Beijing Olympic Mascots "fuwa" Study

The Olympic Games, through more than a century's development, has gradually changed from a mere sporting event to a world-famous cultural movement. Olympic mascot, as the logo design of the Olympic Games, is not only a cultural symbol filled with meanings, but also a cultural product blessed with multiple values. The birth and development of the Olympic mascot represents the"turn to culture"in theory and praxis. Olympic mascots, especially the 2008 Beijing Olympic mascots, have triggered a series of social-cultural phenomenon and given rise to massive discussions participated by the whole nation.This thesis does not rigidly adhere to the traditional analytical methods of Sociology——studying the products from soup to nuts, but situates Olympic Mascots in a dynamic cultural cycle. It raises and resolves issues in representation, production, identification and consumption. It excavates the cultural meanings and social meanings, as well as the complex relations between politics, economics, and power. This study of the Olympic mascots attempts to discover how they are represented, what kind of social identity they are associated with, how they are produced and consumed, as well as what is their underlying operating mechanism.Through an in-depth case study of Beijing Olympic Mascots -- FUWA, this thesis provides a comprehensive and dynamic analysis of Olympic mascots. It traces the history of Olympic mascots and explores the social and cultural background of the Olympic hosts,especially the relations between Beijing Olympic mascots and Chinese society. It offers an interpretation of the official coding and cultural connotation of Beijing Olympic mascots by comparing them with previous Olympic mascots and other Olympic cultural symbols. It also attempts to discover the social cultural meanings of the Olympic mascots through questionnaire survey and field study. The birth of Beijing Olympic mascots and their mass production and consumption reflects many social and cultural characteristics of contemporary Chinese society which are remarkably different from those of western society. The discussion of the relationship between Olympics and society can expand our horizon and point to new directions of thinking.In China, mascots are both cultural symbols and cultural goods. Born in the specific context of contemporary Chinese society, they are the products of multiple political, economic, and cultural forces. People's consumption of the mascots is mixed with patriotic feelings of hosting the Olympic Games and highlights their affirmation and admiration of the symbol value of those mascots. The dissolution of traditional boundaries between arts and goods, between aesthetic appreciation and consumption in those mascots certainly reveals some characteristics of cultural consumption in Chinese society.