The two-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics started Aug 8, 2006 and the official mascots, the Five Friendlies are bringing in a lot of business.

2008 Beijing Olympics official mascots, the Five Friendlies. [sina.com]

Statistics from earlier Olympics Games show that the earnings from mascot sales commonly count for ten percent of the gross income of an Olympic Games. In light of this the Friendlies are expected to generate 4 billion yuan for the upcoming event. Related industries will see a 10-billion yuan market boost from the dolls.

Sales of Beijing Olympic souvenirs through three major retailers in Guangzhou have soared to 8.8 million yuan since their release last November. At the Wangfujing Emporium, the monthly sales are above 900,000 yuan, in which the Friendlies dolls count for nearly 100,000 yuan.

There are currently 14 Olympic commodities available. Besides the dolls, there are; stamps, medals, T-shirts, hats, umbrellas, pens and other articles .All have the Friendlies' images on them.

A salesperson at the Wangfujing Emporium said when some retailers from other cities in Guangdong Province come to buy large amounts of commodities worth hundreds of thousands of yuan, they have to urgently buy and transport large quantities of goods from Beijing.

A Chinese American retailer has been buying 20,000 yuan in souvenirs every month since last December and bringing them back to Los Angeles.

Among all the Five Friendlies, Huanhuan, or the Fire, is the most popular.

Experts say the sectors that benefit from the Olympic mascots include media, tourism, animation and telecommunications and all are non-polluting industries.