The Wall Street Journal had a funny story about the controversy surrounding the mascots for the upcoming event (Sorry, subscription might be required).  The mascots for the Beijing games are a group of vaguely animalistic caricatures called “fuwa”.  Personally, I don’t find them objectionable, but I couldn’t resist seizing on the news to share a story that really annoyed me.

A couple of years ago, we exhibited at the Gartner Outsourcing Summit as part of a delegation from China.  The Chinese organizers of the delegation brought a load of fuwas (OK, I’m not sure about the plural of “fuwa”) to be distributed to special clients and prospects.  It may have been the novelty of the creatures, or, perhaps, just blind greed amongst the attendees, but there was incredible demand for those things.  My colleague and I practically had to beat people with sticks to keep them from stealing our allocation of fuwa.  Unfortunately, relatively few people really wanted to talk about outsourcing and/or China.  On the other hand, it seemed like everyone wanted an Olympic mascot doll.  I’ll never forget the person who waited until we were actively engaged in talking with a prospect, then crept behind our booth and reached around to grab the fuwa.  All that I saw, out of the corner of my eye, was a hand and a disappearing fuwa.

In any event, I can reassure their creator, Mr. Han Meilin, that the people who attended the Gartner Outsourcing Summit sincerely appreciated the fuwa.

Technorati Tags:  China, fuwa, China Outsourcing