Sleepless nights

Three of the final 10 were the work of a team from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in balmy southern China.

"I told my students that the fact they have never seen real snow actually frees their creativity and imagination," said team leader Cao Xue.

One of their ideas was the original design of Bing Dwen Dwen, which started life as a bingtanghulu－a traditional Beijing street snack of syrup-coated hawthorn on a stick. The hardened syrup later became Bing Dwen Dwen's ice shell.

After making the shortlist, Cao established an elite team to conduct modifications, a process that chief designer Liu Pingyun described as "purgatory".

Liu was pursuing a doctorate degree in Macao when he heard the exciting news from Cao. For nearly a month, he traveled daily between Macao and Guangzhou, regularly working into the early hours.

Every week, Liu and members of the team traveled to Beijing to submit their refined designs in person to ensure confidentiality and receive advice for further adjustments.

As suggested, the ice shell was retained from the original design, but the inside changed from a bingtanghulu to a dumpling, and later to a tiger, a deer and a rabbit.

Liu counted 21 major refinements in all, each made following hundreds of drafts that featured countless changes to gestures, decorations and facial expressions.

In April, it was finally decided that the mascot would be a panda.

"As long as we have an innovative design, the mascot is certain to have its own charm, because the panda is internationally known as a symbol of China," said Jiang Xiaoyu, leader of the review panel.

"We don't need to explain anything to have it understood across different cultures."

However, the key question was, as Lin Cunzhen put it: "How can we tell it's the mascot for the Winter Olympics and not for other events?"

After another month of sleepless nights, the team came up with the idea of adding the Ice Ribbon's ringed tracks.

"It was a huge breakthrough. The mascot took on a brand new look," Liu recalled.

Bright sparks

At the same time, another team from Jilin College of the Arts was racking their brains over a design that was eventually chosen as the mascot for the Paralympic Games.

For Jiang Yufan, the student who drew the original sketch, red lanterns along the streets during Spring Festival were associated with happy memories of her hometown in the Lesser Khingan Mountains in northwest China's Heilongjiang province.

"I was totally at a loss for words when my professor told me my design was shortlisted. I thought she was joking," Jiang recalled.

The expert panel advised the Jilin team to retain the concept of the red lantern but to come up with a different design.

With the firm support of the college, president Guo Chunfang assembled an elite team of professors and students to revise the design throughout the winter vacation and Spring Festival.

Their trickiest task was how to give the lantern its own personality.

To solve the puzzle, chief designer Wu Yibo traveled between Changchun and Beijing over 30 times to submit revisions and consult with the panel.

The team even hung a lantern in their workshop to get the creative juices flowing, and threw snowballs against the wall to get a better idea of how the blush on Shuey Rhon Rhon's cheek should look.

After much debate and discussion, the elements of pigeons, the Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall were added to represent the host city. They also added the ruyi on the lantern's head－traditionally a staff to symbolize royalty but which is also the shape of the ski jump venue at the Games.

Professor Jiao Qiang epitomized the hard work and sacrifice of the Jilin team, with his daughter constantly by his side at the workshop because no one else could look after her.

"I saw a set of memes designed by the Jilin team showing Shuey Rhon Rhon hugging a snowman and I was very impressed. Later I came to know that it was drawn by Jiao Qiang, and that he was thinking of his daughter when he came up with the design," Lin Cunzhen said.

After consulting representatives from all walks of life, the IOC and IPC, the 2022 organizing committee announced the winners on Aug 21.

"At that moment, all the scenes over the past seven months flashed through my mind like a movie," said Bing Dwen Dwen team leader Cao, who burst into tears upon hearing the news.

"We thought we were called here to receive advice, as we had been so many times before. When the result was announced, we were all surprised and were very emotional. Our dream suddenly came true at that moment."