From Panpan, Five Rams to Memories of Jiangnan – Asian Games memories in mascots

2023/09/02 17:59

From Beijing to Guangzhou and then to Hangzhou, China's Asian Games memories span 33 years.

The 11th Asian Games Beijing 1990 was the first time that China hosted a comprehensive international sports games after the beginning of reform and opening-up, sending a signal of openness to the world. The mascot panda Panpan was a simple, full-bodied figure, highlighting the new outlook of the Chinese people: curious, free-spirited and daring.

When the 16th Asian Games Guangzhou was held in 2010, China, the second largest economy in the world, returned to rationality after the economic tide, and created the mascots of the Five Rams – A Xiang, A He, A Ru, A Yi and Le Yangyang, which conveyed the good wishes of "auspiciousness, harmony, happiness and completion".

The 19th Asian Games Hangzhou to be held in 2023 interprets the three world cultural heritages of the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu Ancient City, the West Lake, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal as Memories of Jiangnan, aiming to present to the world a contemporary China featuring cultural confidence, temperate and restrained disposition, and innovative development.

"If the Beijing Asian Games let the world know China moving from mystery to diversity and openness through Panpan, and the Guangzhou Asian Games conveyed good wishes to the world through the Five Rams, Hangzhou Asian Games aims to share the poetic allure of the Jiangnan region and showcase a confident and unflustered China," said Zhang Wen, chief designer of the mascots for Hangzhou Asian Games.

"We hope to return back to the similarity and essential nature of human beings, so that the expressions of the mascots will resonate with the spiritual needs of the times, and match people's expectations on beautiful things." said Zhang, and he hoped that in the future, when people recall Hangzhou Asian Games, they will remember these pretty mascots.

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