Fuwa Fables?

2008 was supposed to be the year of glory for China, the year when China showed their new face to the world; a face of progress, success and opportunity. But thus far, 2008 has been a year that no one saw coming, a year that has seen China faced with one crisis after another. Add a bit of superstition to the mix, and we've got one more crisis to go...

Fortune telling Fuwa?

Rumors floating around China at the moment are pointing to the Fuwa, the Olympic mascots of the Beijing Games, for insight into what has happened so far, and what might happen next. These five adorable, and seemingly harmless, mascots may be doing more than just looking cute and welcoming the world to Beijing. (For those outside China, their names put together in Chinese means BeiJing HuanYing Ni - Beijing welcomes you).

According to current superstitions circulating online, the Fuwa have in a way predicted the natural disasters that have struck China this year. Kicking off the fuss is Nini, who wears a traditional Chinese kite on her head. The traditional kites are from Shandong province, where a train wreck occurred earlier this year killing hundreds. Then move over to Yingying, the Tibetan antelope, and obviously, this corresponds with the issues in Tibet. Huanhuan, our fiery Olympic flame coincides with the international protests of the Olympic torch relay, which in some cases got physical (think French protesters attacking the Chinese torch-bearer, who happened to be in a wheelchair). Next up is Ningning, our panda, which hails from Sichuan province, victim of this week's devastating earthquake.

This brings us up to speed, all that's left is Beibei, the fish... Fish represents wealth and prosperity, any idea what this last omen could be?


Do you buy into the fuwa folklore? Please share thoughts.


And in case anyone is wondering, I think Beijing will pull off an amazing Olympics!