Every world-class city has its attributes that make it distinctive, memorable and instantly identifiable. On January 8, 2007, Hangzhou, a city with over 2,000 years of history, officially launched its city brand: “City of Quality Life”.

Later, the city logo of Hangzhou was also chosen as a vehicle for promoting Hangzhou generally and overseas and also a brand identifying Hangzhou with Hangzhou-related events and organizations.

A symbol that evolves from Zhuan, a style of the Chinese character, Hang(杭), the city logo of Hangzhou embodies various Hangzhou elements, such as boats on the Grand Canal, the style of architectures, gardens in south China, arch bridge....

As the official corporate identity of the city, in the last few years, the city logo has been used for important events, city promotion occasions, public buildings, facilities and materials issued by governmental organizations and it has became a widely-recognized official symbol of Hangzhou.

Over the next few years, Hangzhou tourist groups plan to incorporate the city logo into tourist spots, tourist inquiry stations, and tourist promotion materials. Also, tickets issued by Hangzhou Grand Theater, buildings on Southern Song Dynasty Imperial Street, bus stations in Hangzhou will also be branded with the city logo.

“City brand and city logo are all virtual assets of a city. The management of the virtual assets is an important part of the competitiveness of a city,” commented Mr. Wang Guoping, the general secretary of Hangzhou, in a meeting dedicated to the promotion of the city logo, “The city brand of Hangzhou would go global with the wider application of the city logo of Hangzhou and in this way, Hangzhou will be recognized by more people in the international community.”

By Li Hui