China: Bing Dwen Dwen and the 2022 Winter Olympics

Last Tuesday I got four cards: two from China, one from Austria and one from Germany.

The second card from China shows Bing Dwen Dwen, the mascot of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Beijing was elected as the host city over Almaty in 2015. These games will be the first Winter Olympics ever to be held in China and the fourth Winter Olympics held in East Asia. After Pyeongchang in 2018 and Tokyo in 2021 this will be the last of three consecutive Olympics to be held in East Asia. Beijing will be the eleventh city to host the Olympic Games twice, but interestingly the first ever to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Also after Oslo in 1952 Beijing is just the second national capital to host the Winter Olympics. Bing Dwen Dwen was unveiled as mascot of the games on 17th September 2019 together with Shuey Rhon Rhon, the mascot of the 2022 Winter Paralympics. It is a Giant Panda and its name means something like robust and lively ice. As Giant Pandas are not really known for their agility, it is encased in a stylized sports suit meant to make the animal appear more athletic and winterish, but also to embrace new and green technologies, as it also resembles an astronaut. 

The card was sent with four nice stamps. The best one for sure is the matching stamp on the the right. It is from a set of two, the other one showing Shuey Rhon Rhon, and was issued on 16th January 2020. I think it is quite interesting to see that while Macau and many European countries postponed stamps due to Covid-10, China seems to go on like usual. I would have thought that an issue like this would be quite popular and might thus result in crowds of people. The two stamps in the middle are from a set of six (issued 10-09-2016) and promote the Maritime Silk Road, the sea route part of the Belt and Road Initiative which is a Chinese strategic initiative connecting Asia, Africa and Europa across the historic Silk Road. These two stamps show in the background views of Egypt, Malaysia and Thailand, the other four for example show China, France, Greece and India. The left stamp finally is about the 120th anniversary of the Chinese Post (issued 20-03-2016). Back in 2016 I already got the complete set of four stamps. You can see it here on my stamp blog.

Thank You very much Meg!