Special dragon-costumed Bing Dwen Dwen at a licensed flagship merchandise store on Wangfujing Pedestrian Street in downtown Beijing on Devember 7, 2023 Photo: VCG

To celebrate the coming Year of Dragon, a special Bing Dwen Dwen, one of the mascots for the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games, costumed in dragon debuted at a licensed flagship merchandise store on Wangfujing Pedestrian Street in downtown Beijing, China Media Group reported on Thursday. 

According to the contract between Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games Organizing Committee and producers for the licensed merchandise, the issuance of authorization tag for Beijing 2022 items ended on July 1, 2022, and relevant intellectual property was handed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on December 31 in 2022. 

In order to inherit the spirit of the Dual Olympic city legacy, IOC allowed the sales of the dragon-costumed Bing Dwen Dwen in the administration area of Chinese Olympic Committee, the first time in the history of Olympics for the sale to be permitted, according to the report. 

The dragon-costumed Bing Dwen Dwen was designed by Lin Cunzhen, vice president of School of Design, Central Academy of Fine Arts, drawing from Chinese traditional dragon dance and the myth of the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas, which represents people's expectation of good weather, good harvest and world unity. 

Mascot Bing Dwen Dwen went viral during the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games in February 2022 as people lined up in freezing cold to secure the toy. 

The latest dragon-costumed Bing Dwen Dwen stuffed toys and key rings was launched at the debut day. Limited-edition badge will be available in middle December this year, the report added. 

Global Times