2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Logo
Official Logo of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics (©TM Beijing Olympic Committee http://en.beijing2008.com)
The logo, known as 'Dancing Beijing' shows a person dancing (or maybe running), but its significance is more than that. The shape of the person is based on the Chinese character 京 (jīng), which means capital, but is also a shortform way of referring to Beijing, the capital city of China. One of the slogans associated with the Beijing Olympics is '新北京，新奥运' (Xīn Bĕjīng, xīn Aòyùn), which means 'New Beijing, New Olympics'. The shape of the character also bears a slight resemblance to the Chinese Character '文', which can mean culture or language. (Another slogan of the Beijing Olympics is '人文奥运'(Rénwén Aòyùn), which translates to something like the Humanistic Olympics, or the People's Olympics.
Lucky
Another aspect of the logo is the red background with white on top. Red is considered lucky in China. The logo resembles the mark made by a chop, which was used to stamp one's name in traditional China. The stamp would leave a mark of red ink, with white spaces left in the shape of the characters.
