With exactly 1,000 days until the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing has announced the official Olympic Mascots!

And they are: Weird little creepy creatures that kinda look like the powderpuff girls…

On the left we have: Beibei the Fish, Jingjing the Panda, Huanhuan the Olympic Flame, Yingying the Tibetan Antelope and Nini the Swallow.

When the names are put together, they make up “Beijing Huanying Ni”—Welcome to Beijing.

They also represent different elements (sea, forest, fire, earth and sky) as well as different blessings (prosperity, happiness, passion, health and good luck).

While the characters themselves are a little freaky, I actually really like the idea behind them. Essentially, the idea of the mascot is to represent China to the world. The top contestants were a dragon, a panda, the monkey king, a tiger, the tibetan antelope and some other creatures. But the inherent problem is that China is a country of over a billion people, several different and distinct ethnic groups, different languages and over 3 thousand years of history. How do you represent that in one animal or in one symbol? It’s just not possible.

So instead, they put together an apt conglomeration of different parts of Chinese history and culture into one theme of unity – which goes well with the “One World, One Dream” motto of the 2008 games.

In addition, I actually really like that they included the Tibetan Antelope into the theme. I think it goes to show the importance of the region in the eyes of the government and the people.

On a similar note, the number 8 is an auspicious number in Chinese culture, so the games are set to begin on August 8th, 2008 at 8pm (八月八日二00八年,八点钟)