Friendlies abandoned as name for mascots  The name "Friendlies" has been abandoned as the organization committee for the 2008 Beijing Olympics silently changed the English name of the Games' five mascot dolls last week. The organization committee decided to adopt the name "Fuwa", which is a pinyin translation of its Chinese name and is more frequently used in prefix = st1 /China. However, the organization committee replaced all Friendlies to Fuwa on its official site, but without giving a formal announcement to inform the public of the change. It is said that they received an inside notice about the change last week but don't want to emphasize it for fear of affecting the sales of Olympic goods.   Li Yanjun, a Legal Affairs Department official, said the decision was made considering a variety of reasons but did not want to comment on them. "You may know about the background and many unfavorable comments concerning the mascots' former name across the web, but I won't comment on them," Li said. "I'm not in the position to make it clear if the change was caused by this."  A report published last week on China Radio International (CRI)made the name change known and listed the reasons why the Friendlies name should be changed. "Firstly, Friendly is somewhat an unclear name, which could refer both to friendly people and friendly matches,"a Dr. Li from LanzhouUniversitywas quoted as saying on the site. "Secondly, the term Friendlies has a similar pronunciation to 'friendless' and thirdly, the spelling of Friendlies could be split as 'friend lies'." Laura Fitch, a Canadian who works in Chinaas news editor, welcomed the change, saying the name Friendlies sounds a "a little bit childish" and "doesn't really have a meaning." What can be inferred from what Li Yanjun said in Para.3?
He liked the name while others didn't. He didn't know how to comment on unfavourable comments. It is likely that the change of the name was caused by the unfavourable comments. People would not make unfavourable comments on "Friendlies" if they knew about the background.