Spaced-out panda is mascot for 2022 Winter Olympics
Society & Culture
2022 Winter Olympics mascot Bing Dwen Dwen
A panda from the future, empowered by 5G
Beijing has unveiled the mascots it will use for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will be held in the Chinese capital (despite the fact that it rarely snows there).
Bing Dwen Dwen (冰墩墩 bīng dūndūn), a panda who looks totally spaced out, will be plastered over all promotional materials for the upcoming Olympic Games. China Daily adds detail about why the panda looks the way it does:
- Bing Dwen Dwen is “from the future,” with an “icy shell that is stylized as a sports helmet” that is also “similar to a spacesuit.” (The mascot’s introductory video ends with the panda flying to space to high-five an astronaut.)
- The “series of colored floating lines around its head resemble tracks on an ice rink.”
- The lines also indicate the “implementation of ultra-fast 5G technology and are meant to empower the panda.” (Beijing is obsessed with leading in 5G telecom technology, which The China Project has called a potential trajectory-changing national project.)
The Paralympic Games also received its mascot: an anthropomorphic red lantern named Shuey Rhon Rhon (雪容融 xuě róngróng), with normal, non-hypnotic eyes. Click here to view Shuey’s animated intro video.
