A natural choice for Games' designs

Mascot, medal and torch designs draw heavily on host city's innate beauty

To welcome the upcoming 9th Asian Winter Games, the host city of Harbin has been adorned with decorative elements that embody profound Chinese culture, the dynamics of winter sports and the gala event's theme.

Mascots

The mascots of the 9th Asian Winter Games — Siberian tigers "Binbin" and "Nini" — symbolize an in-depth exploration and shaping of the unique natural and cultural heritage of the country's Northeast: Siberian tiger culture.

"The archetypes of Binbin and Nini are two cute little Siberian tigers born in September 2023 at the Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin," said Zhang Qixiang, vice-governor of Heilongjiang province.

"We pondered what kind of mascots could encapsulate the rich history and contemporary flair of Harbin, along with the warmth, honesty and romance of its people. We then considered the Siberian tiger, with its three-million-year evolution. A symbol of nature's harmony in Heilongjiang, it embodies both power and playful charm," explained the chief designer Chen Lei, who is also head of the department of visual communication design at the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University.

In Chinese culture, the tiger symbolizes good luck, and embodies qualities such as integrity, strength, and courage, all in line with the spirit of the continental sporting gala.

Binbin represents the ice events as he shows off his winter sportswear and shares his joy of ice dancing, while Nini represents the snow events, wearing traditional Chinese clothes.

The mascots' features are inspired by cloth tiger toy designs and the visual language of traditional paper-cutting art from Harbin. Their forehead patterns are shaped to look like snowflakes, while the flower pattern on their gloves represents the lilac, Harbin's city flower.