Gifts chosen that best represent Shanghai

Hu Min
Elegant, classic, innovative and trendy, 12 souvenirs blending Shanghai-style culture topped out this year's "Shanghai Gifts" design competition and made their debuts on Friday.
Hu Min

Are you looking for souvenirs that best represent Shanghai?

Elegant, classic, innovative and trendy, 12 new souvenirs blending haipai (Shanghai-style) culture topped this year's "Shanghai Gifts" design competition and made debuts on Friday.

From perfume to jewelry and aromatherapy sets, these items are not only ideal gift options for tourists from home and abroad, but also classic cultural symbols of the city, according to the Shanghai Administration of Culture and Tourism.

They bear elements such as Shanghai specialty delicacies, classic architecture, Suzhou Creek and Huangpu River, as well as haipai culture, and are distinctive and practical, officials said.

Among them, there is the bottle capsule design of a perfume, which drew inspiration from the historic architecture of the Bund. Another aromatherapy set blends the traditional craft of ceramic firing, inspired from the cultural relics collections of the Shanghai Museum and Tibetan incense from Sakya County in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, which Shanghai has paired with for years to assist in its development.

A set of enamel silver brooches features magnolia designs, the flower that represents the city.

The competition, in its 18th version and a classic event of the ongoing 2023 Shanghai Tourism Festival, received nearly 1,100 entries this year. More than 37 percent of those submitted for the commodity group are new products, according to the organizing committee.

The competition has kept its dual strategy of innovation and marketing to further improve the design and users' experience, said Huang Hua, director of the tourism souvenir branch of the Shanghai Tourism Trade Association.

It will look for new partners and business models to expand the market share and influence of "Shanghai gifts," Huang said.


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