The mascot "Hai Bao" debuts at the unveiling gala at Shanghai Grand Stage

The mascot "Hai Bao" debuts at the unveiling gala at Shanghai Grand Stage

World Expo Shanghai has chosn a "" (people)-shaped imaginary character as its mascot. The blue little person last debuted at the unveiling gala at Shanghai Grand Stage.

The mascot "Haibao," which means the treasure of the seas, is another Expo symbol created from Chinese character following the Expo emblem in the shape of (world).

With the falling of the dominoes as well as the magnificent sound and light effect, the image of Expo mascot was showed in a surprisingly eye-catching way as the organizers promised.

The licensed product of Haibao will be availed in three authorized outlets this morning in Shanghai.

As most of the mascot of World Expo, Haibao was an imaginary object which created from the Chinese character "," meaning people. The mascot manifests a "people-oriented" sprit and tells the public "people" the foundation to build a better life, the organizers explained.

The theme of Shanghai Expo is "Better City, Better Life." The structure of Chinese character, in which two strokes support each other, manifests the concept that a good life should be created by all the people. The world should be supported by "people," and people should have harmonious relationships with nature and society, so that the life in cities would be better.

The image of the mascot is simple and easy to remember. Though it is a single mascot, with the different motions and costumes, it could also have various appearances, the organizers said.

The blue color represents the water, which also speaks that Haibao is from a costal city Shanghai.

The final winner is selected out of 26,655 entries from the four-month worldwide public solicitation for the mascot idea which was launch on January 17.

Instead of asking designated teams to create the mascots, like most of the other World Expos and Olympics, the organizers launched a public solicitation to hear what common people think.

The staff of the mascot selection office traveled to more than 50 cities in China and across the world. It also did a door-to-door promotion to over 80,000 people, asking them to submit ideas for the Expo mascot.

They talked with 1,500-plus designing companies, 800-plus advertising companies, 1,000-plus animation companies and 200-plus colleges, and get their support for the mascot solicitation.

Among the 26,655 entries to the Expo, the youngest person to submit an entry was only three years old, and the oldest was 83.

About seven percent of the entries are designed by children less than 10 years old. The designers are of all kinds of professions, including students, retired people, sportsmen, nurses, designers, clerks, painters, writers, teachers and actors. Nearly 70 percent of the designers are from eastern costal cities.

An 11-man selection jury chose the idea of a local designing company -Yokan Corporate Identity- to use the Chinese character as the mascot.

The 11 judges are the experts of arts, design, culture, sales and cartoon, from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan as well as Japan, Italy and Portugal, the organizers said. The whole selection process, notarized by official institutions, is objective and fair.

The revising jury led by local designer Shao Longtu then revised the original entry into the current mascot after a three-month discussion.

The mascot design was passed on the Fifth Meeting of Expo's Organizing Committee presided by Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi on September 24.

Haibao is confident, lovely, happy, witty and lively. Its hair is like the wave of the sea; its motion shows his generosity and hospitality; he thumbs up to show the appreciation and warm welcome to the friends from all over the world.

His smile manifests an optimistic spirit and a will to showcase the achievement of world's civilization. Haibao is expressing his sincere greeting from China -- "World Expo 2010 Shanghai China welcomes you!"