Winnie-the-Pooh (also known asEdward Bear,Pooh Bear or simplyPooh) is a fictionalanthropomorphicteddy bear created by the English authorA. A. Milne and the English illustratorE. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name in a children's story commissioned by London'sEvening News for Christmas Eve 1925. The character is inspired by astuffed toy that Milne had bought for his sonChristopher Robin inHarrods department store, and a bear namedWinnie they had viewed atLondon Zoo.
The first collection of stories about the character is the bookWinnie-the-Pooh (1926), and this was followed byThe House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne also included a poem about the bear in the children's verse bookWhen We Were Very Young (1924) and many more inNow We Are Six (1927). All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard. The stories are set in theHundred Acre Wood, which was inspired by Five Hundred Acre Wood inAshdown Forest in East Sussex—situated 30 miles (48 km) south of London—where the Londoner Milne's country home was located.
Christopher Robin's original Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed toys, on display at the New York Public Library (clockwise from bottom left:Tigger,Kanga, Edward Bear ("Winnie-the-Pooh"),Eeyore, andPiglet).Roo was also one of the original toys, but was lost by Christopher Robin in the 1930s.
A. A. Milne named the character Winnie-the-Pooh after a teddy bear owned by his son,Christopher Robin Milne, on whom the characterChristopher Robin was based. Shepard in turn based his illustrations of Pooh on his own son's teddy bear named Growler, instead of Christopher Robin's bear.[4] The rest of Christopher Milne's toys –Piglet,Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, andTigger – were incorporated into Milne's stories.[5][6] Two more characters,Owl andRabbit, were created by Milne's imagination, whileGopher was added to the Disney version. Christopher Robin's toy bear is on display at theMain Branch of the New York Public Library in New York City.[7]
In 1921, Milne bought his son Christopher Robin the toy bear fromHarrods department store.[8][9] Christopher Robin had named his toy bear Edward, then Winnie, after a Canadianblack bearWinnie that he often saw atLondon Zoo, and Pooh, a friend's pet swan they had encountered while on holiday.[10][11][12] The bear cub was purchased from a hunter forC$20 by Canadian LieutenantHarry Colebourn inWhite River, Ontario, while en route to England during the First World War.[13] Colebourn, a veterinary officer with the Fort Garry Horse cavalry regiment, named the bear Winnie after his adopted hometown inWinnipeg,Manitoba.[14][15] Winnie was surreptitiously brought to England with her owner, and gained unofficial recognition asThe Fort Garry Horse regimental mascot. Colebourn left Winnie at the London Zoo while he and his unit were in France; after the war she was officially donated to the zoo, as she had become a much-loved attraction there.[16] Pooh the swan appears as a character in its own right inWhen We Were Very Young.
Sculpture at London Zoo where Milne took his son Christopher Robin to see the amiable bear that inspired Milne to write the story
In the first chapter ofWinnie-the-Pooh, Milne offers this explanation of why Winnie-the-Pooh is often simply known as "Pooh":
But his arms were so stiff … they stayed up straight in the air for more than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off. And I think – but I am not sure – thatthat is why he is always called Pooh.
A bronze sculpture of Winnie as a young cub, created byLorne McKean, was unveiled at London Zoo in September 1981 by Christopher Robin.[18] The skull of Winnie is displayed at theHunterian Museum in London, the location of anatomical exhibits of theRoyal College of Surgeons of England, with a 2015 examination of the skull showing that she suffered from chronic periodontitis, an inflammation and loss of connective tissues supporting or surrounding the teeth, which can be caused by poor diet, such as the honey Christopher Robin spoon fed her.[19]
Ashdown Forest: the setting for the stories
A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard memorial plaque atAshdown Forest, East Sussex, south-east England; it overlooks Five Hundred Acre Wood, the setting for Winnie-the-Pooh
The Winnie-the-Pooh stories are set inAshdown Forest,East Sussex, England. The forest is an area of tranquil open heathland on the highest sandy ridges of theHigh Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty situated 30 miles (50 km) south-east of London. In 1925 Milne, a Londoner, bought a country home a mile to the north of the forest atCotchford Farm, nearHartfield. According to Christopher Robin Milne, while his father continued to live in London "...the four of us – he, his wife, his son and his son's nanny – would pile into a large blue, chauffeur-driven Fiat and travel down every Saturday morning and back again every Monday afternoon. And we would spend a whole glorious month there in the spring and two months in the summer."[20] From the front lawn the family had a view across a meadow to a line ofalders that fringed theRiver Medway, beyond which the ground rose through more trees until finally "above them, in the faraway distance, crowning the view, was a bare hilltop. In the centre of this hilltop was a clump of pines." Most of his father's visits to the forest at that time were, he noted, family expeditions on foot "to make yet another attempt to count the pine trees on Gill's Lap or to search for the marsh gentian". Christopher added that, inspired by Ashdown Forest, his father had made it "the setting for two of his books, finishing the second little over three years after his arrival".[21]
Many locations in the stories can be associated with real places in and around the forest. As Christopher Milne wrote in his autobiography: "Pooh's forest and Ashdown Forest are identical." For example, the fictional "Hundred Acre Wood" was in reality Five Hundred Acre Wood; Galleon's Leap was inspired by the prominent hilltop of Gill's Lap, while a clump of trees just north of Gill's Lap became Christopher Robin'sThe Enchanted Place, because no-one had ever been able to count whether there were 63 or 64 trees in the circle.[22]
The landscapes depicted inE. H. Shepard's illustrations for the Winnie-the-Pooh books were directly inspired by the distinctive landscape of Ashdown Forest, with its high, open heathlands of heather, gorse, bracken and silver birch, which are punctuated by hilltop clumps of pine trees. Many of Shepard's illustrations can be matched to actual views, allowing for a degree of artistic licence. Shepard's sketches of pine trees and other forest scenes are held at theVictoria and Albert Museum in London.[23]
The game ofPoohsticks was originally played by Christopher Robin Milne and his father on the wooden footbridge,[24] across the Millbrook,[25] Posingford Wood, close to Cotchford Farm. In the stories Pooh plays the game with the other characters, Christopher Robin, Tigger, and Eeyore.[26] The location is now a tourist attraction, and it has become traditional to play the game there using sticks gathered in the nearby woodland.[24][27] When the footbridge had to be replaced in 1999, the architect used as a main source drawings by Shepard in the books, and retained its precursor's original style.[28]
First publication
Winnie-the-Pooh's debut in the24 December 1925London Evening News
Christopher Robin's teddy bear made his character début, under the name Edward, in A. A. Milne's poem, "Teddy Bear", in the edition of 13 February 1924 ofPunch (E. H. Shepard had also included a similar bear in a cartoon published inPunch the previous week[29]), and the same poem was published in Milne's book of children's verseWhen We Were Very Young (6 November 1924).[30] Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name on 24 December 1925, in a Christmas story commissioned and published by the London newspaperEvening News. It was illustrated byJ. H. Dowd.[31]
The first collection of Pooh stories appeared in the bookWinnie-the-Pooh. TheEvening News Christmas story reappeared as the first chapter of the book. At the beginning, it explained that Pooh was in fact Christopher Robin's Edward Bear, who had been renamed by the boy. He was renamed afteran American black bear at London Zoo called Winnie who got her name from the fact that her owner had come fromWinnipeg, Canada. The book was published in October 1926 by the publisher of Milne's earlier children's work,Methuen, in England,E. P. Dutton in the United States, andMcClelland & Stewart in Canada.[32] The book was an immediate critical and commercial success.[33] The children's author and literary criticJohn Rowe Townsend describedWinnie-the-Pooh and its sequelThe House at Pooh Corner as "the spectacular British success of the 1920s" and praised its light, readable prose.[34]
Appearance
The original drawing of Pooh was based not on Christopher Robin's bear, but on Growler, the teddy bear belonging to Shepard's son Graham, according to James Campbell, husband of Shepard's great-granddaughter. When Campbell took over Shepard's estate in 2010, he discovered many drawings and unpublished writings, including early drawings of Pooh, that had not been seen in decades. Campbell said, "Both he and A. A. Milne realised that Christopher Robin's bear was too gruff-looking, not very cuddly, so they decided they would have to have a different bear for the illustrations."[35] Campbell said Shepard sent Milne a drawing of his son's bear and that Milne "said it was perfect". Campbell also said Shepard's drawings of Christopher Robin were based partly on his own son.[35]
Character
Pooh listening to Christopher Robin,Winnie-the-Pooh (1926); illustration by E. H. Shepard.
In the Milne books, Pooh is naive and slow-witted, but he is also friendly, thoughtful, and steadfast. Although he and his friends agree that he is "a bear of very little brain", Pooh is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense. These include riding in Christopher Robin's umbrella to rescue Piglet from a flood, discovering "the North Pole" by picking it up to help fish Roo out of the river, inventing the game ofPoohsticks, and getting Eeyore out of the river by dropping a large rock on one side of him to wash him towards the bank.
Pooh at Owl's house; illustration by E. H. Shepard
Pooh is also a talented poet and the stories are frequently punctuated by his poems and "hums". Although he is humble about his slow-wittedness, he is comfortable with his creative gifts. When Owl's house blows down in a windstorm, trapping Pooh, Piglet and Owl inside, Pooh encourages Piglet (the only one small enough to do so) to escape and rescue them all by promising that "a respectful Pooh song" will be written about Piglet's feat. Later, Pooh muses about the creative process as he composes the song.
Pooh and a honey ("hunny") pot, E. H. Shepard illustration fromWinnie-the-Pooh (1926)
Pooh is very fond of food, particularlyhoney (which he spells "hunny"), but also condensed milk and other items. When he visits friends, his desire to be offered a snack is in conflict with the impoliteness of asking too directly. Though intent on giving Eeyore a pot of honey for his birthday, Pooh could not resist eating it on his way to deliver the present and so instead gives Eeyore "a useful pot to put things in". When he and Piglet are lost in the forest during Rabbit's attempt to "unbounce" Tigger, Pooh finds his way home by following the "call" of the honeypots from his house. Pooh makes it a habit to have "a little something" around 11:00 in the morning. As the clock in his house "stopped at five minutes to eleven some weeks ago", any time can be Pooh's snack time.
Pooh is very social. After Christopher Robin, his closest friend is Piglet, and he most often chooses to spend his time with one or both of them. But he also habitually visits the other animals, often looking for a snack or an audience for his poetry as much as for companionship. His kind-heartedness means he goes out of his way to be friendly to Eeyore, visiting him and bringing him a birthday present and building him a house, despite receiving mostly disdain from Eeyore in return. Devan Coggan ofEntertainment Weekly saw a similarity between Pooh andPaddington Bear, two "extremely polite British bears without pants", adding that "both bears share a philosophy of kindness and integrity".[36]
Harrods department store inKnightsbridge, London, where in 1921 Milne bought the stuffed toy for his son that would inspire the character. Pooh visits Harrods in the 2021 authorised prequelWinnie-the-Pooh: Once There Was a Bear
Another authorised sequel,Winnie-the-Pooh: The Best Bear in All the World, was published byEgmont in 2016. The sequel consists of four short stories by four leading children's authors,Kate Saunders,Brian Sibley, Paul Bright, andJeanne Willis. Illustrations are by Mark Burgess.[38]The Best Bear in All The World sees the introduction of a new character, Penguin, which was inspired by a long-lost photograph of Milne and his son Christopher with a toy penguin.[39][40]
In 2021, marking a century since Milne bought thestuffed toy fromHarrods department store for his sonChristopher Robin that would inspire Milne to create the character,Winnie-the-Pooh: Once There Was a Bear, the first prequel to Milne's books and poetry about the bear, was authorised by the estates of Milne and Shepard.[8] Inspired by the real life of Christopher Robin, it is written by children's writer Jane Riordan in the style of Milne, with illustrations by Mark Burgess emulating the drawings of Shepard.[8] It sees Winnie-the-Pooh exploring Harrods as well as visit London'sNatural History Museum and London Zoo, before leaving London and going back to the Hundred Acre Wood.[8]
Stephen Slesinger
On 6 January 1930,Stephen Slesinger purchased US and Canadian merchandising, television, recording, and other trade rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh works from Milne for a $1,000 advance and 66% of Slesinger's income.[42] By November 1931, Pooh was a $50 million-a-year business.[43] Slesinger marketed Pooh and his friends for more than 30 years, creating the first Pooh doll, record, board game, puzzle, US radio broadcast (on NBC), animation, and motion picture.[44]
Red shirt Pooh
The first time Pooh and his friends appeared in colour was 1932, when he was drawn by Slesinger in his now-familiar red shirt and featured on anRCA Victor picture record.Parker Brothers introducedA. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh Game in 1933, again with Pooh in his red shirt. In the 1940s, Agnes Brush created the first plush dolls with Pooh in a shirt.[45][46]
After Slesinger's death in 1953, his wife,Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, continued developing the character herself. In 1961, she licensed rights toWalt Disney Productions in exchange for royalties in the first of two agreements between Stephen Slesinger, Inc., and Disney.[47] The same year, A. A. Milne's widow, Daphne Milne, also licensed certain rights, including motion picture rights, to Disney.
A. A. Milne'sU.S. copyright on the Winnie-the-Pooh character expired on 1 January 2022, as it had been 95 years since publication of the first story. The character has thus entered thepublic domain in the United States and Disney no longer holds exclusive rights there. Independent filmmakerRhys Frake-Waterfield capitalized on this shortly thereafter by producing a horror film titledWinnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.[48] TheUK copyright will expire on 1 January 2027, the first day of a Gregorian calendrical year which is at least 70 years, but not more than 71 years, after Milne's death.[49]
Playdate with Winnie the Pooh, an animated series of musical shorts by OddBot Inc. forDisney Junior, became the first project from Disney to be released after the original book and characters became public domain.[50][51][52][53]
Merchandising revenue dispute
Pooh videos, soft toys, and other merchandise generate substantial annual revenues for Disney. The size of Pooh stuffed toys ranges fromBeanie and miniature to human-sized. In addition to the stylised Disney Pooh, Disney markets Classic Pooh merchandise which more closely resembles E. H. Shepard's illustrations.
In 1991, Stephen Slesinger, Inc., filed a lawsuit against Disney which alleged that Disney had breached their 1983 agreement by again failing to accurately report revenue from Winnie the Pooh sales. Under this agreement, Disney was to retain approximately 98% of gross worldwide revenues while the remaining 2% was to be paid to Slesinger. In addition, the suit alleged that Disney had failed to pay required royalties on all commercial exploitation of the product name.[54] Though the Disney corporation was sanctioned by a judge for destroying forty boxes of evidentiary documents,[55] the suit was later terminated by another judge when it was discovered that Slesinger's investigator had rummaged through Disney's garbage to retrieve the discarded evidence.[56] Slesinger appealed the termination and, on 26 September 2007, a three-judge panel upheld the lawsuit dismissal.[57]
After theCopyright Term Extension Act of 1998, Clare Milne, Christopher Robin Milne's daughter, attempted to terminate any future US copyrights for Stephen Slesinger, Inc.[58] After a series of legal hearings, JudgeFlorence-Marie Cooper of the US District Court in California found in favour of Stephen Slesinger, Inc., as did theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On 26 June 2006, theUS Supreme Court refused to hear the case, sustaining the ruling and ensuring the defeat of the suit.[59]
On 19 February 2007, Disney lost a court case in Los Angeles which ruled their "misguided claims" to dispute the licensing agreements with Slesinger, Inc., were unjustified,[60] but a federal ruling of 28 September 2009, again from Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, determined that the Slesinger family had granted all trademarks and copyrights to Disney, although Disney must pay royalties for all future use of the characters. Both parties expressed satisfaction with the outcome.[61][62]
Other adaptations
Theatre
1931.Winnie-the-Pooh at the Guild Theater,Sue Hastings Marionettes[63]
1957.Winnie-the-Pooh, a play in three acts, dramatized by Kristin Sergel,Dramatic Publishing
1964.Winnie-the-Pooh, a musical comedy in two acts, lyrics by A. A. Milne and Kristin Sergel, music by Allan Jay Friedman, book by Kristin Sergel, Dramatic Publishing
1977.A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail, in which Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends help Eeyore have a very Merry Christmas (or a very happy birthday), with the book, music, and lyrics by James W. Rogers, Dramatic Publishing[64]
1992.Winnie-the-Pooh, small cast musical version, dramatized by le Clanché du Rand, music by Allan Jay Friedman, lyrics by A. A. Milne and Kristin Sergel, additional lyrics by le Clanché du Rand, Dramatic Publishing
RCA Victor record from 1932 decorated with Stephen Slesinger, Inc.'s Winnie-the-Pooh
Selected Pooh stories read byMaurice Evans released on vinyl LP:
1956.Winnie-the-Pooh (consisting of three tracks: "Introducing Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin"; "Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets into a Tight Place"; and "Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a Woozle")
More Winnie-the-Pooh (consisting of three tracks: "Eeyore Loses a Tail"; "Piglet Meets aHeffalump"; "Eeyore Has a Birthday")
In 1951,RCA Records released four stories ofWinnie-the-Pooh, narrated byJimmy Stewart and featuring the voices ofCecil Roy as Pooh, Madeleine Pierce as Piglet, Betty Jane Tyler as Kanga,Merrill Joels as Eeyore,Arnold Stang as Rabbit, Frank Milano as Owl, and Sandy Fussell as Christopher Robin.[66]
In the 1970s and 1980s, Carol Channing recordedWinnie the Pooh,The House at Pooh Corner andThe Winnie the Pooh Songbook, with music by Don Heckman. These were released on vinyl LP and audio cassette by Caedmon Records.
Unabridged recordings read byPeter Dennis of the four Pooh books:
When We Were Very Young
Winnie-the-Pooh
Now We Are Six
The House at Pooh Corner
In 1979, a double audio cassette set ofWinnie the Pooh was produced featuring British actorLionel Jeffries reading all of the characters in the stories. This was followed in 1981 by an audio cassette set of stories fromThe House at Pooh Corner also read by Lionel Jeffries.[68]
TheBBC included readings ofWinnie-the-Pooh stories in its programmes for children very soon after their first publication. One of the earliest of such readings, by "Uncle Peter" (C. E. Hodges), was an item in the programmeFor the Children, broadcast by stations2LO and 5XX on 23 March 1926.Norman Shelley was the notable voice of Pooh on the BBC'sChildren's Hour.[70]
2023:Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, a horror adaptation depicting both Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet as homicidal maniacs who go on a killing spree after Christopher Robin abandons them.[74] This is the first Pooh adaptation inThe Twisted Childhood Universe; two subsequent films are:
2024:Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2: Pooh and Piglet team up with Owl and Tigger to target the town of Ashdown after Christopher exposed their existence following the events of the first film.[75]
2025:Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 3: On 28 March 2024, a third film in theBlood and Honey series was announced.[76]
The films usedBoris Zakhoder's translation of the book. Pooh was voiced byYevgeny Leonov. Unlike in the Disney adaptations, the animators did not base their depictions of the characters on Shepard's illustrations, instead creating a different look. The Soviet adaptations made extensive use of Milne's original text and often brought out aspects of Milne's characters' personalities not used in the Disney adaptations.
During the 1970s, theBBC children's television showJackanory serialised the two books, which were read byWillie Rushton.[80]
2026:Hundred Acre Wood's Winnie and Friends, a planned package of 208 seven-minute episodes and 5 holiday specials, to be released byKartoon Studios beginning in December 2026.[81] This3D animated series has been advertised as having "a distinctive yarn-based animation style blending AI and hand-drawn characters and backgrounds".[82]
TBA:Christopher Robin (Working Title),R-rated live action/hybrid series featuring a middle age drugged Christopher Robin travelling back to the One Hundred Acre Wood.[83]
Maev Kennedy ofThe Guardian called Winnie-the-Pooh "the most famous bear in literary history".[89] One of the best-known characters inBritish children's literature, a 2011 poll saw the bear voted onto the list of top 100 "icons of England".[90] In 2003 the first Pooh book was ranked number 7 on the BBC'sThe Big Read poll.[3]Forbes magazine ranked Pooh the most valuable fictional character in 2002, with merchandising products alone generating more than $5.9 billion that year.[91] In 2005, Pooh generated $6 billion, a figure surpassed by onlyMickey Mouse.[92] In 2006, Pooh received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame, marking the 80th birthday of Milne's creation.[92] In 2010,E. H. Shepard's original illustrations of Winnie the Pooh (and other Pooh characters) featured on aseries of UK postage stamps issued by theRoyal Mail.[93]
Pooh with Tigger and Eeyore at the Shanghai Disney Resort in 2019
In music,Kenny Loggins wrote the song "House at Pooh Corner", which was originally recorded by theNitty Gritty Dirt Band.[96] Loggins later rewrote the song as "Return to Pooh Corner", featuring on the album of the same name in 1991. In Italy, a pop band took their name from Winnie, and were titledPooh. In Estonia, there is a punk/metal band calledWinny Puhh. There is a street inWarsaw, Poland, named after the character, theKubusia Puchatka Street, as he is known inPolish translations asKubuś Puchatek.[97] There is also a street named after him inBudapest, Hungary, the Micimackó Street.[98]
Poohsticks Bridge in Ashdown Forest, south-east England, where Pooh inventedPoohsticks
In the "sport" ofPoohsticks, competitors drop sticks into a stream from a bridge and then wait to see whose stick will cross the finish line first. Competitors hold their sticks at arms length at the same height, then drop their sticks into the water at the same time.[99] Though it began as a game played by Pooh and his friends in the bookThe House at Pooh Corner and later in the films, it has crossed over into the real world: a World Championship Poohsticks race takes place inOxfordshire each year.Ashdown Forest in south-east England, where the Pooh stories are set, is a popular tourist attraction, and includes the wooden Pooh Bridge where Pooh and Piglet invented Poohsticks.[100] TheOxford University Winnie the Pooh Society was founded by undergraduates in 1982.[101]
From December 2017 to April 2018, theVictoria and Albert Museum in London hosted the exhibitionWinnie-the-Pooh: Exploring a Classic.[102] On exhibit were A. A. Milne's manuscript ofWinnie-the-Pooh andThe House at Pooh Corner (on loan from theWren Library atTrinity College, Cambridge, Milne's alma mater to which he had bequeathed the works), and teddy bears that had not been on display for 40 years because they were so fragile.[89][103] The exhibit was then displayed in museums in the US, Japan, South Korea and Canada.[104][105][106]
Shepard's 1926 illustrated map of the Hundred Acre Wood which set a record price for book illustrations when it was sold atSotheby's in London in 2018
In 2018, E. H. Shepard's original 1926 illustrated map of the Hundred Acre Wood, which features in the opening pages of Milne's books and also appears in the opening animation in the first Disney adaptation in 1966, sold for £430,000 ($600,000) atSotheby's in London, setting a world record for book illustrations.[107][108]
The Japanese figure skater and two-time Olympic championYuzuru Hanyu regards Pooh as his lucky charm.[109] He is usually seen with a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh during his figure skating competitions. Because of this, Hanyu's fans will throw stuffed Winnie-the-Poohs onto the ice after his performance.[110] After one of Hanyu's performances at the2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, one spectator remarked that "the ice turned yellow" because of all the Poohs thrown onto the ice.[111]
InChina, images of Pooh werecensored from social media websites in mid-2017, whenInternet memes comparing ChineseParamount Leader andGeneral Secretary of the Communist PartyXi Jinping to (Disney's version of) Pooh became popular.[112] The 2018 filmChristopher Robin was also denied a Chinese release.[113] Although many in the United States attributed the omission ofChristopher Robin from Chinese cinemas to censorship, Chinese authorities provided no official explanation. Some analysts argued the decision may have been unrelated to political concerns, citing China’s annual quota of 34 foreign films. Additionally, the 2011 theatrical releaseWinnie the Pooh also did not screen in China - predating both the controversy and Xi Jinping’sgeneral secretaryship.[114]
Despite the ban, two Pooh-themed rides still operate inDisneyland Shanghai, and it is also legal to purchase Pooh-bear merchandise and books about Winnie the Pooh in China.[122][114] In May 2021, aperformer dressed up as Winnie-the-Pooh in Shanghai Disneyland was beaten by a child tourist. Mass media in China used the term "Pooh Pooh Bear" (Chinese:噗噗熊) in reports about this incident because the word "Winnie" has been censored. However, search results of "Pooh Pooh Bear hurt in Shanghai Disneyland" were censored on Weibo after this incident happened.[123][124]
In October 2019, Pooh was featured in theSouth Park episode "Band in China" as a prisoner in China because of his alleged resemblance with Xi. In the episode, Pooh is brutally killed byRandy Marsh.South Park was banned in China as a result of the episode.[125][126]
Taiwanese pilots have wornmorale patches which feature aFormosan black bear punching Winnie-the-Pooh in the face.[127] The patches are produced by a private company and demand for them surged greatly after pictures ofactive duty personnel wearing them began circulating.[128][129]
^abcd"Winnie-the-Pooh goes to Harrods in new authorised AA Milne prequel".The Guardian. Retrieved23 April 2023.The story of how Winnie-the-Pooh went from a Harrods toy shelf to the home of Christopher Robin and the Hundred Acre Wood is set to be told for the first time, in an official prequel to AA Milne's original stories.
^"Christopher Robin Milne".Getty Images UK. Retrieved27 March 2025.Author Christopher Robin Milne unveiling a statue of a bear, in honor of his father, AA Milne, and his creation, Winnie the Pooh, at London Zoo, September 1981
^Willard, Barbara (1989).The Forest – Ashdown in East Sussex. Sussex: Sweethaws Press.. Quoted from the Introduction, p. xi, by Christopher Milne.
^Willard (1989). Quoted from the Introduction, p. xi, by Christopher Milne.
^Hope, Yvonne Jefferey (2000)."Winnie-the-Pooh in Ashdown Forest". In Brooks, Victoria (ed.).Literary Trips: Following in the Footsteps of Fame. Vol. 1. Vancouver, Canada: Greatest Escapes. p. 287.ISBN0-9686137-0-5.
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