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The Fuwa (Chinese: 福娃; pinyin: Fúwá; literally "good-luck dolls", also known as "Friendlies") were the mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The designs were created by Han Meilin, a famous Chinese artist.^[1] The designs were publicly announced by the National Society of Chinese Classic Literature Studies on 11 November 2005 at an event marking the 1000th day before the opening of the games.

There are five Fuwas: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini. Together, the names form the sentence "北京欢迎你", or "Beijing huanying ni," which means "Beijing welcomes you". Originally named 'The Friendlies', they were promoted as 'Fuwa' when concerns arose that the name could be misinterpreted.^[2][3]

While originally given artistic licence in his commission, Han Meilin was subsequently requested by officials to include various Chinese designs and fauna in the Fuwa. Han Meilin drew 1,000 models of possible Fuwa (including a dragon and an anthropomorphic drum) before settling on the five characters. He has since disowned the Fuwa and did not include them in his museum.^[4]

Beibei (Chinese: 贝贝) is one of the two female Fuwa who represents the blue Olympic ring of Europe.

She took her motif from traditional Chinese New Year decorative picture of lotus and fish and the fish design from Neolithic artifacts. Her element motif are the sea and water. She is a friendly leader (though the title of leader belongs to Huanhuan) who brings prosperity.

In traditional Chinese culture, the fish represents prosperity, as the character for fish (鱼 / 魚; yú) sounds the same as that for surplus (余 / 餘; yú). The "carp leaping over the dragon gate" is a traditional allegory of following one's dreams and achieving them. The pattern from Beibei's headgear comes from artifacts unearthed at Banpo, site of a Neolithic village of the Yangshao culture.

She is an expert at aquatic sports.

Jingjing (Chinese: 晶晶) is one of the three male Fuwa who represents the black Olympic ring of Africa.

He took his motif from the giant panda and the Song dynasty lotus-shaped porcelain. His element motifs are the forest and wood. He is honest and optimistic Fuwa who always spreads happiness.

As an endangered species, the panda is both a national symbol of China and an international symbol of environmentalism. Jingjing's forest origins also symbolize the harmonious coexistence of humankind and nature.

He is an expert at weightlifting, judo, etc.

Huanhuan (Chinese: 欢欢) is one of the three male Fuwa who represents the red Olympic ring of the Americas.

He took his motif from the Olympic flame and the fire design from the Mogao Grottoes. As such, his elemental motif is fire. He is an enthusiastic extrovert filled with passion.

He represents the passion of sports, the Olympic spirit of "faster, higher, stronger", and the passion of the Beijing Olympics. Huanhuan's headgear comes from a fire design in the Mogao Caves, the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes.

He is an expert at ball sports/racquet sports.

Yingying (Chinese: 迎迎) is one of the three male Fuwa who represents the yellow Olympic ring of Asia.

He took his motif from the Tibetan antelope and Tibetan and Xinjiang ethnic costumes. His elemental motif is earth. He is a lively and independent Fuwa who had an interest in health.

The Tibetan antelope is an endangered species native to the Tibetan Plateau, known for its swiftness. Yingying's headgear incorporates elements of Tibetan and Xinjiang ethnic costumes.

He is an expert at track and field.

Nini (Chinese: 妮妮) is one of the two female Fuwa who represents the green Olympic ring of Oceania.

She took her motif from the swift bird and Beijing's sand martin kite. Her elemental motifs are sky and metal. She is a just but also kind Fuwa who spreads good fortune.

The swallow is a messenger of spring and happiness in Chinese culture, and is seen as a symbol of good fortune. The Chinese character for swallow (燕 yàn) is also used in Yanjing (燕京), an old name for Beijing; thus the swallow alludes to Beijing. Nini's headgear uses the design of Beijing's sand martin kites, which are colourful cross-shaped kites modeled after swallows.

She is an expert at gymnastics.

A 100-episode Olympic-themed anime series featuring the Fuwa was released in China, primarily on BTV (Beijing's municipal television network), on 8 August 2007. Titled The Olympic Adventures of Fuwa (Chinese: 福娃奥运漫游记; pinyin: Fúwá Àoyùn Mànyóujì), it was jointly produced by BTV and Kaku Cartoon. It ran from 8 August to 1 October 2007.^[5]

There are also two sequels created by CCTV, Beibei's Promise and the Five Rings.^[6][7]

The characters made a cameo appearance in the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games video game.^{[citation needed]}

The China Environmental Awareness Programme program, started in 2001, has the Fuwa raising public environmental awareness by spreading clean, green messages.^[8]

A large-scale fairy-tale drama entitled Friendlies (or Fuwa) has been directed by Beijing Children's Art Theater Cooperative to promote the five mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As ambassadors of peace, the Fuwa would make a world-tour, visiting all seven continents.^[9]

Groups seeking to raise political issues in tandem with China's hosting of the Olympic Games have used the Fuwa or have created similar mascots.

• Nu Wa, a monkey with a red bandana, was created by Amnesty International. Nu Wa means "angry young boy".^[10]
• Play Fair 2008, a campaign organised by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF) to raise awareness for the rights of workers involved in the sporting goods industries, have used the Fuwa.^[11]
• Gengen Genocide, a brown and yellow character wearing a gun and a fuel pump nozzle head-dress that forms a skull and crossbones, was developed by a group seeking to raise attention to the People's Republic of China's involvement in Darfur. Gengen's name is derived from the term genocide.^[12]

In addition, Beijing residents have allegedly created their own Fuwa set consisting of a duck, a dragonfly and a taxi. Collectively their names—"Ya", "Ting", "De"—spell out "bastard" in Beijing slang.^[4] (Note that among friends, "ni ya ting de", which means "you bastard", is a common term of endearment but is considered crude by many.)

In the months leading up to the Olympics, coincidental similarities between the characters and several events became were noted on the internet blogs under titles such as "Curse of the Fuwa".^[13][14] Some Chinese citizens have taken to calling the characters "Wuwa" (巫娃, witch dolls). Online criticism of the dolls has frequently been censored.^[4]

• Nini, a swallow thought to be a kite, was blamed for the "kite city" of Weifang T195 train accident. Nini was also believed to be a locust, and associated with a locust plague that infested Inner Mongolia in June 2008.^[4]
• Yingying, a Tibetan antelope, for the 2008 Tibetan unrest.
• Huanhuan, representing the Olympic flame, for the Summer Olympics torch relay protests.
• Jingjing, a panda, for the Sichuan earthquake. The epicenter of the earthquake is very close to the Wolong Nature Reserve.
• Beibei, a Chinese sturgeon of water/sea element, for the 2008 South China floods.

Beibei is represented by a Chinese sturgeon.^[15] Five sturgeons were presented by China to Hong Kong^[16] with each fish representing an Olympic ring, in addition to the "motherland's love" for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.^[17] The smallest of the five sturgeon (1.1 meters) was bitten by one of the barracudas housed in the same aquarium, and died the day after being publicly released into the city's theme park aquarium Ocean Park.^[16][18] Necropsy showed that the bite was not aggressive, but a reflex action from contact between the fish.^[19] Ocean Park said no one is at fault since in the almost 10 years the eight barracudas had been with the park, they had never showed any signs of aggression.^[19] Feng shui experts were divided about the death of the sturgeon, there were some that said this event may imply misfortune, and there were some that said 'the public did not need to worry too much because all fish die' and 'Can I say it's a bad omen for the Olympic Games if, for example, my five tadpoles—which I say represent the Olympic rings—die at home?'.^[20] Beijing's central government replaced the one that died with five more sturgeons.^[21]

Han Meilin suffered two heart attacks while designing the Fuwa.^[4]

• Fu Niu Lele, mascot of the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing
• Lele, mascot of the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing
• Bing Dwen Dwen, mascot of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing
• Shuey Rhon Rhon, mascot of the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing

• The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the Wayback Machine (archived 1 August 2008)
• Beijing 2008 - Olympics and 5 elements at the Wayback Machine (archived 14 August 2008)

• The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (English)
• The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (Chinese)
• Comments on the linguistics of the Friendlies' names
• Fuwa Papercraft