谈谈北京的“福娃”

Beijing Gets Friendly

China's Leninists haven't exactly been effective at cultivating a warm and fuzzy image abroad. But as the international spotlight heats up in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China is already trying to show the world its softer side.

The effort began last Friday, when China unveiled an entourage of cuddly cartoons to serve as Olympic mascots. And never one to be accused of understatement, Beijing has introduced not one mascot, but five.

Welcome to China!

Enter the "Five Friendlies." The colorful figures -- four animals and one Olympic flame -- were inspired by the five Olympic rings. Putting together the first syllables of their first names spells out: "Beijing huanying ni," or "Beijing welcomes you."

The "Five Friendlies" were not entirely welcomed by the Chinese people, however. Comments on Chinese Web sites ranged from approval to disappointment to complete bewilderment. One contributor to a popular Chinese-language Internet bulletin board quipped, ironically: "Doesn't China advocate family planning? … These five things come along and make me realize that China's population really is too big." Others touched on problems of Chinese censorship: One blogger bitterly complained that online criticism of the mascots was deleted.

Not all Chinese got so riled up. When we asked one university professor in Beijing what his students thought of the mascots, he had the impression that they couldn't care less either way.

Such disinterest is hard to comprehend. One mascot alone would provide plenty of fodder for commentary, and now we have five. Take the decision to use a Tibetan antelope when Beijing is widely criticized for trampling on freedoms there. We also don't know what to make of Jingjing, who mainland English-language publication China Daily celebrates for his "charming naivete."

Still, these cuddly mascots raise a larger question about how Beijing will conduct itself as it steps up preparations to host its long-awaited Olympic games. Have the five friendlies come to usher in a pre-Olympic public relations campaign of cleaner air, better intellectual property protections, and fewer incidents of egregious human-rights violations?

Such initiatives would be welcome, to be sure. But the question remains as to what will happen after 2008. Beijing will not be able to truly brush up its image until it demonstrates a sincere, long-term commitment to making China a friendlier place. 谈谈北京的“福娃”

在对外树立热情而亲切的形象方面，中国的列宁主义者们一直以来并不算成功。不过随著全球对日益临近的 2008 年北京奥运会越来越关注，中国已经开始努力向世界展现自己的温柔一面。

中国的这种努力业已开始。上周五中国揭晓了奥运会吉祥物──一组可爱的卡通形象。从不低调行事的北京这次推出的吉祥物不只一个，而是五个。

介绍一下“五行福娃”：这些色彩绚丽的形象──四种动物形象和一个奥运圣火形象，灵感来自于奥运五环。将五个吉祥物的名字的第一个字连起来读就是：“北京欢迎你”。

不过并不是所有中国人都喜欢“五行福娃”。发表在中文网站上的评论从认同、失望到完全不解，不一而足。有人在一个颇受欢迎的中文论坛上用充满讽刺的口吻写道：“中国不是在宣传计划生育吗？……这五个形象一起出现让我认识到中国人口真的是太多了。”还有人谈到了中国的新闻审查制度：一个博客抱怨说网上对吉祥物的批评都被删掉了。

并非所有中国人都如此懊恼。当我们询问北京的一个大学教授他的学生对吉祥物的看法时，他觉得学生们根本就不关心。

这种漠不关心令人难以理解。一个吉祥物就让人有足够的谈资了，何况现在有五个？比如说，当中国政府被批评践踏西藏自由的时候，吉祥物中就出现了一只藏羚羊。我们也不明白熊猫晶晶的意义何在，而中国大陆出版的英文报纸《中国日报》 (China Daily) 却称赞他那“迷人的天真无邪”。

不过，这几个可爱的吉祥物还是提出了一个更大的问题，那就是在加紧准备盼望已久的奥运会之时，北京会如何表现自己呢？五行福娃是奥运前的公关活动──空气更清洁，知识产权保护更有力，严重违反人权的事件更少──的前奏么？

如果是这样那我们当然欢迎。但 2008 年之后会发生什么呢？只有真诚而长久地致力于建设一个友好的社会，中国政府才能真正改变其形象。

Beijing gets new fuel cell cars for Olympic fleet
     
http://english.people.com.cn/200511/24/eng20051124_223573.html
人民网报道:

Beijing Public Transportation Corp. got Wednesday three brand new fuel cell passenger cars from world leading automaker Daimler-Chrysler.

The three new cars, prototypes of the green vehicle fleet serving the Beijing Olympics, will be used in Beijing's hi-tech zone, or Zhongguancun Area, for public transportation in an 8.19-km route.

The experimental commercial use of the fuel cell cars is the first of its kind in any developing country.

The Beijing Public Transportation Corporation has prepared all facilities for hydrogen refilling, which is vital for fuel cell cars, data collection systems, training for drivers and service management.

The Global Environment Fund and the United Nations Development Program supported the experimental project for promoting free-emission fuel cell cars in China, which will host the 2008 summer Olympics and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

The three cars were shown at the Fourth International Clean Vehicle Technology Conference and Exhibition.

At the inaugural for the exhibition, Ma Songde, vice-minister of Science and Technology, said that the development of energy-saving vehicles is one task for build an energy-saving society and an environment-friendly economy.

As the world's most populous country and a developing one, Ma said, China should cultivate an auto industry oriented for saving energy and protecting the environment.

Fuel cells transfer hydrogen to electric power, which produces no pollution. Many big auto companies in the world invest much into the research and development of such environment-friendly vehicles.

An industrial policy guideline issued by the government in 2004 supported the development of vehicles using clean energies.

Ma said Chinese companies need to combine their own innovative capacity with the latest technologies licensed by multinational auto makers to shape the cutting-edge in the industry.

At present, Chinese auto makers have already developed more than 100 kinds of hybrid cars and fuel cell cars, many of which were shown at the Beijing exhibition.


Source: Xinhua