The Five Fuwa of the Apocalypse?

If you were to conduct a poll of foreigners about the Beijing 2008 Olympic games, and were to ask them what questions prey most upon their minds in relation to it, you will probably get a pretty standard set of answers

• "Will the games be a success?"
• "What impact will it have on China, and on the world's view of China?"
• "Will it be remembered more for the sports, or for protests that surround it?"
• and the all important "Who will win the most medals?"

If you were to poll Chinese you would probably get a similar result, with people pondering the games success and its impact and so on.

However, you might also get some rather unusual questions being raise. Chief amongst them, for the oddity value at least being: "Will the Five Fuwa Kill us all?"

Who the hoo-ha are the Fuwa?

First, some background information.

Originally names the "Five Friendlies", The five Fuwa: Meaning "dolls of good fortune" are the official mascots of the Beijing 2008 games.

Designed by noted Chinese artist Han Meilin and unveiled on 11 November 2005, the 1000th day leading up to the games, the Five Fuwa each represent one of the 5 Olympic rings as well as 4 of the 5 Chinese elements (the Wu Xing): Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, plus the Buddhist element of Air.

They are styled  and are styled after natural icons of China and the Olympic movement and are:

• Beibei: A Chinese sturgeon fish, representing the element of water and the Olympic discipline of water sports
• Jingjing: A Panda, representing the element of Wood and the Olympic disciplines of martial arts and weight lifting
• Huahua: The Olympic torch, representing the element of fire and the Olympic disciplines involving game balls
• Yingying: A Tibetan Antelope, representing the element of Earth and the Olympic discipline of track and field sports
• Nini: A Swallow, representing the Buddhist element of air and the Olympic discipline of gymnastics

When combined the first character of their  names phonically spells out Beijng hua(n)ying ni: Roughly, Beijing Welcomes you.

The Curse of the Fuwa?

Since they were first unveiled the Five Fuwa have come to represent a lot of things. The diversity of those competing in the games, China's aspiration of being accepted as a member of the international community, and even the crass commercialism that comes comes part and parcel of any big sporting event these days.

However, it would seem that the Five Fuwa have  also come to represent something all together more sinister: Doom. At least that's what some would have you believe.

2008 has proven to be a turbulent year for China, and China's ever present mill of rumor and superstition has begun to draw links between these troubled times and the Five Fuwa: connecting them to some of the various calamities and conflagrations that have befallen China over the past 6 months. Creating a new urban myth in the process.

Nini the Wind Reaper

According to the official Olympics website, Nini represents the swallow and its design was inspired by swallow designs often found on kites flown by children in Beijing.


Because of this, Nini has become associated with a devastating train wreck near Weifang: known as "The City of Kites" on 28 April 2008 which occurred when the T195 from Beijing to Qingdao derailed, and was then struck by another train, while traveling over a section of line laid down as part of Beijing 2008 infrastructure work.


72 were killed and in the wreck, another 416 were injured. According to official accounts the incident was the result of the T195 traveling too fast. It is thought that a communications breakdown lead to T195 traveling at 131KM/H on newly laid sections of track which was only rates for 80KM/H.

Yingying the Snow Stalker

Yingying was designed to represent the Tibetan antelope, and as such has become associated with demonstrations by Tibetan monks against the detention of their brethren by Beijing which began on 10 March 2008, but which flared into violence on 14 March after monks began to openly call for an end to Beijing's continued occupation of Tibet.

The demonstrations, sometimes referred to as the 3/14 Riots, prove to be an abject humiliation for Beijing as they directly contradicted the official line that Tibet was a harmonious and integrated component of Greater China. They also drew increased, not to mention unwelcome, attention to Beijing's human rights record in the run up to the games.

Jingjing Earth Shaker

On 12 May 2008, Sichuan province was struck by the Wenchuan earthquake which left almost 70,000 people dead and another 374,000+ injured. Not long afterwards links began to be drawn between the earthquake and Jingjing. Primarily because Jingjing symbolizes the Panda which is a noted symbol of Sichuan province, where the Earthquake occurred.

Huanhuan the Chaos Bringing

Huanhuan was designed to represent the Olympic Torch, and has since become associated with the global protests that dogged the passage of the 2008 Olympic torch: Dubbed "The Flame of Shame".

Many Chinese had hoped that the global torch procession, the most ambitious ever staged, would act as a coming out party for China, at which Beijing would be welcomed by the international community. There hopes were when the European and North American legs of the procession became an showcase for the strength of feeling against Beijing. As a result, many legs of the procession had to be drastically shorted. Some even had to be held behind closed doors.

Beibei the moon Gazer

To date, no disaster has been directly associated with Bebei, though the different versions of the Fuwa Curse myth speculate at what form a future Bebei disaster might take. The most popular suggestion is that there will be a catastrophic incident on or near the Changjiang (Yangtze) river: the only place in China where sturgeon fish live in the wild. China watchers have voiced that floods and a boating disasters are likely front runners for attribution.

As with other doom sayer myths, such as those derived from the prophesies of Nostradamus, opinions as to the authenticity of the Fuwa Curse remain divided into several camps. Mostly between those who look for answers in science and see nothing, and those who look to tradition and superstition and see something.

On one side is the opinion that the Fuwa Curse is an unverifiable piece of hokum that is a product of the human mind's tendency to try to find order in Chaos. Specifically: that people have taken five objects and have sought out unrelated events that “roughly mirror” some facet of the object.

China watchers note that in most cases the Fuwa's representation in the disasters is primarily symbolic rather than direct, and that the symbolism could easily be applied to any dramatic event that happened in the right time frame. For example: Yingying became associated with the Tibetan uprising because it represents the Tibetan Antelope, but had the uprising not happened it could just have easily been associated with the Wenchuan earthquake because Yingying represents the Earth in Wu Xing, It could also have easily been associated with the June Coal mine disaster that claimed 34 lives.

On the other side many Chinese believe that they can see firm connections between the forms of the Five Fuwa and the troubles that have befallen China, and that such associations are too strong for them to be mere coincidence.

Of course, there also exists a third side, which says that the Fuwa Curse may be little more than in Internet hoax that developed a life of its own. Something that was dreamed up as a joke by people who did not believe that it was real , but which later spread to more superstitious Chinese who took it seriously and began to propagate it.

Censorship?

Whether the Fuwa curse is real, the result of baseless superstition, or simply a hoax, it has Beijing sufficiently concerned for it to unleash its censors on it, censors who have acted to quash the myth and to "discourage" websites and message boards from hosting discussions relating the possible existence of a Fuwa Curse.

For the most part this crackdown is due to three factors.

Firstly and for mostly Beijing is keen to preserve the image of the Five Fuwa, and to distance them from any form of controversy on the grounds that such an association could harm the image of the Games which, in turn would, harm Beijing's own image. Not to mention the Five Fuwa brand itself.

Secondly, Beijing has long fought a long battle to rid the Mainland of what it refers to as "superstition", either by acting directly to suppress beliefs that it sees as a threat to its authority and/or the state line on history, religions, politics and society, or by encouraging people to see what superstitions remain as being "Cultural Relics":Things which should be remembered because they are part of China's history, but which otherwise have no relevance to modern society.

Thirdly, Beijing officially considers the state to be the source of information and opinion in China, and has repeatedly acted to prevent ideas which do not originate from either the state or state sanctioned sources from taking hold, even if said idea isn't in itself harmful.This is done on the grounds that anything which causes people to turn to other sources of information and/or opinion may lead to a loss of state authority. As such, Beijing has acted to suppress the popularity of everything from television shows to newspapers columns in which academics give their opinions on current trends.

However, some China watchers have noted a fourth, unspoken, reason why Beijing might see the Fuwa Curse myth as being "problematic" to say the least.

Under Chinese tradition the Emperor of China was a bridge between this world and the next, and they ruled by its mandate. If the Emperor ruled justly their kingdom would be peaceful and prosperous, but if were an unjust ruler who abused their power they would loose their mandate and their kingdom would be beset by disasters and strife. Thus, in a tradition that began with the Zhou Dynasty, Chinese have seen such strife as a sign that a government has lost its authority to rule and therefore can legitimately be removed from power for the greater good of China.


While this belief has long since fallen by the wayside, Officials in Beijing are keen not to see it modernized and are likely keen to stamp out anything draw cause people to associate the government with anything bad. For example while there are few Mainlander many whom seriously entertain the idea that misrule by Beijing caused the Wenchuan earthquake, there are many whom believe that state corruption and mismanagement lead to the deaths of thousands of children after their poorly constructed schools collapsed on them. Thus Beijing is keen to suppress the Jingjing part of the myth. Equally, according to this train of thought, Beijing is also likely keen to quash the Huanhuan portion in case it causes people question why foreigners were protesting against China during the torch procession, and the Yingying portion in case people question whether Tibetans had legitimate cause for complaint against Beijing's rule.

As usual, China watchers note that it is standard practice for Beijing to censor all areas of debate on a controversial topic in case said debate causes people to think more deeply about it.

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