Revealing the birth of "Tide": Let the world surge - Interpretation of the emblem of the Hangzhou Asian Games

Xinhua News Agency, Hangzhou, September 7 (Reporters Yu Wan, Feng Yuan, Tang Tao, Zheng Mengyu) "The waves roll over the Haimen Stone, and the clouds spread across the Tianji Mountain." For thousands of years, the Qiantang River tide has been famous all over the world. In the golden autumn, the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou will be grandly opened on the banks of the Qiantang River. The emblem "Tide" borrows the autumn water of the river and the sound of the waves.

This is the emblem of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou. Pictures from the official website of the Hangzhou Asian Games

How was the Asian Games emblem born? How will "Tide" stir people's hearts?

Stand out among 4263 works

On January 29, 2018, the collection of emblem design proposals for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou was launched. More than two months later, more than 280 conference tables were filled with 4,263 qualified works at the Hangzhou Gymnasium.

How to "identify pearls" from a large number of works?

The Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee has established a review committee composed of 15 experts, including experts from the fields of art and design, representatives from the sports department and well-known athletes.

Each judge selected about 20 works, and a total of 296 works entered the re-evaluation stage. After that, 4 winning works were selected from the 10 shortlisted works, and their authors made modifications according to the opinions of the jury. Finally, two sets of design plans were submitted to the Olympic Council of Asia through the Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee.

"The emblem represents a city's interpretation and understanding of the Olympic spirit. It is an important visual image element and cultural carrier of the Asian Games. It must simultaneously reflect the selection criteria of 'Sports, Asia, China, Hangzhou' and satisfy design aesthetics, extended applications, etc. requirements." said Song Jianming, executive vice chairman of the evaluation expert group and director of the Color Institute of the China Academy of Art.

On May 18, 2019, staff took photos next to the model of the first set of personalized stamps for the Hangzhou Asian Games. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Zongzhi

After about 190 days, "Tide" emerged.

On July 30, 2018, the "Tide" work designed by the team of Professor Yuan Youmin of the China Academy of Art was approved by the Olympic Council of Asia and was officially released as the emblem of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on August 6. The main graphic consists of a fan, It consists of six elements: the Qiantang River, the tide of the Qiantang River, the track, the Internet symbol and the sun graphic symbolizing the Olympic Council of Asia. Below is the name of the host city and the seal of the year of the host. The two together form the complete Hangzhou Asian Games emblem.

"'Tide' is soothing and poetic, in line with the characteristics of Jiangnan water towns, and also reflects the temperament of the people in Jiangnan." Yuan Youmin said that from the beginning of creation, the friends were determined to weave a "web of meaning" to construct the emblem cultural uniqueness and visual identity. “In this ‘web of meaning’, there are unique symbols that represent Hangzhou, the spiritual core that symbolizes Zhejiang people, as well as Eastern cultural vocabulary, the color intentions of Jiangnan water towns and other elements.”

Nature and humanity complement each other

Why "surge"?

The Hangzhou Asia Organizing Committee specially invited representatives from all walks of life to hold a review meeting on the emblem design plan. Everyone generally believed that "Tide" has a strong atmosphere of the times, humanistic temperament and originality, has a visual impact, and is in line with the sports spirit and the urban temperament of Hangzhou. It has obvious advantages in extension applications, and the overall design level is high and has an international perspective.

"At that time, we searched a number of keywords around Hangzhou, such as Zhijiang, Dare to Be the First, Innovation, Internet, Intelligence, Trendsetter, Qianjiang Tide, etc., and finally we locked on 'Tide'," Yuan Youmin said.

The "first line of tide" of the Qiantang River spring tide taken on August 4 (drone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Zongzhi

"Tide" not only contains the wonders of nature, but also the beauty of humanity.

Ye Xiaojie, an engineer at Zhejiang Qiantang River Basin Center, told reporters that there are more than 400 estuaries in the world that have tidal surges, and the tides at the mouth of the Amazon River and the Qiantang River are the most spectacular.

"Comparing the two, the cultural heritage of the Qiantang River tide is richer. As early as more than 2,000 years ago, there were records of the Qiantang River tide in history books." said Bao Zengjun, a professor-level senior engineer at Zhejiang Qiantang River Basin Center.

"The Qiantang River has developed water transport since ancient times. Starting from the Spring and Autumn Period, it gradually formed a 'poetry road'. In the Tang Dynasty, great poets such as Li Bai, Meng Haoran, and Bai Juyi all left poems on the river." Executive Director of Zhejiang Qiantang River Culture Research Association, Zhejiang Xu Jijun, a researcher at the Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said that in the Song Dynasty, Pan Lang, Liu Yong, Su Shi, Xin Qiji and others wrote magnificent poems; in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, poets' trendy works emerged one after another.

The "Tide" emblem of the Hangzhou Asian Games is an integrated expression of this natural wonder and humanistic spirit - the fan shape reflects the cultural connotation of Jiangnan, the track represents sports competition, the Internet symbol fits the characteristics of Hangzhou city, and the sun graphic is the symbol of the Olympic Council of Asia symbol. At the same time, the Qiantang River and the tide of the Qianjiang River are the core of the emblem's image. The green water and green mountains show the natural characteristics of the landscape city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The rushing river tide expresses the spiritual temperament of the people of Zhejiang who bravely stand on the tide.

It comes with surging force and stirs people's hearts

The two Asian Games venues of the "Big and Small Lotus", the Asian Games Village, the main media center... Bao Zengjun said that some of the core buildings of the Hangzhou Asian Games were once the channel of the Qiantang River and the only place where the tide could go up. The stage where the waves stand tall and the red flag does not get wet.

This coincidence allows the emblem "Tide Surge" to convey a deeper meaning.

This is the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium taken on March 30, 2022 (drone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Zongzhi

Prince Ahmed, the then Chairman of the Olympic Council of Asia, specifically expressed in a congratulatory letter that the Hangzhou Asian Games emblem is full of vitality and dynamic, and encompasses the city's humanistic characteristics. I believe that by the time the Asian Games is held, the emblem will have been deeply rooted in the hearts of people in China, Asia and even the world.

"You chase after each other and are invincible. The beauty of competition always shocks us and hits our hearts." The relevant person in charge of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee said that the Asian Games emblem symbolizes the surge and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. It also symbolizes the unity of the Olympic Council of Asia family, embracing each other closely and moving forward forever.

"An important significance of 'Tide' lies in the concept we want to convey, which is to compete but also to unite." Huang Jian, a professor at the School of Liberal Arts of Zhejiang University, said, "The Asian Games closely connects Asian countries and regions through sports competition. Let's make the 'Asian Community of a Shared Future' more real. It is through this event that the colorful cultures of various Asian countries and nations can be displayed in a brilliant way."

"Faced with the turbulent waves, the Chinese people did not flinch or be afraid. Through hard work and hard work, both sides of the Qiantang River became a prosperous land thousands of miles away, giving birth to the 'most beautiful and luxurious celestial city in the world' described by Marco Polo," Xu Jijun said. , taking advantage of the opportunity of hosting the Asian Games, Hangzhou and its co-hosting cities will strive to show the world a harmonious and prosperous China, making the world excited.

Source: Xinhua News Agency