Chenchen, Congcong and Lianlian, the mascot triplets of the Hangzhou Asian Games

“The mascots of the Hangzhou Asian Games ‘Jiangnan Yi’ are the best of our best memories in Hangzhou, which is the original intention of the design,” said Zhang Wen and his wife Yang Yihong, designers of the mascots, a set of “smart” triplets.

“Jiangnan Yi” or “Memories of Jiangnan [south of the Yangtze River]” is a combined name given to the trio, and it comes from a poem by Bai Juyi (772-846), a renowned poet of the Tang dynasty (618-907), in which he wrote, “When I remember Jiangnan, most fondly I remember Hangzhou.”

The three mascots are respectively named Congcong, Lianlian and Chenchen. According to the HAGOC, “Congcong” derives its name from the jade cong pendant, the quintessential artifact unearthed from the Archeological Ruins of Liangzhu City. The name “Lianlian” originates from “Lian” or lotus leaves, specifically the lush lotus leaves of the West Lake. Finally, “Chenchen” was named after the Gongchen Bridge, an architectural landmark striding the Hangzhou section of the Grand Canal.

In April 2020, the design for the mascots by Zhang and Yang, both young teachers at the China Academy of Art, was chosen from 4,633 submissions. After more than 20 revisions, it was finally approved by the Olympic Council of Asia.

Apart from showing Hangzhou’s historical and cultural heritage and the city’s unique charm, the couple’s design also focuses on incorporating elements of digital and smart technologies. In fact, the three mascots are designed as futuristic robots.

For the designer couple, the three mascots are like their new-born “babies”.

“Our attitude towards our children is that we always hope they can venture out, experience the world, accumulate his own wealth and toughen themselves,” said Zhang. He would be open to any comments on and suggestions for the mascots.

For Zhang and Yang, their expectation is for the three new “babies” to become a favorite among the public and a “name card” for Hangzhou, to help tell the stories of Hangzhou to the world.

Over the past 20 years, Song Jianming has conducted color planning for over 60 cities and districts in China. Since he was appointed as the director of the design sector of the Asian Games in 2019, Song, who is also a professor at China Academy of Art, has been leading his team at the academy for the event’s visual designs. So far, the event’s emblem, mascots, sports pictograms, core graphics and color graphics, among others, have been officially released. 

This is the first time for Song Jianming to participate in the preparation work of an international sporting event. For him, the visual image system is key to a major event, and it has crucial cultural implications. Song believed the visual impressions that the Hangzhou Asian Games brings to the world work on three levels: to exude oriental wisdom, to show Chinese style and to invoke Hangzhou feel. The perfect combination of these three elements in the urban atmosphere of “ink and light color” is the standard and principle upheld by Song and his team.

As everybody else, Song expected the Hangzhou Asian Games to “be the best ever”, especially from a designer’s point of view.

Harmony of Colors, the color system of the Hangzhou Asian Games

“No one can stop, what the heart is dreaming of, new era, new Hangzhou 2022 ...” In the flag handover during the closing ceremony of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, the passions of Hangzhou people in the new era were well captured in the lyrics written by Zhu Hai.

A Hangzhou native, Zhu Hai is a well-known TV program planner as well as lyricist, poet and playwright, many of whose lyrics and poems have been heard on important occasions and events. For example, the lyrics for Lighting up the Future, the theme song of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games, was written by Zhu Hai.

Speaking of Hangzhou, Zhu Hai could not help but lavish praises on the city, “the delicate West Lake, the majestic Qiantang River, the silky Grand Canal” have all lent Zhu infinite space for imagination. Indeed, the elegance of Hangzhou’s landscape has long been a source of musical inspiration for Zhu.

How to write lyrics for the theme song of the Hangzhou Asian Games so that it would become an instant classic? Zhu has been pondering on the question for a long time. For him, the song should integrate aesthetics with originality, and resonate with people all over Asia and speak to the heritage of the continent.

“The Asian Games is more than a contest for gold medals; it is a showcase of Asian civilization. So the Hangzhou Asian Games must present its civilization side.”

For Zhu Hai, the Asian Games is chorus of Asia’s “community with a shared future”. He hoped that, by hosting the Asian Games, Hangzhou would join the ranks of Asia’s top cities in the next decade.

On the closing ceremony of the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, Hangzhou wowed the world with its eight-minute art performance, marking the Asian Games enter into “Hangzhou Time”. In fact, the Chinese art of seal cutting had already made into the Jakarta Asian Games before that.

Organized by the HAGOC, Hangzhou Municipal People’s Government and the Xiling Seal Art Society, an exhibition titled “2022 See You @Hangzhou” was held after the opening of the Jakarta Asian Games on August 18, 2018. In the exhibition, three seals left a deep impression on the world. After watching the competitions, people from all over the world went to the exhibition and picked up the seals. Indeed, reading the seals is also the process for them to learn the art of seal cutting and understand China. Statistics show that over 1,000 visitors came to the exhibition hall every day and many left messages and well wishes after the visit.

A seal bearing the emblem of the Hangzhou Asian Games

Jia Guangya, author of the seals and an artist from the Xiling Seal Art Society, is working on two sets of new seals for the Hangzhou Asian Games. Enthusiastic for traditional Chinese culture, Jia believed the exhibition was a great way to tell the China story to the world. “I’m very excited for upcoming games,” Jia said. “It will be a golden opportunity to showcase Hangzhou’s charm.”

The Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center, commonly known as the “Big Lotus” for its lotus flower shape, is the main stadium of the 19th Asian Games in 2022. As one of the landmark structures in Hangzhou, little had been known about the center before it was officially announced as the main venue for the Asian Games. When was it built? What was it like before it was built? How many years did it take to build it? What was it look when it lit up for the first time? When was it first opened to the public?

Tan Qixiao, an 82-year-old amateur photographer in Hangzhou, can answer all the questions: he has spent the past 14 years taking thousands of pictures to document everything about the “Big Lotus”.

In his clippings collection, all the news and information about the “Big Lotus” are arranged in a chronological order. Newspapers has been lined with white paper, and audio recordings have been transcribed on paper, with notes on the margins.

Over the past 60 years, Tan has taken more than 100,000 photos, covering Hangzhou’s urban development, major events, astronomy, life and culture ... Apart from photographing, Tan is also a sports aficionado and has run 12 marathons.

On February 8, 2016, the “Big Lotus” was first lit up

In 2017, Tan donated all of his photos — more than 100,000, including over 50,000 photos about Hangzhou, to the Hangzhou Archives Bureau. “Instead of leaving all these photos to my children and grandchildren, it would be much more worthwhile to give them back to the society, so that the value of these photos can be more fully tapped.” Tan said.

As the main venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Hangzhou Asian Games and the arena for track and field events, the “Big Lotus” is currently undergoing renovation. Tan hoped that he could watch an event or two with his wife in this stadium during the Asian Games, cheer the athletes up and capture “historic moments” taking place in the “Big Lotus”.

Editor:Huang Yan