Chinese Olympic Mascot: FuWa

The Fuwa (Chinese: 福娃; Pinyin: Fúwá; literally "Good-luck dolls") are the mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. They were designed by Han Meilin [1] and announced by the National Society of Chinese Classic Literature Studies on November 11, 2005 at an event marking the 1000th day before the opening of the games.

The Fuwa consists of five members according to the traditional five elements: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. Each of the five names is designed to look like a plausible name for a small child, but when put together, they sound nearly identical to the phrase "北京欢迎你 Běijīng huānyíng ni" which means "Beijing welcomes you". Each of the five figures also represents one of the five Olympic Rings.

Two of the five mascots represent members of endangered species.

A 100-episodes Olympic-themed cartoon series featuring the Fuwa was released in China on August 8, 2007.
footnote:
[1] - retrieved 11 September 2007

Picture
Name	Bèibei (贝贝)	Jīngjing (晶晶)	Huānhuan (欢欢)	Yíngying (迎迎)	Nīni (妮妮)
Gender	female	male	male	male	female
Olympic Ring	Blue	Black	Red	Yellow	Green
Element	Water	Metal	Fire	Earth	Wood
Design	Fish	Giant panda	Olympic Flame	Tibetan antelope	Swallow
Personality	gentle, pure	honest, optimistic	extrovert, enthusiastic	lively, vivacious	innocent, joyous
Represented ideal	prosperity	happiness	passion	health	good fortune
Represented sport	aquatic sports	weightlifting, judo, etc.	ball sports	track and field	gymnastics
Cultural inspiration	Traditional Chinese New Year decorative picture of lotus and fish; fish design from Neolithic artifacts	Giant panda; Song Dynasty lotus-shaped porcelain	fire design from the Mogao Grottoes	Tibetan antelope, Tibetan and Xinjiang ethnic costumes	The swallow; Beijing's shayan kites