Olympic mascot 晶晶 (Jing Jing) is touted on the official site as a much-beloved, joyful creature, especially popular among children. Most of the descriptions of him could act as a sugar substitute, though a few people have noticed an odd discrepancy between his seemingly lovable face and the somewhat violent behavior in his publicity photos: see GraniteStudio. Sadly, Beijing officials have had a hard time putting a warm polish on Jing Jing's gruff personality.
Jing Jing's sometimes anti-social behavior isn't entirely his fault. First off, he's a panda--not a species known for their friendliness. Witness the man who, with a few solid drinks under his belt, decided to show his love for one of his country's national icons with disastrous results; nor are pandas above biting the hand that feeds them--or, well, mauling it a bit. They're panda bears, not teddy bears. Think maybe Gu Gu was just having a bad day? Guess again! Pandas just aren't huggable creatures, no matter how cute their headdresses.
Secondly, Jing Jing wasn't born into some posh zoo habitat with saunas and hot-tubs, but in the Wolong Reserve--sort of the 'hood of panda breeding grounds, located among some of the nastier bamboo groves of Sichuan province and a popular poaching locale. Jing Jing would have been just a cub, when poachers wiped out nearly 15% of the world's panda population, and poachers don't give up just because of a few arrests. The pressures of life on the reserve are so strong that most experts only expect pandas to make it into their teens or twenties if living in the wild. Jing Jing's childhood and adolescence must have consisted mostly of fighting tooth and nail just to keep his pelt intact, and such violence so early in a panda's life just doesn't make for an easy-going disposition.
Little wonder then that Jing Jing, long before the Olympics committee picked him up as one of their five Friendlies, fell in with a bad crowd. In the late 1990's Jing Jing started working hand-in-er-paw with a number of young idealists from the Animal Liberation Front. Though some of his actions may now seem regrettable, they helped him to survive, and he picked up proficiency in quite a number of sports, like shooting, archery, and various forms of weaponless combat (provided you don't count huge claws as weapons).
Note: 牙刷 (ya shua) or "toothbrush" is a common insult in Sichuanhua.
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