At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Bing Dwen Dwen became popular overnight and became a new international leader. On Weibo, the number of reads of topics related to the ice pier has exceeded 4.6 billion; the number of related videos such as "the ice pier is stuck" and "challenge 4A" on the foreign social platform Twitter has also shown a spurt. In addition to the participating athletes, people from all over the world expressed their strong love for the ice pier on the Internet. As the mascot of this year's Beijing Winter Olympics, The Ice Pier has undoubtedly successfully exerted its important overseas influence, which is also another global popularity of Chinese cultural elements.
How hot are ice piers abroad?
The mascot of the previous Winter Olympics
When it comes to mascots, there will be some heat of discussion in all the Winter Olympics. Pyeongchang Winter Olympic mascot "Soohorang", sochi Winter Olympics mascot snow leopard, polar bear and rabbit, as well as Vancouver Winter Olympic mascot polar bear "Miga" and local legendary North American wild man "Quatchi", have all been the focus of attention, and have gained different degrees of love for their cute appearance and unique significance. At the beginning of the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the ice pier quickly won massive attention and praise from athletes, journalists and netizens at home and abroad by virtue of its own charm. Fans of the ice pier successfully interpreted the spirit of the Olympics: no prejudice and more across borders.
Mascot for the Vancouver, Sochi and Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Czech figure skater Natalie Tashkrelova said in an interview with the media that her favorite is the ice pier doll, and her teammates have previously discussed buying keychains and pillows printed on the ice pier.
Natalie posted a photo with the pillow on the ice pier.
Brazilian steel frame snowmobile player Nicole Silvera frequently took photos with the ice pier in the Winter Olympic Village, from the hand-held photo with the ice pier statue, to the selfie with the ice pier pillow, as well as the ice pier and the Brazilian flag group photo, through the high frequency of international social platforms to express their love for it.
Nicole frequently takes photos with the ice piers in the Winter Olympic Village.
At present, the representative of foreign friends who are popular at home and abroad because of the ice pier is Yoshido Tsuji, a reporter of Japanese television. He single-handedly ignited the Japanese people's pursuit of ice piers. Because he liked the ice pier too much, Tsujioka Yoshido even renamed himself "Yoshidun Dun", and made the news live broadcast into a live broadcast of the ice pier, which led to the purchase boom of the ice pier in Japan. This directly caused the magical scene of the high price and sold out of the surrounding products related to the ice pier on the second-hand website in Japan, and the popularity was evident.
Japanese journalist Yoshido Tsujioka was known by netizens as Japan's ambassador for the promotion of ice piers.
On Twitter, foreign netizens spontaneously uploaded interesting videos such as ice pier challenge 4A, throwing snowballs, and being stuck by the door, and the number of views and likes was very high. On the foreign video website youtube, there are also some netizens from Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States who use rice balls, ice cream, coffee and even 3D printing to make ice piers, which has aroused the interest and attention of many foreign netizens. In a BBC poll on "Which Group of Winter Olympic Mascots Do You Like Best", the ice piers and snow rongrong won the first place with 42% of the vote.
The BBC website launched a vote for the most popular mascot for the Winter Olympics.
Why can the ice pier "circle powder" globally?
Of course, the explosion of the ice pier at home and abroad, first of all, stems from its world-oriented, humanized mascot image design, the mascot design team of this Winter Olympic Games grasps the accuracy of mascot positioning, more effectively combines culture, artistry and commerciality in design, and perfectly interprets Chinese cultural elements for the world.
Cao Xue, the main designer of the mascot of the Winter Olympics and a professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, said in an interview: "The ice pier is a mascot full of temperature and humanity. It is a panda standing tall, facing the world and the future. We want to make it an image that is loved by everyone and acceptable to all ages. "Therefore, giving the ice pier an internationally renowned panda image provides the best focus for it to spread its influence around the world."
Panda has always been one of the elements that best represent China and is well known and loved by people around the world. According to the "China National Image Survey Report 2012" jointly released by the Chahar Society, the Foreign Communication Research Center of the China Foreign Language Bureau and Millward Brown, the panda was selected as the favorite Chinese element of overseas people with a 65% approval rating, and the "panda diplomacy" carried out internationally is also based on this. Therefore, the empowerment of panda elements has enabled the ice pier to quickly enter overseas markets and become the darling of previous Winter Olympics.
The "humanized" character characteristics of the ice pier make it detached from the traditional image of the general mascot "serious and old-fashioned", which is more likely to trigger the discussion and love of the audience. Videos that have caused heated discussion on the Internet, such as the ice pier shaking snow, the ice pier is stuck by the door, the ice pier does not want to leave and is dragged away, etc., the ice pier is like a lively and interesting or even a little naughty child. Compared with the mascots that were mostly only in promotional films in the past, the ice piers with "humanized" actions and emotions are more empathetic, which is also more in line with the appetite of young people in the current Internet age.
The popular ice pier directly realizes the organic connection between artistry and commerciality. Its cute and thick image is widely loved, resulting in a situation of "one pier is difficult to find" online and offline, and eventually forming a cultural productive force, driving economic growth on a large scale. It is estimated that the revenue of licensed goods during the Winter Olympics will exceed 2.5 billion yuan, and related manufacturers and retailers will also benefit a lot, and it is estimated that nearly 70 listed companies will benefit from it. In addition, the demand in overseas markets has shown explosive growth since the Winter Olympics, and retail revenue from overseas will also increase significantly.
Everything can be an ice pier
This wave of culture output is full of marks!
The popularity of the ice pier is inseparable from some interesting unofficial interactions, which inadvertently promote the participation of the whole people in the Winter Olympics, promote the promotion of traditional arts, and help shape China's national image in a subtle way.
The combination of ice piers and short videos provides a new form for the general public to participate in the Winter Olympics. Due to the needs of epidemic prevention and control, the Winter Olympics will not sell tickets publicly, but will be adjusted to organize audiences to watch the games in a targeted manner. Although the epidemic has greatly limited people's direct participation in the Winter Olympics, the existence of ice piers has unexpectedly provided a media community for the general public to participate.
More than 6 million people have used the ice pier effect on Douyin, and the related video has been played more than 8 billion times. On the overseas video platform Tiktok, the total number of views of ice pier videos exceeded 60 million. All kinds of signs show that the public's enthusiasm for the Winter Olympics has not disappeared because of online restrictions, but through video output and other forms, with the help of ice piers, in a more active and personalized way to respond to the Winter Olympics, expanding the participation of the whole people, attracting online attention and interaction of the global public.
According to statistics, the total number of views of videos related to ice piers on tiktok exceeded 60 million.
Due to the shortage of ice piers, some inheritors of folk art began to use traditional techniques to make ice piers, and published the production process on the Internet, instantly gaining the attention of netizens, and even learning to make them. Whether it is face sculpture, paper cutting, nuclear carving, or bamboo carving, they all show the charm and interest of traditional Chinese art to the younger generation and overseas, and also reflect the continuous development and innovation of folk art, which is the secondary dissemination and display of China's cultural soft power.
When traditional Chinese handicrafts meet ice piers, face sculpture, paper cutting, sugar painting, embroidery, everything can be ice piers. (Photo source Xinhua News Agency, China News Service)
The display of Chinese culture during the Ice Pier and the Winter Olympics has actually promoted the improvement of China's overseas image and people-to-people exchanges. Japanese journalist Yoshido Tsujioka has driven the Japanese people's attention and enthusiasm for the ice piers and the Winter Olympics, and the enthusiasm of Maltese athletes for Chinese bean bags has set off a wave of pursuit of Chinese food in Other Horses, and has also strengthened the Chinese people's understanding of the country. Compared with official propaganda, this kind of people-to-people exchanges, because of their interesting, unofficial and aimless nature, can more effectively enhance the understanding of foreign people about China and enhance China's international image.