2008 Beijing Olympic Games

A black spot on the Five Friendlies

Posted by Joel Martinsen, August 19, 2006 10:20 PM

Popular pandas.

Quick, what color is a panda's tail?

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.

A spokesperson for the Olympic organizing committee responded with the only answer possible: "Jingjing is not just a giant panda, but rather an artistic creation based on the form of a giant 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

The Beijing News (Chinese): Why is Jingjing's tail black?
Images from Sina Games, BTHome, Tom, Wahfung, N318

There are currently 5 Comments for A black spot on the Five Friendlies.

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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.

Posted by: Shan | August 19, 2006 11:03 PM

wow. how cute are the pandas. i wanna see one in person.. hmm how i wish. ^^

Posted by: Ashely | October 9, 2006 7:12 PM

What do you think about the claim on olympic mascotts intellectual property?

http://www.chinese-tools.com/beijing2008/keroro.html

Pure coincidence?

Posted by: Beijing | October 29, 2006 7:29 PM

Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni Ya ! lol
http://bjimg.focus.cn/upload/photos/995/qbOT5lsb.jpg

Posted by: liujie | December 4, 2006 5:49 PM

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.

Posted by: Karen | November 29, 2007 12:08 PM