Fulfilled Promises of Beijing Olympic mascots : "Curse of the Fuwa"
fulfilled by floods

"Curse of the Fuwa" fulfilled by floods

Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:30pm EDT

By Lucy Hornby and Alfred Cang

BEIJING (Reuters) - Floods sweeping southern China seem to have
fulfilled the final stanza of an Internet curse involving Beijing's
Olympic mascots, but censors have been quick to remove postings that
might fuel the superstition.

After a devastating earthquake struck Sichuan province last month,
Internet users tied four of the five "Fuwa" mascots to the calamities
that have struck China in the run-up to the Games, which begin in
August. One Fuwa is a panda, the totem of Sichuan.

The others resemble a torch, reminding netizens of the protests against
the international Olympic torch rally; a Tibetan antelope tied to
widespead demonstrations in Tibetan areas; and a swallow that looks like
a kite, linked to a deadly train crash in Shandong province.

The final Fuwa, sporting a fish, was left unexplained in the original
superstition as a curse yet to come.