Good Luck Cow Happy Happy!
Further to Chinese superstition / synchroicity: it was drawn to my attention today that the Official Mascot (tm) of the Beijing Paralympics was 福牛乐乐, a.k.a. Good Luck Cow Happy Happy, and that with the Sanlu melamine scandal it joins the other chirpy-yet-creepy FuWa in being taken by the Chinese as sinister avatars of this year’s bad news, to wit:
贝贝： the sturgeon, symbolizing flooding in southern China this spring.
晶晶： the panda, Sichuan’s best-known tourist attraction, symbolizing the devasting earthquake in May.
欢欢：the torch, symbolizing the attacks on Chinese torch-bearers in Paris and London
迎迎: the Tibetan antelope, symbolizing the Tibetan riots in March.
妮妮：the swallow. Evil potential still unknown / unrealized, though the most determined blame it for the train crash in Weifang in April.
Back in the spring we fed up 外国专家, nauseated by the relentless kitsch—as saccharine as Hello Kitty!, as inescapable as Hannah Montana—were threatening a “bonfire of the FuWa.” I wouldn’t be surprised if most Chinese would join us now…
