Mascot madness for World Expo

PATRICK CREWDSON/Dominion Post

HE'S EVERYWHERE: Haibao, the mascot for next year's Shanghai World Expo, seems to wave hello from almost every street corner, park and shop.

He is a quiff-sporting midget cross between Gumby and Elvis, and in Shanghai he is everywhere.

It is a sign of how seriously Shanghai is taking next year's World Expo that the blue sea elf mascot, Haibao, is utterly inescapable.

Street corners boast glass statues or topiary trimmed in his image. Waitresses wear his badges. He's advertised on billboards and on public transport. Construction sites – which can be found on nearly every block in this rapidly regenerating metropolis – use Haibao boards as fences.

He's even the star of the upcoming 52-episode cartoon series Coming Haibao , in which his best friend is a clever girl named Bei Bei and his enemy is an alien villain set on destroying Shanghai.

His body shape reflects the Chinese character "ren", meaning "people" – a weighty word in the people's republic. Official merchandise is sold in stores, but widely available counterfeit copies are causing a headache for Expo organisers.

"It ruins the image of the city. It's a stain," says James Zhang of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Co-ordination.

He says Expo organisers are working with local authorities to stamp out fakes.

While Haibao is probably more popular than the much-maligned Olympic mascots, not all city residents are enamoured, with one local riff on his looks describing him as "Shanghai's condom".