Life of Guangzhou - GZ Asian Games Mascot to Be Unveiled Tonight

The official mascot of the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, 2010 will be unveiled at 20:00 (Beijing time) this evening in Guangzhou, South China, as announced by the Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee (GAGOC) at a press conference on Sunday.

The unveiling ceremony will be broadcast live in Chinese on Guangdong TV, Guangzhou TV and Southern TV.

The package introduction of the mascot will be released on the official website of the 16th Asian Games (www.gz2010.cn) shortly after the ceremony this evening.

Director of Press and Publicity of GAGOC Luo Jingjun (middle) briefs the mascot design and solicitation at the press conference on April 27 in Guangzhou, China. (GAGOC)

How does the mascot look?

The five colors of the Olympic rings will be represented in the mascot artwork, according to GAGOC.

The design idea was developed out of the legends of Guangzhou, a 2,222 year-old city and cradle of the ancient marine "silk road" that is also nicknamed City of Rams and Flowers.

The mascot will be in stylish dress and have a name that is both easy to pronounce and remember.

Interesting design elements

The elements of designs from the public solicitation consist of traditional Chinese heritage (e.g. dragons, door saints and phoenix), Lingnan characteristics (e.g. South China tigers and South China lion dance) and of Guangzhou features (eg. Kapok, rams and Polo Chicken).

Many foods were used in designs, like shrimp jiaozi, lychee, tea and papaya.

Wide ranging involvement

It has taken 13 months to develop the mascot since last March, through four stages of public solicitation, panel's screening, experts' redesign and final refining. The final deign was approved at the 52nd session of the Executive Committee of the Olympic Council of Asia early April this year.

The design has involved professionals from comics, cartoons, toys, graphic design, universities, 86 big advertising companies, 142 design institutes and 5 cartoon design companies, in addition to the public

A total of 812 works were collected from Chinese mainland, USA, Germany, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong via public solicitation.

Most works were designed by young people, 92％ of designers were aged below 40, The youngest being only 10 and the oldest 77.

Upscale jury

Seven experts were invited to assess the works and agree on a shortlist of ten.

The panel included a judge and designer of the Beijing Olympic mascot and a judge for mascot selection for the Shanghai Expo.

(By Ronald Li and Alan Devey)

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