Tourists and Beijing residents shop Olympic souvenirs at a brick-and-mortar flagship retailer of licensed merchandise in Wangfujing, Beijing. Photo: Wang Qi/GT In a sign of their sharp business mind, many Chinese are discussing on social media the balance sheet of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, which concluded just on Sunday but continue to occupy people's mind with lingering effects.
Lebanese alpine skiers Cesar Arnouk (R) , Manon Ouaiss (L) and Lebanese Ski Federation President Freddy Keyrouz (C) attend a press conference on the eve of three Lebanese skiers' departure to China for the Beijing Winter Olympics, in Beirut, Lebanon, on Jan. 31, 2022.
Inheritors of intangible cultural heritage from northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region have created exquisite artworks inspired by the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, hoping to express their support for the Games and present the charm of China’s intangible cultural heritage to the world. Photo shows a paper cutting artwork inspired by the mascots for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon, as created by Fu Zhao’e, a female inheritor of the traditional craft of paper cutting in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
While the craze surrounding Bing Dwen Dwen, the panda-themed mascot of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, is still heating up, scenarios in the digital world are drastically different: the price of the non-fungible token (NFT) involving multiple designs of Bing Dwen Dwen went on a roller-costar ride, rising more than 20 times on the first day and then plummeting, wiping out almost all the gains within a week. Industry insiders said that the dramatic rise and fall, which deviated from the mascot's popularity in reality, underscored the acute issue of a nascent industry full of speculation and too dependent on traffic generated by a specific event or celebrity effect.
