Haibao

Haibao, meaning "jewel of the sea", is the mascot of Expo 2010, which was held in the city of Shanghai, China from May 1 to October 31, 2010.

Meaning


"Hai (海)" means the sea in Chinese inscribed from the name of the host city, and "Bao (宝,寶)" means the treasure. Its figure is in the shape of the Chinese character "Ren (人)" (meaning human). Haibao was produced by Taiwanese designer Wu Yong-jian and adopted as the official mascot of the World Expo on December 18, 2007. He was selected out of 26,655 entries as part of an international competition.

Similarities to Gumby
It is sometimes pointed out that Haibao resembles Gumby, the green clay humanoid figure shown on American television from the 1950s–'60s. The expo's secretariat said that it is an original design and they had never heard of Gumby.