Official Emblem of the 16th Asian GamesThe Official Emblem of the 16th Asian Games,Guangzhou 2010Design Team:Lead designerZhang Qiang / Design and design developmentCo-designersZhang Yi, Wu Zhonghao, Li ChenjiaCompany:Zhongjia (Guangzhou) Design Co LtdThe concept: The design of the Games emblem is derived from a legend about the City of Guangzhou: As the legend goes, a long time ago, the farm lands in Guangzhou ran dry, food could not be grown and the people experienced a famine. They could do nothing but pray to the heavens for luck.Moved by their piety, Five Immortals descended from the sky,riding on goats with coats of different colors, each holding riceears in its mouth. The Immortals gave the rice ears to thepeople and declared that the land would be free from famine.Afterwards, they disappeared into the sky. The five goatsthat were left behind turn into stone. From that time on,Guangzhou reaped a bumper harvest of grain every year andgrew into one of the most prosperous cities in China.For this reason Guangzhou is also known as the City ofGoats or the City of Rice Ears.The Statue of the Five Goats in Guangzhou's Yue XiuPark is a reminder of this legend and has, over the years,become the symbol of the city and one of its most well knownlandmarks.Stone Statue of Five Goats in Yuexiu Hill in Guangzhou,a symbol of the host city of the 16th Asian Games and originalelement of the official emblem design.In traditional Chinese culture, the "goat" is an auspiciousanimal that brings luck and in the language of ancient China,the character "羊" (yang or goat) is identical to the character "祥" (xiang, meaning luck). The character "美" (mei, beauty) iscomposed of the characters "羊" (yang, goat) and "大" (da, big),in keeping with the traditional Chinese belief that a “big gbeautiful.In the Chinese language, many words and charactersassociated with the meaning of beauty are often related to thecharacter "羊" (yang, goat).The beloved goat is embodied in the emblem design,representing Guangzhou its people and their readiness toembrace the 2010 Asian Games and present the best of thecity to people across Asia and the world.The soft and uplifting lines in the emblem design outlinesa contour of the Five Goats that is identical to the shape of atorch. The design of the emblem, a combination of the concreteand the abstract, of grace and ease, manifests theever-burning sacred flame of the Asian Games. The emblemrepresents a perfect symbol of Guangzhou, the best wishes ofits people, and the dynamics of the Asian Games.About the Emblem: The soft and vibrant contours of theemblem symbolize the running lanes of an athletics track, thesacred, forever burning flames of an Asian Games Torch andfinally, the silhouette of the Statue of the Five Goats. Thedesign, a combination of the concrete and the abstract, ofgrace and finesse, therefore cleverly combines elements ofGuangzhou and the Asian Games at the same time. TheEmblem perfectly represents Guangzhou, the sportsaspirations of its people and the dynamism of the AsianGames.The Vision of the 16th Asian GamesThe Vision of the 16th Asian Games, a “Thrilling Games, Harmonious Asia”, is a dream and a promise, that the Gameswill uphold the spirit of the Olympics and the Asian Games –which is to promote unity, friendship and further exchangesbetween different countries and regions. The core goal of theAsian Games is to build a harmonious Asia, an Asia whichtranscends differences in race, nationality, religious beliefs andlanguage. It is hoped that the hosting of a thrilling Asian Gameswill be another step on the road towards this goal.“Thrilling” GamesThe Guangzhou Asian Games will create an atmospherewhere athletes from around Asia can excel, and achieve theOlympic ideals of “Faster, Higher, Stronger”, in a competitive, thriving and thrilling sports environment highlighted by intense competition.“Harmonious” AsiaThe Guangzhou Asian Games will uphold the Olympicvalues of “Unity, Peace and Friendship”, by promoting friendly exchanges and affection among the Asian people and boostthe peaceful development of the entire region.The Official Mascots of the 16th Asian Games Le Yangyang”　i s name of the leader of our five Goats andthe name which refers to all of the 16th Asian Games Mascots, each of them sporty and cute, and each serving as an Official Mascot. The Mascots embody a part of Guangzhou’s unique history and culture and each Goat has an individual name thatis distinctly Cantonese in style: A Xiang[a: 'sj∧?], A He[a: 'h?:], A Ru[a: 'ru:], A Yi[a: 'ji:] and Le Yangyang ['l?: j∧?j∧?]. When you put their names together, Xiang He Ru Yi Le Yangyang - meaning Peace, Harmony and Great Happiness, witheverything going as you wish - they fully express the people of Guangzhou’s hope that the 16th Asian Games bring peace, prosperity, success and happiness to the people of Asia andfulfill their, and our, Vision of a “Thrilling Games and Harmonious Asia”．The designs of the Mascots are strongly inspired by alegend about the City of Guangzhou: As the legend goes: Along time ago, the farm lands in Guangzhou ran dry, food couldnot be grown and the people experienced a famine. They coulddo nothing but pray to the heavens for luck. Moved by theirpiety, Five Immortals descended from the heavens, riding on goats with coats of different colors, each holding ears of rice inits mouth. The Immortals gave the rice ears to the people of Guangzhou and promised that the land would be “free from famine”. Afterwards, the Immortals disappeared into the sky.The Five Goats that were left behind turned into stone. Fromthat time onwards, Guangzhou reaped a bumper harvest ofgrain every year and became the most prosperous city in thesouth of China. The Five Goats of this thousand-year-oldlegend have gone on become the most well-known symbol of Guangzhou.The goat also has a strong association with Chineseculture and tradition, particularly Chinese characters thatsignify catering, etiquette and aesthetics. In the language ofancient Chinese, the character “羊”　yang (goat) is identical tothe character “祥”　xiang(luck). The character “美”　mei (beautiful) is a combination of the characters “羊”, yang, and “大”　da (big), in keeping with the traditional Chinese belief thata “big goat” is “beautiful”. The goat is also considered an auspicious animal that brings luck, in other Asian cultures.Through our choice of a goat, we sincerely believe our Mascotswill appeal to, and resonate with, people of different culturesand religions throughout Asia, who we hope will grow to lovethem as much as we do.。