Why don't you love us?

Came across this article and was surprised to know that there were 40% of Chinese (are you one of them?) who actually dislike the Fuwa (福娃), the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics mascots. And what was more surprising was that, the 5 poor things do not even have the support of their creator. "Their creator has bitterly disowned them." was what the writer of the article mentioned.

Seems like the hate for these 5 babies was a result of over-dramaticised imaginations of the superstitious and some bloggers, and was quickly spreading all over, thanks to the Internet. And soon everyone was talking about the Fuwa curse : see here and here.

I guess it’s just the Fuwa’s bad luck untimely appearance, that just happened to coincide with these unfortunate incidents. I’m sure even without these 5 babies around, the creative juices of the people will still run wild and be able to find some other things to blame the disasters/accidents on. No wonder their creator also refused to have any more association with them. If all 5 Fuwa are “used up” for being the curses of the disasters/accidents, most probably the netizens and people will turn to the creator, pointing fingers and accusing him of having the “eye” that can see to the future, or a fortune-teller from the dark side, or some evil force that can summon these horrible disasters by drawing 5 innocent-looking babies, etc.

Personally, I find the 5 Fuwa quite cute. Look at those innocent eyes, and adorable smiles (though I must admit that the panda looks somewhat out of place). How can people say such things about them, especially the Chinese themselves? Comparing them to the other Olympic mascots used (an alien-looking thingy, an ice-cube, a stoned-looking dog), the Fuwas have to be one of the most lovable and meaningful ever. Just look at the promotion video.