The Mascots, collectively known as Le Yangyang, are five cute and playful friends - A Xiang, A He, A Ru, A Yi and Le Yangyang. When their names are spoken together - Xiang He Ru Yi Le Yangyang – it literally means “auspiciousness and joy”, in Chinese.
The Mascots represent the hope that the Guangzhou Asian Games will bring auspiciousness, harmony, happiness, success and joy, to the people of Asia and that the Vision of the 16th Asian Games - a “Thrilling Games, Harmonious Asia” - will be realized.
The designs of the Mascots are strongly inspired by the “Legend of the Five Goats”, a famous story about five benevolent celestial beings that descended from the heavens riding on goats with coats of different colors, each holding an ear of rice in its mouth. This 1000 yrs old legend has earned Guangzhou its best known nickname of “The City of Goats” or even “The City of Five Goats”.
Goats have deep roots in Chinese culture and have had a profound influence on the formation and development of many aspects of it, including writing, cuisine, ethics, etiquettes and aesthetics.
In the language of ancient Chinese, the character “羊” yang (goat) is identical to the character “祥” xiang (luck). The Chinese character for beauty, “美” mei, is a combination of the characters “羊”, yang, and “大” da (big), in keeping with the traditional Chinese belief that a “big goat” is “beautiful”.
The goat is also considered an auspicious animal that brings luck, in other Asian cultures and thus resonate with, people of different cultures and religions throughout Asia.
