Haiwainet.cn
February 7, 2022
Bing Dwen Dwen at the opening ceremony of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
Bing Dwen Dwen, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics mascot, has gone viral around the world. Japanese media described Bing Dwen Dwen’s performance at the opening ceremony as “outstanding”; fans said Bing Dwen Dwen was “so adorable” that they claimed that it was “the cutest mascot ever”; even athletes and journalists were all taken by its charm.
medalists with Bing Dwen Dwen
According to the reports on the evening of February 5 from two Japanese media outlets, The Answer and Daily, Japanese freestyle skier Yumaku Horijima won a bronze medal in the men’s moguls final at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou. In their news reports, special attention was given to a bright smile that appeared on his face when a Bing Dwen Dwen was awarded to him. As Yumaku exchanged glances with the other two medalists, the champion Walter Wallberg from Sweden and the runner-up Mikael Kingsbury from Canada, he found both of them smiled like him, seemingly attracted by the cute mascot.
Bing Dwen Dwen appeared on the Japanese media (Twitter screenshot)
“Is it too cute for a mascot?” said a WAVY-TV (a channel based in Virginia, United States) reporter on the first day of the Games. NBC Sports, another US media outlet, published an article titled “Meet the Mascots of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing”. “A chubby, lovable panda with a charming smile will be walking around Beijing for the next few weeks, serving as the official mascot for the 2022 Winter Olympics,” said NBC Sports. Before the opening ceremony, a Japanese reporter bought a lot of Bing Dwen Dwen badges and hung them on his press card. He also sent some Bing Dwen Dwen souvenirs to his colleagues in Japan, and watched one of his colleagues unboxing his gift in live broadcast, which aroused heated discussions in Japan.
Bing Dwen Dwen interacts with the audience
Bing Dwen Dwen is not only loved by athletes and event reporters, but also gains a great number of fans around the world. Some overseas netizens commented enthusiastically on the related news reports featuring the mascot, “Super cute!” “The cutest mascot ever!” “It’s soooooo cute that my heart breaks for him.” “The mascot has won my heart now.”
Rewritten by Zhou Shiyang and Lin Wei, Fudan University
