The cute incarnations of ice and snow: How Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon were born

Like the competition venues, mascots are also important symbols of the Winter Olympics and are an important carrier for spreading the history, culture and humanistic characteristics of the host. I believe everyone is familiar with the mascots of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Two "cuties": Bing Dwen Dwen and Shue Rhon Rhon. They not only perfectly integrate Chinese cultural symbols with ice and snow sports, but also carry the new image and new dream of China in the new era.

Among them, the mascot of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Bing Dwen Dwen, is cute and full of technology. But did you know that its original design idea actually came from a string of candied haws?

Now let us listen to the story behind its creation through an interview on the CCTV Olympic Channel program "Olympics in Art".

Liu Pingyun, chief executive of the design of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot Bing Dwen Dwen: I am from Jiangxi, a southerner. My impression of the north is snowy and icy candied haws. This is a symbolic memory of mine, so at that time, I created this element.

Cao Xue, chief designer of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot Bing Dwen Dwen: The sugar coating of the candied haws is also solidified from liquid. After solidification, it has a common feature with ice, but it is transparent, so it is associated with our ice and snow sports.

Although the creativity of Tanghulu has been well received, different voices have also followed.

Cao Xue, chief designer of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot Bing Dwen Dwen: After all, it is a snack and it cannot carry the image of a great power, so it is still a small thing from that time on.

Liu Pingyun, chief executive of the design of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot Bing Dwen Dwen: From that time on, we tried to replace the images of tigers, rabbits, elks, etc. under the ice shell, but they always felt inappropriate, so we were in pain. In the end, we felt that the panda was the most suitable to represent the national image.

However, how to perfectly combine the panda and the ice shell became a new challenge for the design team.

Cao Xue, chief designer of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot Bing Dwen Dwen: It has reached a bottleneck stage. Bing Dwen Dwen's face is just a snow shell with a hole dug in it. You say what is missing, but it seems unclear, and there is no bright spot.

Ye Ziqi, a member of the main creative team of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot Bing Dwen Dwen: Based on the feedback from the Olympic Committee, we wanted to incorporate the element of the Ice Ribbon, and we immediately started building some models.

In May 2019, Cao Xue's team finally made a breakthrough.

Cao Xue, chief designer of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot Bing Dwen Dwen: The speed skating rink has a curved shape, which matches the opening on the panda's face. We used five ribbons and the colors of the five rings on the panda's face.

Liu Pingyun, chief executive of the design of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot Bing Dwen Dwen: "When we clicked the button, we found that it made the whole panda come alive and colorful, so we found the best way and came up with a new presentation of the panda.

If the honest and lovely "Bing Dwen Dwen" symbolizes the strong physique and indomitable will of the Winter Olympic athletes; then the heartwarming Shue Rhon Rhon expresses the beautiful vision of lighting up dreams and warming the world.

The prototype of Xue Rongrong is taken from the traditional Chinese handicraft - the red lantern. How did this image with a strong flavor of the New Year come about, and what is the story behind it? Let's listen to the creative team's story.

Xue Rongrong has attracted widespread attention as soon as it appeared with its image that is very characteristic of Chinese culture. The idea came from a college student's memory of the "New Year".

Jiang Yufan, a member of the design team for the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games mascot Shue Rhon Rhon: Because my hometown is a county town with a very strong New Year atmosphere, red lanterns are very common items, so I wanted to design with "red lanterns" as the element. After drawing a sketch, I paired it with a Chinese knot and submitted it.

Lanterns, also known as colorful lanterns, are a traditional Chinese handicraft with a long history. Red lanterns have always played a very important role in people's festive life. How was such a unique traditional object successfully shaped into the mascot of the Winter Olympics?

Guo Chunfang, head of the design team for the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games mascot Shue Rhon Rhon: One of the most difficult steps in the creative process was to give it life. This period was also the time we spent the longest. We bought all the lanterns we could find on the market and put them in our studio. We added various animal elements that a mascot should have. We tried for a long time but failed. Then, Mr. Lin Cunzhen from the Olympic Committee sent me a picture of an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage in Beijing making a huge red lantern and pasting golden auspicious patterns on the auspicious patterns on the lantern. We were all very inspired, so we made the pigeons into a pattern and combined them with the lanterns. At the same time, the pigeons were combined with each other, and its negative form could produce new forms. The Temple of Heaven, a typical representative of Beijing culture, started from then on and gradually became full of life.

Editor-in-charge: Wang Hexiang

Source: CCTV News Client