UNITED BUDDY BEARS SHOW - Berlin 2006

* 1988 in Peking

Around 5000 years ago, a tribe lived in China with the dragon as its totem. This tribe united all other tribes, leading to the beginnings of the Ancient Chinese Empire. As the dragon plays an important role in Chinese history and culture, the Chinese people feel like the dragons’ inheritors. Thus, the dragon figures also play the most important role in the design of my bear. He is wearing a traditional formal Chinese suit (“Tang Zhuang“). Besides the two large dragons on the front, there are four slightly plainer dragon figures around the bear’s shoulders. On the back are the two characters for China – the Middle Kingdom. If you take a closer look, you can decipher five letters from the Latin alphabet – C-H-I-N-A – at the same time pointing towards the diversity of the Chinese script and of the country’s culture.
If you look carefully, you can see the wound on the bear’s head. China looks back on a long history of around 5000 years filled with glory, but also with humiliations. At the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, this vast country was constantly raided by foreign powers and divided like a cake. The wounds were so deep that many have not entirely healed yet. We sincerely hope that this kind of harm will never be repeated. For that reason, China would like to build a peaceful world for all human beings – together with other nations.
The bear has a funny smile, as he is laughing about all the rumours in the world that might distract us.
Dong Xiuguo