and move over for this guy! For those of you who have set foot anywhere near Shanghai or even China the last few years, you must have been blind not to notice this little blue fellow. He is the Expo mascot, making Hello Kitty and other local favourite Xiyangyang shiver in their boots, as his image is everywhere to be seen(and not the least, bought!).
Though mistakenly similar to a figure you might see in a toothpaste ad, this guy has an intricate story. He was produced by Taiwanese designer Wu Yong jian, and was selected out of 26,655 entries as part of an international competition. His name is HaiBao, translated to Jewel of the Sea, thus his blue colour. He is shaped like the Chinese character 人（ pronounced; rén) meaning person or people. Haibao is a happy little fellow, ready to embrace friends from all over the world, with his outstretched arms.
You can read more about the little guy at http://en.expo2010.cn/documents/hqjxw.htm. "The image of mascot should well express the theme of Shanghai Expo "Better City, Better Life" by using innovative ideas, impressive appearance and motions to state its concept and characters." says the official Expo website. Whether or not he succeeds in this, he has become extremely popular. Statues of him in different costumes and postures can be seen all over Shanghai. The so-called authorized souvenir shops at Expo are packed with different versions of him; The obvious teddybear-form can be obtained in at least a dozen different sizes, in addition to key chains, mobile devices, posters, T-shirts, sweaters, caps++ A Haibao cuddlyblanket has also recently come out, and has become a popular garnment among the tourists during the cool Shanghai nights.
Perhaps not suprisingly; the second you set one foot out of the expo gates, you´ll have plenty of people approaching you to sell you not-so-authorized versions of HaiBao. These are probably a lot cheaper, and frankly look exactly the same.. The little guys´ design is not exactly super-hard to copy!
I have personally grown to love the wee fellow, and I suspect some of my colleagues have as well. ZhaoBing recently pulled out a cute little teddybear HaiBao in the ladies lockerroom, that had been given to her by her boyfriend and Expo colleague Lars. She also reported that AiQi has the cuddly-blanket version, of which I am very jealous(am planning to buy it as soon as we get our next salary). In addition to being cute and smiley, HaiBao is a great conversation starter when talking to most visitors at our pavillion. "I see you´re wearing Haibao on your shirt, how nice!" "Is that your new HaiBao little kid? what a cool toy!" etc etc.
If any of you fellow hosts and hostNesses have any good HaiBao pictures, please send them to trineogtori@hotmail.no. I really wanted to post some pictures of him in real life, but sadly saw that I had none on my camera- update- took a few today! see below..
Soon to come on exposingshanghai.blogspot.com: Actual encounters from the different countries´ pavillions! (Trine, remember our initial plan to visit like 10 pavillions a week and write about them?! hehe)
Tori
Drawing of HaiBao in traditional Chinese gear, at the China Pavilion. Drawn by an eight-year-old or something..
Tori with a blow-up HaiBao, outside an authorized souvenir shop
ok, so 10 a week was a little ambitious, but maybe one a week? :D
SvarSlett