Reporters: Why do we have five mascots?
Han: It's become a trend for mascots to appear not solely since the 2000
Sydney Olympics. Actually we had six mascots candidates - Panda, Tibetan
antelope, golden monkey, Northeastern tiger (Siberian Tiger), rattle drum
and China dragon, but none of the individual could completely embody the
image of China's Olympics along, so we got five.
Other candidates for 2008 Olympics mascots
Reporter: Where did the idea originate from?
Han: A folk artist painted five babies based on China's traditional
concept of Wuxing (the five factors making up the world), including gold,
wood, water, fire and earth. Our impulse is from that. The real art is
from the folks.
Reporter: Why is the dragon discarded?
Han: Dragon is too solemn. It represents the soul of Chinese nation. To
making a dragon frolicking around would hurt its dignity. Besides, dragon
has a different meaning in the west.
Reporter: Why swallow?
Han: We hope the dragon could be substituted with a bird. Crane and
magpie (the propitious bird if translated literally into Chinese) were
options favored by many, but crane is too slime to match others and
magpie also has a different meaning. Then we think of the swallow, which
often appeared on the covering of traditional kites in Beijing.
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