As well as their medals, the winners received a mascot wearing a wreath woven of pine, bamboo and plum – known as the “Three Friends of the Cold”. These materials symbolised the tenacity, vigour and vitality of the medallists. In addition, the traditional bouquet was replaced by a hand-knitted cashmere version, to implement the concept of sustainability. Each bouquet featured six types of flowers: rose, Chinese rose, lily of the valley, hydrangea, laurel and olive, symbolising friendship, tenacity, happiness, unity, victory and peace. The Hengyuanxiang Group, a wool manufacturer based in Shanghai and one of the official sponsors of the Beijing Winter Olympics, recruited knitting groups in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Zhejiang and Jiangsu to join in the project. A total of 1,251 bouquets were needed for the award ceremonies. Each flower was handmade, which required plenty of time and manpower. It took 35 hours to make a bouquet, so it took almost 50,000 hours to knit all the bouquets. Donated by the OCOG