hello kitty politics

Without further ado, here is the promised follow-up post. I think this whole display was called "Telford Plaza (name of the mall) X Hello Kitty." Genius. Pure genius.

Hello Kitty, My Melody, Bad Badtz-Maru and others dressed as pandas and participating in Olympic sports while climbing bamboo.

Some of the cartoon characters celebrating the Olympics above Tiananmen square (I love that Bad Badtz-Maru is Mao Zedong! Oh my!). Tiananmen is in Beijing, where the Olympics will take place, so overall, yes, this makes some sense.
My Melody and others hanging out at the Temple of Heaven. This is another Beijing landmark, so yes, also makes sense.

Bad Badtz and friends on the Great Wall (not Wheel!), China's most recognizable landmark, so yes, again, this makes sense.

So what was the fourth landmark chosen for this wonderful display? Another Beijing landmark maybe? That would make sense. Or maybe the HK skyline, since we're so proud of hosting the equestrian events? No and no -- none of the above. The fourth scene is the Potala Palace, icon of Tibet. And you might not be able to see this, but both animal characters are wearing shirts that say "China." If this is not a political statement, I do not know what is.

Children posing with a medaled Kitty.

Portraits of Kitty posing in front of various HK and Chinese landmarks in the background. Kittys-dressed-as-pandas-and-doing-Olympic-events dioramas (diving and basketball) in the foreground.
More of the same. (Dioramas featured: ping pong and gymnastics)

My Melody, the Olympic marksman (or homicidal gang-banger?). Note the Hello Kitty outlines on the bricks behind (it's all in the details!).

Proof that it's not just children posing with these things...