Article
Fuwas to feel the heat
Ying Ying is one of fuwas who will have to brave the heat in Beijing.
Photo: Ng Tze-wai
One of the toughest challenges at the Olympics will take place outside the sporting venues – in giant plastic-felt costumes.
The hundreds of people who have volunteered to act as "fuwa ambassadors" – greeting visitors and posing for photographs – are lined up for some very hot and stuffy work.
The suits are so oppressive that volunteers are limited to 15-minute shifts, after which they will climb out, dripping with sweat in Beijing's 35 degree Celsius heat, and hand over duties to the next eager soul.
Each fuwa ambassador is actually a squad of four people – one in the suit, one pulling a (colour co-ordinated) suitcase full of spare clothes, and two others waiting their turn.
Several volunteers said that even though there was a small mechanism inside the suits that helped circulate the air, they still had a difficult time breathing and after a while they were completely drenched.
When asked whether some of the younger visitors to the Games might find it a bit distressing to witness a fuwa's head come tumbling to the ground during a pit stop, one volunteer simply shrugged and smiled sheepishly.
And they are not allowed to speak either. It's feared that the sound of a person's voice emerging from the suit might startle some visitors.
Despite all these difficulties and the extreme heat and foul air of Beijing, the volunteers appear to be in good spirits and enthusiastic about next week's start to the Games.
One group was murmuring excitedly as they walked down the street, telling the volunteer inside to try out different poses with his newfound wobbly body.
There are five fuwas – Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying and Ni Ni. The names put together form the phrase "Beijing Welcomes You" in Putonghua.