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This unaltered story was originally published at ProPublica.org. [1]
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What’s black and white, weighs half a pound and is popular in China?

Author Name, ProPublica

2022-02-11 00:00:00

Nobody expected a shortage of stuffed pandas when China won the rights to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. But a week into the Games, the Chinese public now appears interested in little else.

In the final days before the Beijing Olympics began, it seemed as though the Chinese public might barely even notice the competitions. Streets were decorated with red Lunar New Year lanterns, not the five rings of the Olympics. And coronavirus precautions made it hard to organize Olympics viewing parties.

Now though, websites are flooded with discussions about the competitions and the athletes, and an unexpected buying frenzy has emerged for Olympics memorabilia. Souvenir coins are selling well. So are nonfungible token Olympics pins. (NFTs are digital files created using blockchain computer code, much like the code that makes Bitcoin possible.)

And most popular of all is an 8-inch-tall plush stuffed animal version of the Beijing Olympics mascot — Bing Dwen Dwen, a rotund panda in a suit of ice. The main version of the stuffed animal weighs seven ounces and sells for $30 at 162 official Olympics memorabilia stores nationwide. Long lines form every morning to buy limited stocks.
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[1] URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/sports/olympics/bing-dwen-dwen-mascot.html
[2] URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/
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