Traders punished for selling Olympics mascot at 10 times the retail price

A worker packs away completed Bing Dwen Dwen stuffed dolls, the mascot of 2022 Winter Olympics, in Jinjiang city in southeastern China’s Fujian province (Chinatopix via AP)

Police are punishing Chinese traders selling scarce dolls of the Olympics mascot – a panda in a clear plastic suit called Bing Dwen Dwen – for up to 10 times the retail price.

Buyers queued overnight to empty shop shelves after the Winter Games started in Beijing on February 4, with factory workers recalled from their Lunar New Year holiday to make more mascots, according to news reports.