|
2008 Beijing Olympic Games
A black spot on the Five FriendliesPosted by Joel Martinsen on Saturday, August 19, 2006 at 10:20 PM
 Popular pandas. Black? Judging from depictions in popular culture, pandas have black tails to go along with black eyes, ears, and paws. Jingjing, one of the "Five Friendlies" mascots for the Beijing Olympics, adheres to this pattern. Unfortunately for Olympic organizers, pandas' tails come in only one color, white, according to The Beijing News, which did the legwork by contacting the Beijing Zoo to confirm what blog and forum commenters had suspected. Is this an embarrassing mistake that will confuse Olympics fans both at home and abroad?  Jingjing vs. a bored panda. And shoppers at Olympic merchandise shops haven't seemed to notice - they just think that Jingjing's pretty cute. Who cares if a panda's tail is black or white as long as it catches the consumer's eye? Links and Sources
|
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
Henry on
The Eurasian Face
Caroline W on
Big in China
Michael on
Julia Lovell on translating Lu Xun's complete fiction: "His is an angry, searing vision of China"
Brandon K. on
Clueless academic takes on popular fantasy novels
Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
The latest recommended blogs and new media
 From 2008
Books on China
 The Eurasian Face : Blacksmith Books, a publishing house in Hong Kong, is behind The Eurasian Face, a collection of photographs by Kirsteen Zimmern. Below is an excerpt from the series:
Big in China: An adapted excerpt from Big In China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising A Family, Playing The Blues and Becoming A Star in China, just published this month. Author Alan Paul tells the story of arriving in Beijing as a trailing spouse, starting a blues band, raising kids and trying to make sense of China.
Pallavi Aiyar's Chinese Whiskers: Pallavi Aiyar's first novel, Chinese Whiskers, a modern fable set in contemporary Beijing, will be published in January 2011. Aiyar currently lives in Brussels where she writes about Europe for the Business Standard. Below she gives permissions for an excerpt.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Korean history doesn't fly on Chinese TV screens (2007.09): SARFT puts the kibbosh on Korean historical dramas. + Religion and government in an uneasy mix (2008.03): Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊) article from October, 2007, on government influence on religious practice in Tibet. + David Moser on Mao impersonators (2004.10): I first became aware of this phenomenon in 1992 when I turned on a Beijing TV variety show and was jolted by the sight of "Mao Zedong" and "Zhou Enlai" playing a game of ping pong. They both gave short, rousing speeches, and then were reverently interviewed by the emcee, who thanked them profusely for taking time off from their governmental duties to appear on the show.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
 (on the mainland)or Feedburner  (blocked in China) Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links) Top Links: Links from the top bar Danwei Jobs: Want ads Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30 |
 |
Chinese media, advertising, and urban life. |
|
tweet
facebook
bookmark
HaoHao
digg
Comments on A black spot on the Five Friendlies
Beautiful tag line, Joel!
Anyone got any ideas of how to render that in Chinese so that a native speaker would immediately see the connection?
I've tried three or four different formulations, but my Chinese is bu tai hao.
wow. how cute are the pandas. i wanna see one in person.. hmm how i wish. ^^
What do you think about the claim on olympic mascotts intellectual property?
http://www.chinese-tools.com/beijing2008/keroro.html
Pure coincidence?
Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni Ya ! lol
http://bjimg.focus.cn/upload/photos/995/qbOT5lsb.jpg
Why you gotta be hatin' on JingJing?
It's annoying that people like you have to point out every single detail. JingJing is a fictional mascot! He's supposed to be cute, and I think pandas look cuter with fluffy black tails. JingJing would look so plain without it, since he's a doll.