The upcoming Beijing Olympics will start at exactly 8pm on August 8, because eight is a lucky number for the Chinese. With the "Curse of the Fuwa" upon them, they can use all the luck they can get.
The Fuwa, meaning "good-luck dolls" or "friendlies," are the five teddy bear-looking creatures designed by a famous Chinese artist as the mascots for the 2008 Olympics. Together, their names say "Beijing huanying ni," which means "Beijing welcomes you." Adorable, right? Plus they're much better than the mostly lame mascots other countries have come up with in the past. So why are Chinese people deathly afraid of them? And why has the artist totally disowned them? Because they believe that these cuddly beasts, created in the image of the country's favorite animals, are portents of the various disasters that China has suffered so far this year.
*In May, an earthquake devastated Sichuan province, renowned home of the Panda bear. JingJing, the black one, is a Panda.
*HuanHuan (the red one in the center) represents the Olympic torch. He's also being blamed for the unrest that occurred during the torch relay around the world, which also brought light to the situation in Tibet and made a lot of people think of China as oppressive and feudalistic.
*YingYing (yellow), a Tibetan antelope, is apprently the cause of that whole Tibet mess.
*In April, there was a deadly train crash in Weifang, known as the "Kite City." Nini is a swallow who's decorated like a green kite.
*It was in June when the fear of the Fuwa grew significantly. Southern China was hit with the worst flooding in 50 years, forcing over 1.6 million people to evacuate their homes. Beibei, the blue one, is fish-shaped and also represents water. She's also female, naturally.
Religious and superstitious people (many Chinese are both) have a knack for connecting coincidences with divine or supernatural influence (sometimes very convincingly). But this is pretty weird. What do you think?
