The Beijing Olympics has become so embedded in the national psyche that nearly 3,500 children have been named after the Games by their parents.
Most of the 3,491 people with the name "Aoyun," meaning Olympics, were born around the year 2000, when Beijing was bidding to host the 2008 Summer Games, the Beijing Daily reported, citing information from China's national identity card database.
The vast majority of people named Aoyun are male, the newspaper said. Only six live in Beijing, though the report didn't say where the others live.
Names related to the Olympics don't just stop with "Olympics." More than 4,000 Chinese share their names with the Beijing Games mascots, the Fuwa.
The names are Bei Bei (880 people), Jing Jing (1,240 people), Huan Huan (1,063 people), Ying Ying (624 people) and Ni Ni (642 people). When put together, the phrase translates to "Beijing welcomes you!"
Chinese have increasingly turned to unique names as a way to express a child's individuality.
In a country with a population of 1.3 billion, 87 percent share the same 129 family names. That's why 5,598 people have the same name as basketball player Yao Ming and 18,462 share a moniker with star hurdler Liu Xiang, according to the Beijing Daily report.
Questions:
1. How many Chinese babies are named Aoyun in the year 2000?
2. 87 per cent of Chinese share how many family names?
3. What is the name of the Olympic Games mascots?
Answers:
1. 3,491.
2.129.
3.Fuwa.
（英语点津 Celene 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from Auckland, New Zealand. Marc has an eclectic career in the media/arts, most recently working as a radio journalist for NewstalkZB, New Zealand’s leading news radio network, as a feature writer for Travel Inc, New Nutrition Business (UK) and contributor for Mana Magazine and the Sunday Star Times. Marc is also a passionate arts educator and is involved in various media/theatre projects in his native New Zealand and Singapore where he is currently based. Marc joins the China Daily with support from the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
