Haibao

Haibao (simplified Chinese: 海宝; traditional Chinese: 海寶), meaning "jewel of the sea", is the mascot of Expo 2010, which was held in the city of Shanghai, China from May 1 to October 31, 2010.

Haibao

Meaning
The character 人 in seal script

"Hai (海)" means the sea in Chinese inscribed from the name of the host city, and "Bao (宝,寶)" means the treasure. Its figure is in the shape of the Chinese character "Ren (人)" (meaning human). Haibao was produced by Taiwanese designer Wu Yong-jian and adopted as the official mascot of the World Expo on December 18, 2007. He was selected out of 26,655 entries as part of an international competition.

Similarities to Gumby
Haibao statue

It is sometimes pointed out that Haibao resembles Gumby, the green clay humanoid figure shown on American television from the 1950s–'60s.[1][2] The expo's secretariat said that it is an original design and they had never heard of Gumby.

It has also been noted that, compared to Gumby, Haibao looks far more like a cartoon mascot also named Haibao from an appliance company, Xinxiang Haibao Electrical Appliance, whose managers are unsure why the Expo would use "almost the same image as our logo", adding that it was "the biggest ever advertising for free."[3][4]

gollark: Just slow down the molecules in water?
gollark: Rotate a few octillion apio forms.
gollark: Consume memetic beeite.
gollark: Although I guess cyber does this to most things.
gollark: They probably should at least not play it to the point of ridiculous stress.

See also

Notes
  1. "上海万博：また盗作騒ぎ　マスコット「ガンビーに似てる」". The Mainichi Daily News. 24 April 2010. Archived from the original on April 27, 2010. Retrieved 24 April 2010. (Japanese)
  2. "上海万博：マスコットのコピー横行　「そもそも米キャラの盗作」". The Mainichi Daily News. 24 April 2010. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2010. (Japanese)
  3. "Haibao vs Gumby: The copycat charade". Archived from the original on 2010-05-02. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  4. Shanghai Expo designer denies mascot copy of Gumby


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