Taiwan's Mascots: From Datong Baby Merchandise to Global Local Icons

30-Second Overview: The evolution of Taiwanese mascots is not just about changing from serious to cute. In 1969, the Datong Baby turned a corporation into a character that could be taken home; after 2013, Oh Bear, Xiongzan, Fishhead Boy, Maolimiao, Tiger Duck, Timeng, and Caiqi Duck put tourism, urban governance, transportation, campus life, sports, and local cuisine on the same line. The real test is whether a character can leave the standee and enter people's lives; that is, moving from "representing whom" to "completing what task for whom."^{1 2 3}

In 1969, Datong Company launched the Datong Baby. On December 3, 2013, Oh Bear stickers were put on sale by the Ministry of Transportation and Tourism Administration. In 2024, the Tainan City Government used Caiqi Duck to connect 59 public retail markets. These three years, across three contexts, laid out the path of Taiwanese mascots: from corporate gifts and government promotion to cultural characters that can guide locals, greet transportation systems, or explain campus identity.^{1 2 3}

The history of mascots is also a history of "how abstract institutions become human language." Companies, tourism agencies, city governments, MRT companies, schools, national sports teams, and markets originally spoke through systems, logos, and official documents. Characters transformed these institutions into named, active, photographable, and memorable entities. This translation is not always successful, but it provides an accessible entry point.^{1 2 4 5}

Official mascots of Tainan City Market: Yeqi Duck on the left, Caiqi Duck on the right. Photo: Ye Min-hsuan / Tainan City Government News and International Relations Office; used with permission from the Tainan City Government Website Open Information Announcement, source must be indicated as "Tainan City Government".⁴

Starting with a Real Bear

The Taiwanese Black Bear is an endemic subspecies of Asiatic black bear and is listed as an endangered wild animal in English materials for Yushan National Park. The V-shaped markings on its chest are easily recognizable, leading it to be both a conservation target and a design vocabulary: designers can borrow the black body, round ears, and V-shaped chest to quickly evoke "Taiwan" in the audience.⁶

Materials from Yushan National Park state that the Taiwanese Black Bear has a yellow-white V-shape or crescent-shaped chest marking. The official list of terrestrial endangered wildlife also includes the Taiwanese Black Bear. These biological characteristics give the black bear high visual recognition, but "easy to draw" and "having clearly stated conservation status" are two different things.^{6 7}

There is an easily overlooked distance here. In the wild, bears face habitats, human-wildlife conflict, and poaching risks. In mascots, bears deal with recognizability, licensing, event attendance, and social interaction. Turning a real animal into a character brings familiarity but can also flatten conservation issues into a cute symbol. When seeing a black bear design, it is best to recall its biological status, not just treat it as a design template.^{6 7}

📝 Curator's Note: A real bear does not need to manage a persona every day; a mascot must rely on a persona to make people want to look at it again. What is harder is that the original creature's true situation cannot disappear after it has been seen.

1969: Datong Baby Turns Corporation into Human Form

The key to the Datong Baby is not its "being the earliest in Taiwan," which is easily oversimplified, but rather that it established corporate identity as a tangible object with a body and posture that could be collected early on. The first generation character, appearing in 1969, wore a helmet, held an American football, and featured Datong's brand markings. It entered homes as merchandise, meaning the brand was not just limited to appliance casings.^{1 8}

Official documents from Datong Company state that starting in the 1969 (ROC Year 58), purchasing over NT$10,000 worth of Datong appliances earned a Datong Baby. The red helmet, football, and plastic material were not just design choices; they embodied the company's intended image of cooperation, durability, and customer service in the doll.¹

This detail changed the distance between the brand and people. A television, refrigerator, or appliance is a product used in the home, while the Datong Baby is an object that can be played with, displayed, and kept. Corporate identity thus shifted from "seeing the logo" to "having one in the house."¹

The numbers on the Datong Baby's chest, the money hole on its head, its feet, and the football it held were also given internal corporate meanings: the chest number represented the company's founding year; the money hole symbolized frugality; the feet symbolized being down-to-earth; and the football corresponded to the image of serving customers with tireless effort. These explanations may not match every consumer's actual feeling, but they provide evidence of how the corporation wrote a backstory for the character.¹

This approach was later adopted by many companies and public institutions: turning abstract companies, cities, or events into characters that can greet visitors at the door, appear on stickers, and be held by children. As a result, mascots have two time scales: short-term focus for events and long-term accumulation of familiarity.^{1 8}

📝 Curator's Note: The earliest competition among corporate mascots was not about who was cuter, but about who could first occupy a small space in the living room.

2013–2017: Black Bear Leaves Brand to Become an Urban Character

Oh Bear's setting is similar to an exercise in translating bureaucratic language into character language. The official page of the Ministry of Transportation and Tourism Administration described it as the "Super Mission Leader," listing its history, such as being put on stickers on December 3, 2013, and taking office on June 3, 2014. The white V-neck, orange cape, and tourism agency lettering linked the Taiwanese Black Bear prototype to a tourism mission.²

Oh Bear's character profile also included a birthday, job description, personality, costume, and daily activities. This data seems lighthearted but is actually transforming the "Tourism Administration" administrative body into a character that can speak in the first person. When official content shifts from policy terminology to the tone of "where I am today," the reader receives not just an agency name, but a guide with an itinerary.²

Xiongzan's trajectory was closer to urban events. Official materials from the Taipei City Government record that Xiongzan served as an ambassador for the 2017 Taipei World Games and continued to gain fans and merchandise demand after the event. On September 20, 2017, the Taipei City Government officially invited Xiongzan to be a municipal mascot.³

Xiongzan with visitors at Yangmingshan National Park in January 2016. Photo: Chi-Hung Lin / Flickr; CC BY-SA 2.0.⁵

Xiongzan's most story-worthy turning point was applying for a job at the Xinyi Job Service Center the day after the event ended. This wasn't just making the bear more human; it posed a practical question to a one-time event: what can the character do after the closing ceremony? The city government later awarded Xiongzan a "TPE" gold medal and arranged a dedicated office, transforming the mascot from an event figure into a public image for municipal and tourism activities.³

This also shows that "there are many black bears" does not necessarily mean "lazy design." The same prototype can carry different missions: Oh Bear sells the imagination of Taiwan travel; Xiongzan handles urban events and public image. The difference between the two must be drawn out through story, tone, and usage context. The problem is that the character only has one set of black fur but no life of its own.^{2 3}

Why Does the Black Bear Keep Appearing?

The answer is not just cuteness. The black bear has three design advantages: it is strongly associated with endemic species, the V-shaped chest allows for quick recognition, and the round face and sturdy build are convenient for turning into puppets, inflatable figures, and stickers. These are all visual efficiencies, but they do not equate to an established brand. The first two points are supported by the bear's biological characteristics and Oh Bear's setting; the last point is a design analysis and should not be mistaken for official statistics.^{2 6}

📝 Curator's Note: The prototype only allows people to recognize "what type it is"; the character makes them remember "which one it is."

How Transportation Systems Put Mascots on the Road

Kaohsiung MRT's Happy/HAPPI and U!FU Yongfu offer another sample of an urban character: they are not waiting to be seen in tourism brochures, but are brought to light rail stations and city traffic intersections. A 2015 press release from Kaohsiung MRT recorded that HAPPI and U!FU participated in the first Kaohsiung Mascot Competition at transportation scenes. The mascots thus became on-site media for interaction between the transportation system and citizens.¹¹

Kaohsiung MRT Mascots Happy (Yellow) and U!FU (Blue) in the Kaohsiung City Mascot PK battle. Photo: Tze Chiang Hao; CC BY-SA 4.0.¹²

The current character areas of Kaohsiung MRT also list the Yongfu family, including Bear Dad Yongfu, Bear Mom Baozhu, Bear Sis Pingping, Bear Bro Anan, and Squirrel Happy. The same area preserves "Kaohsiung Girl" and subsequent character series. This shows that transportation characters are not one-time decorations but can continuously transform with operating themes, audiences, and media.⁴

This case reminds us that the function of a mascot is not necessarily to "sell the city." It can also reduce the distance of transport facilities, giving stations, light rail, and public events a face that can be photographed, voted on, and remembered. The character did not replace transportation information, but it added an emotional entry point to the transportation system.^{4 11}

The transportation system's role also has a boundary that cannot be crossed: cuteness cannot replace accuracy. Schedules, fares, transfers, and safety information still require clear text and signage. The best place for a character is one that makes people stop to read the rules, not one that uses decoration to mask the rules. This is an important difference between public service characters and purely commercial characters.⁴

A County, a Leopard Cat, and a Pun

The Miaoli County Government used the endangered leopard cat as the prototype for Maolimiao, creating an approachable image with round eyes, a round body, whiskers, and bright yellow coloring. Official news also recorded that Maolimiao interacted with citizens in rural areas during elections to seek support. This made it not just a character designed by the county government but also a voting subject involved in local participation.¹³

Maolimiao, the mascot of Miaoli County, located in the lobby of THSR Miaoli Station. Photo: Foxy1219; CC BY-SA 4.0.¹⁴

Maolimiao's design layered three meanings: phonetic association with the old name "Miaoli," the local ecology of leopard cat conservation, and public spaces frequented by travelers at high-speed rail stations. Unlike Xiongzan, it was not based on a large international event. It is more like a local guide that ties together the county name, animals, and tourism routes.^{13 14}

The pun here is not just a joke. When "Miaoli" becomes "Maolimiao," the county name is transformed into a character that can greet people, make expressions, and participate in elections. The leopard cat links the place name to ecological conservation, maintaining an traceable connection between tourism recognition and local environment.¹³

Campus Mascots: Turning School Logos into Characters

Tiger Duck from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) was created by Benjamin (Tigersaka-shu) and Rossie (Duck Rose). The school explained that the name comes from the wrench and screw in the NTUST logo, representing the spirit of practical craftsmanship. Tiger Duck was also expected to increase school recognition and bridge the gap between the school and the public.¹⁵

Image of the NTUST campus mascot Tiger Duck. Photo: Taiming2003; CC BY-SA 4.0.¹⁶

The mission of a campus character is not entirely the same as that of an urban character. It does not have to represent all of Taiwan, nor does it need to turn every visitor into a tourist. Its primary goal is to provide students, alumni, and faculty with a shared image beyond the school logo—one that can speak, be photographed, and participate in activities. Turning the wrench and screw into a tiger and a duck is an example of translating institutional language into campus daily life.¹⁵

Tiger Duck also dealt with a specific and somewhat awkward problem: NTUST and Taipei Tech are often confused, leading the school to even use "We are on Jilin Road" in sticker content. The mascot thus not only establishes an image but also provides a shared point of humor for the school's address, online nickname, and campus life.¹⁵

Characters Beyond Costumes

Mascots also leave costumes to enter staircases, station lobbies, mall windows, and neighborhood walls. The 3D painted staircase at Jianzhong Elementary School in Miaoli was completed by Wei Rong-hsin and Hsiao Zhang, featuring the leopard cat, Shixing Station, Longteng Broken Bridge, and wooden Daruma. It is not a single official mascot doll, but it shows how local characters and landmark symbols enter public space, allowing people to walk through a piece of local history.⁹

_The 3D painted staircase at Jianzhong Elementary School in Miaoli, featuring the leopard cat, Shixing Station, Longteng Broken Bridge, and wooden Daruma. Photo: Paddy.hsiao; CC BY 4.0. This is an example of local public art and character symbols, not to be mistaken for a school mascot.⁹

Therefore, judging whether a local character is successful cannot just ask if it has a doll. It must also ask if it can become a route, a photo spot, a campus entrance, or a visual code that makes people willing to stop and understand the locality. Characters in public spaces may not have complete backstories, but they must be related to an experience of a place that can be walked through.⁹

Beyond Team Logos: Timeng TYMON

Timeng TYMON is the mascot for various national soccer teams from Taiwan (under the name Chinese Taipei). Compared to school or transportation system characters, national team mascots deal with fan mobilization, on-field atmosphere, and emotional cohesion of the delegation. It does not need to explain all the rules of soccer but must provide an entrance point that is more expressive than a team logo in player appearances, fan photos, and merchandise.¹⁰

Timeng TYMON, mascot for various national soccer teams from Taiwan. Photo: Dai Yuliang; CC BY-SA 4.0.¹⁰

From Timeng, we can see that mascots are not only needed by local governments. When a team needs to make "representation" feel approachable on the field, the character adds action, body, and interactive possibilities to the logo. Its life cycle may also change with the team and fan community, so it must continuously appear in real match settings and cannot just remain as flat identification.¹⁰

However, the available records mainly confirm Timeng's role identity and image licensing; this article does not speculate on its complete background, designers, character setting, or operational effectiveness. This retention is not a shortcoming of lack of data, but an effort to avoid misrepresenting a photograph as an entire non-existent official profile.¹⁰

The Watershed of Character IP: From Image to Daily Life

Corporate mascots best illustrate this watershed moment. The World reported that Open had a character marketing team during its prime, creating themed stores, film collaborations, band partnerships, limited edition cars, and theme parks, achieving a commercial peak in 2014 with NT$1 billion in revenue for 7-Eleven. The focus here is not on a beautiful revenue figure, but on the fact that the character was treated as content assets requiring long-term scheduling, development, and maintenance.¹⁷

The same report placed the birth of Welfare Bear in 2014, noting that it accumulated sales through exchange gifts, fresh food packaging, and strategic alliance products. The report quoted an operator saying that sales involving repackaging fruit "also reached NT$1 billion." This scope includes various products and sales activities and cannot be directly equated to pure licensing fees, nor should it be compared to the attendance income of public sector mascots.¹⁷

The true threshold for corporate IP is whether the character's personality can be maintained across different settings. The themed store is a space; the limited edition product is an object; film and band collaborations are content; the special car is a mobile medium. If these arrangements only leave behind a logo, the character reverts to a trademark. Only when every medium makes the reader recognize "this is the same character doing different things" does the IP come to life.¹⁷

The collaboration between Taiwan Post and Yimei put the postal mascot Papo Pigeon into packaging, turning the post office from a service institution into an everyday object that can be collected, exchanged, and given as a gift. The cultural significance of this cooperation lies beyond "mail carrier, mailbox, stamp," adding an expressive character entry point.¹⁸

When Cuteness Isn't Enough: Fishhead Boy and Caiqi Duck

The official setting for Fishhead Boy from the Tainan Tourism Bureau is straightforward: it is a sea bass born in shallow tidal ponds of Tainan, with the English name Sababoy, whose mission is to introduce Tainan to the world. Choosing "fish head" rather than the whole fish also transforms the sea bass from food on the dining table into a tourism ambassador who can travel and introduce cities.¹⁹

The official page deliberately states that Fishhead Boy will reveal a cross-section of its head, distancing itself from mascots that only pursue cuteness. This design is similar to the humor in local Taiwanese cuisine: first making you feel round, cute, and friendly, then reminding you with a slightly bizarre backside that this fish has its own origins. This is an editorial analysis of official character materials, not a direct quote from the designer's humor.¹⁹

The Tainan City Government also issued a press release stating that Fishhead Boy first appeared at the Qixu Seafood Festival in 2018, and subsequently appeared in Japan for exchanges, tourism promotion, stadiums, and travel fairs. In 2023, the city government featured "Fishhead Boy's Playground" as a themed installation exhibition. These settings made Fishhead Boy not just a food image but a tourism ambassador who can introduce locals.²⁰

Caiqi Duck followed another path. A 2024 press release from the Tainan City Government stated that the market mascot "Caiqi Duck" became popular, and it was used to launch the "Market Boy, Goods Basket Won't Let You Collect Duck" event. Citizens could visit 59 public retail markets, scan codes for collection points, shop, check in, and exchange merchandise to re-experience the market.³

The value of this case is not just the pun. Once placed into the market flow, the character becomes a navigational interface: it tells you where to go, what to do, and how to turn a single shopping trip into a shareable experience. The "Taiwanese flavor" of the character thus has observable behavior, not just a slogan.³

📝 Curator's Note: Fishhead Boy turns ingredients into characters; Caiqi Duck turns markets into missions; when local identity truly lands, the mascot tells you where to go next.

Public Budgets Also Grade Mascots

When corporate mascots fail in sales, companies can change strategies. When public sector characters use public funds, there is an added layer of issues. In 2018, Xiongzan's rebranding and design changes cost NT$1.13 million, leading council members to question it during a legislative session. This controversy was not just about whether the bear looked good, but also about whether the public institution clearly explained: why the change was made, what problem it solved, and how its effectiveness would be judged after the change.²¹

Therefore, evaluating public sector mascots cannot only look at licensing fees or single-event appearance fees. At least three aspects must be considered simultaneously: whether the character improves information delivery, whether it makes citizens more engaged in urban activities, and whether design and maintenance costs can be publicly disclosed. Revenue figures can provide clues, but they cannot represent cultural value alone. The three aspects here are an analytical framework proposed by this article, not official statistics.^{3 21}

The same principle applies to corporate IP. The revenue, product sales, exchange quantities, social media tracking, and licensing collaborations mentioned in the reports answer different questions. Adding them all together does not automatically yield "character success." The commercial benefits, public benefits, cultural memory, and conservation communication of a character should be recorded separately and then explained how they influence each other.^{6 17 18}

Rewriting "Cuteness" into a Methodology

From the Datong Baby to Oh Bear, from Xiongzan to Kaohsiung MRT, Maolimiao, Tiger Duck, Timeng, Fishhead Boy, and Caiqi Duck, the common trajectory of Taiwanese mascots is translating institutions into human language. The Datong Baby gave corporations a body that could be taken home. Oh Bear gave tourism missions a character voice. Kaohsiung MRT brought mascots to transportation scenes. Maolimiao put leopard cat conservation and county names in stations; Tiger Duck turned a school logo into a campus partner; Timeng turned a national team into an interactive target for fans; Fishhead Boy promoted local ingredients on the tourism stage; Caiqi Duck turned market visits into a mission-driven urban game.^{1 2 3 4 11 13 15 10 19}

This path also leaves several practical questions. Is the character prototype overly concentrated on the black bear? Are licensing revenue, product sales, and public benefits mixed into one table? Are the image files, photographs, and derivative products of official characters clearly marked with boundaries of rights? If these questions have no answers, even a cute character may only remain a one-time set piece.^{6 17 21}

Image rights cannot be overlooked by the word "official." The images retained from Wikimedia Commons in this article are marked with CC BY, CC BY-SA, or government open data usage terms; the licensing of photos does not mean that character trademarks, official artwork, or derivative products can be used arbitrarily. This article can display the character, but when submitting or reproducing it, the photographer, licensing terms, trademark, and government open data announcement must be checked item by item.^{4 5 12 14 16 9 10}

For readers, the next time they encounter a mascot on the street, they can ask one more question: who does it represent, and what task is it completing? If the answer points back to a market, a type of food, a station, a school, a competition, or a memory of conservation, the character has a chance to live. Only then is the mascot not just a person in a costume, but a way for Taiwan to tell its story to others.^{3 4 6}

Further Reading

• **Taiwanese Memes** — How puns, ugly cuteness, and contrast circulate on social media

• **FamilyMart Welfare Center** — The daily operation of Welfare Bear and corporate IP

• **Tainan Market** — Markets, food, and urban life connected by Caiqi Duck and Yeqi Duck

References