The people of Hangzhou have long thought of their bridges as a cultural symbol and a suggestion that the city has an inclusive, flexible nature, but they have also witnessed the long history of the city.

G20 logo as the image of a bridge, the essence of the host city, a watery space in Zhejiang province. [photo/ g20.org]

And, more than 700 years ago, the Italian traveler Marco Polo depicted Hangzhou as a most beautiful city with numberless stone bridges so, it’s hardly a wonder that the city's logo for the G20 has a bridge in profile made of 20 lines. Its designer notes the bridges are an indispensable part of this watery domain, and an obvious source of inspiration for a logo.

On a more practical line of reasoning, the 20 lines representing the 20 members of the G20 and since the lines all have the same thickness, they represent equal status among the members of the group. And they have no terminal at either end, so they represent openness at the G20, from which the ‘0 ‘ forms the archway, showing the summit as a roundtable and a process of unity and integration. 

And, from a distance, the 20 lines blend together for the profile of a bridge, making the G20 Summit a bridge to economic development, international cooperation, and mutual benefit. The optical result is connectivity in the information age. 

Last of all, there’s the G20 Summit Bridge, a new link with the world and a brighter future.  

The Fuxing Bridge, which gets its name from the characters for "rejuvenation". It is one of 10 bridges built in the 1970s to link the north and south banks of the Qiantangjiang River.[Photo by Pan Linggan/ zjol.com.cn]

The Gongchen Bridge, which is more than 400 years old and marks the Hangzhou end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. [Photo by Yang Xiaoxuan and Liangzhen/ zjol.com.cn]

The Broken Bridge, famous for the love legend of Xu Xian and Maiden Bai and a must see for visitors, not just for the romance but also for the scenery. [Photo by Lin Yunlong / zjol.com.cn]