Rejected Olympic Mascots
June 29th, 2008 by timbotronThough China has five Olympic mascots (”The Fuwa”), several others never made it past the drawing board.
A Blogadilla exclusive: rejected Chinese Olympic mascots.
Maomao – Lil’ Mao Zedong.
Melmel – The Melamine Cat.
I take pleasure in knowing that I’d be shot for doing this if I lived in China.
June 29th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
These are totally awesome! And, hell-shmell…
September 12th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
This is totally racist. And you wouldn’t get shot if you did this in China. People in China have a good sense of humor but hate it when people make fun of the olympics. people worked really hard to make the olympics perfect so fuck you!
September 12th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Dear Angela,
To begin: This is not racist. This does not propose or suggest a particular biological/racial trait among Chinese (not to mention that China itself is composed of many genetically and culturally distinct populations).
It is a political commentary. It is highlighting the relatively recent (and tragically, still present in some areas) Maoist ideology and also highlighting the recent tragic melamine poisoning of tens thousands of dogs and cats (not to mention the death of several people in South America due to tainted Chinese cough syrup, the presence of lead paint in children’s toys from China, the inclusion of toxic substances in some Chinese toothpastes, etc.). The latter items are seen as a reflection that much of the business infrastructure in China needs work. This is a cultural and historical matter, and this is not something unique to China, either. This is not a personal opinion, but what has become a justified national concern among consumers. It is very easy in this day and age to shout “racist” – but fewer and fewer people understand what it means.
I’m not sure that ALL “people in China have a good sense of humor” – making a blanket statement about an entire nation of people could be considered ____________ .
And the Olympics were spectacular. However China felt it okay to sell the Olympics to NBC for 1 billion dollars. And NBC made sure that no one could portray or exhibit the Olympics (even private footage) without their permission. Yes, it was NBC and they are evil because of it. But China had a role in this. For a billion dollars.
The Olympics were spectacular. And monopolized.
And having lived in Jilin Province for 3 months – it is a fair assumption that I would receive some significant form of legal retribution or censorship for posting such materials.