What do the various Beijing Olympic Cartoon Mascots represent?

Question

I know they are Pandas and they are so so cute! :)

Do they represent elements (earth, fire, wood, wind, water etc)

or the Olympic motto: Stronger, Faster, Higher?

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuwa

Answer 2

In the order of how the mascot are in the image their names together say bei-jing-huan-ying-ni which mean "welcome to beijing"