楊艷

Enduring Memories from “I Love Chongqing” Night Lights

By Yang Yan/ The World and Chongqing

Walking into a souvenir store at any tourist site in Chongqing， one will be dazzled with a fascinating array of cultural and creative products. The woodcarving 3D small night lights， featured with signature local landmarks， show the culture and vigor of life in Chongqing. Such exquisitely elegant but inexpensive night lights can always attract tourists at the very first sight.

Inspired by landmarks of Chongqing， including Hongyadong， the Yangtze River Cableway， and Liziba Station （where the monorail runs through a residential building）， Chongqing Sanren Yixin Art Craftworks Ltd. designed and launched the “I Love Chongqing” woodcarving night lights series. Brimmed with local elements， the series have been listed as “Chongqing Gifts for Foreign Affairs” in 2020.

Prologue of Cultural and Creative Products

Chongqing， hailed as an “8D magic city” by some netizens， went viral on social media for its unique landscape. Many movies were filmed in Chongqing， leaving the audience impressed by Chongqing’s delicious food and breathtaking scenery. In fact， Chongqing has so much more to offer other than splendid night scenes and hot and spicy food， such as unique souvenirs that can warm the tourists’ heart.

“That was 2018. Chongqing went viral on social media. Almost out of blue！ And visitors flooded those famous places， such as Hongyadong and Liziba Station. Well， people always want to bring something back with them when traveling， and there is no exception here in Chongqing.” said Zhou in local dialect， a Chongqing born-and-bred local as he refers to himself. “If you went to a souvenir store， there are not many options， only hotpot soup base， mahua （fried dough twist）， and other souvenirs that are virtually the same with only minor differences. That’s why we wanted to make something different. We hope that visitors from other places in China and the world can bring back something that they can only find in Chongqing as a precious memory of their time in Chongqing.”

With that idea， a group of locals not from the culture， tourism， or designing industries—Zhou， born in the 1970s， Bai and ABC， in the 1980s， and Wu， in the 1990s—started their journey to make cultural and creative products that are specific to Chongqing， the mountain city.

Creativeness is the lifeblood of cultural and creative products.

“Stilted houses of Chongqing are distinct; distinct are the mountains of the city. Lights of ten thousand houses are illuminating， illuminating the rivers will be.” written by Wang Erjian， a county-level governor of Chongqing （then Ba County） during the Qing Dynasty， depicted the night view of Zi Shui Xiao Deng （the Chinese-character-shaped water flows and the inverted images of lights in the river）， one of the Twelve Views of Bayu. This poem shows that the night view of Chongqing became famous even before modern times， and its fame is even more widespread now. With brainstorming and hands-on trails， the team created several sets of “I Love Chongqing” products such as fridge magnets and night lights， presenting well-known tourist sites including Jiefangbei （Chongqing People’s Liberation Monument） and Shibati （18 Steps）. The night lights， with glimmer lights leaking through carved wood layers， and a special 3D design intertwining the brightness and the darkness， are epitomes of the modern Chongqing.

Made of lightweight black walnut wood， the set of “I love Chongqing” woodcarving 3D small night lights have gone through development stages with different shapes， simple or complex components， and diverse functions. Recalling the time when the night lights came out during the 2019 National Day vacation， Zhou said： “We sold these night lights in a souvenir store in the E’ling Testbed 2 Cultural and Creative Park. They were sold out in less than a week， which motivated us a lot.”

Now， the upgraded design of wood-carving 3D night lights has formed their own Twelve Views of Bayu， including Jiefangbei， Shibati， Chongqing People’s Grand Hall， Chaotianmen， Ciqikou Ancient Town， Hongyadong， Yangtze River Cableway， and Liziba Station. The lights owe their increasing popularity to their scarcity and uniqueness.

Launching Customized Version

There is also a much-told story about these “I Love Chongqing” night lights.

When China was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020， Japan donated supplies to China. On the aid packages were two lines of a Chinese poem： “Miles Apart， Close at Heart”. Zhou and the team were deeply moved， it reminded them of a Japanese friend they met at a culture and tourism promotion event.

Knowing the Japanese friend couldn’t return to Japan due to the pandemic， the team came up with the idea of customizing a night light for her. The night light was engraved with the same two lines aforementioned. “We sent it to her as a gift， hoping the pandemic would end soon. When that day comes， we can visit Hongyadong and Jiefangbei and enjoy a pot of Xiaomian （hot and spicy Chongqing noodles） or a feast of hotpot together.” After receiving the gift， she responded with a photo of her holding the night light and expressed her love for it as well as gratitude for the team.

“Inspired by that， we kept refining our product design. For example， Chinese characters can be engraved on the night lights as required by consumers to show their messages at heart and make the gifts more personalized and meaningful.” Zhou even led the team to collect sand and grains at the intersection of the Yangtze River and Jialing River， which were then sealed inside the night lights after cleaning and disinfection. The lights are thus filled with more local features with enduring vitality.

For now， offline sales of these night lights were relatively low， due to the pandemic. Facing difficulties， the team began to explore new ways to attract new orders， especially customization orders from individual or group buyers. They explored channels such as live-streaming and sharing Chongqing stories in local dialects on Douyin and other online platforms. Zhou said， “As Chongqing locals， we love this city profoundly. So we hope more visitors， from both home and abroad， will visit Chongqing， love Chongqing， and leave with a fond memory.”

Awards and Accolades：

★ 2019： One of the first “Premium Cultural and Tourism Products” of Chongqing; included in government bulk procurement of “Gift Package for the People” by Yuzhong District Commission of Culture and Tourism Development.

★ 2020： Gold medal of the “Chongqing Gifts” Tourism Product Competition （cultural and creative products）; selected as a gift for official foreign affairs events; silver medal of the Chongqing Yuzhong Cultural and Creative Product Design Competition 2020; silver medal of the China Distinctive Tourism Commodities Competition.

★ 2021： Bronze medal of the “Chongqing Gifts” Tourism Product Competition （cultural and creative products）; bronze medal of the China Distinctive Tourism Commodities Competition.

在重慶各大景點(diǎn)的禮品商店，琳瑯滿目的文創(chuàng)產(chǎn)品擺放在一起，清雅俊逸的木雕立體小夜燈“我愛(ài)重慶”系列，展現(xiàn)出的多姿多彩、底蘊(yùn)深厚的山城風(fēng)貌，小巧精致而又物美價(jià)廉，總能第一時(shí)間吸引游客的目光。

以“洪崖洞”“長(zhǎng)江索道”“列車穿樓”等極具重慶特色的城市標(biāo)志為設(shè)計(jì)靈感，重慶叁人壹心工藝美術(shù)品有限公司推出的木雕立體小夜燈“我愛(ài)重慶”系列，憑借其強(qiáng)烈的地域元素，入選2020“重慶好禮·外事禮品”。

打開(kāi)文創(chuàng)序章

重慶，因獨(dú)特的地形地貌多次登上網(wǎng)絡(luò)熱搜，被網(wǎng)友贊嘆為“8D魔幻城市”。在重慶拍攝的電影也把這里的美景、美食展現(xiàn)得淋漓盡致，給觀眾留下了深刻印象。然而，這里不只有絕美夜景和麻辣美食，還有很多讓人溫暖的東西值得帶走……

“2018年重慶成了網(wǎng)紅城市，一下子就火了，洪崖洞、李子壩等景點(diǎn)游客爆滿，大家來(lái)重慶一趟總想帶走一些東西做紀(jì)念吧。”喜歡用重慶話自稱“本鄉(xiāng)本土”的老周說(shuō)，“縱觀重慶景區(qū)的禮品，能帶走的似乎只有火鍋底料、麻花，其他禮品也大同小異，我們就想做一種與眾不同的產(chǎn)品，讓五湖四海的游客來(lái)到重慶，能把禮品帶回家成為山城的記憶?！?/p>

于是，70后的老周，80后的小白、ABC，90后小舞，一幫從事與文旅、設(shè)計(jì)無(wú)關(guān)的重慶人，開(kāi)始創(chuàng)作專屬“山城記憶”的文創(chuàng)產(chǎn)品。

創(chuàng)意，是文創(chuàng)產(chǎn)品的立足之本。

“高下渝州屋，參差傍石城。誰(shuí)將萬(wàn)家炬，倒射一江明……”清代巴縣知縣王爾鑒詩(shī)中描寫了古巴渝十二景之“字水霄燈”，而今天的山城夜景更是聞名中外。經(jīng)過(guò)思維碰撞、動(dòng)手實(shí)踐，團(tuán)隊(duì)創(chuàng)造出“我愛(ài)重慶”禮品冰箱貼、小夜燈，呈現(xiàn)出解放碑、十八梯等重慶著名景點(diǎn)。其獨(dú)特的光影設(shè)計(jì)，透出點(diǎn)點(diǎn)燈火，塑造出立體的現(xiàn)代城市，仿佛濃縮版的山城夜景。

輕型黑胡桃木，多層次立體感，從長(zhǎng)方形到方形，從單個(gè)到組合，從功能單一到多元，“我愛(ài)重慶”木雕立體小夜燈系列逐漸成型?；叵肽镜裥∫篃粼?019年國(guó)慶期間面世之初，老周說(shuō)：“我們把小夜燈委托鵝嶺二廠文創(chuàng)公園一家禮品店銷售，不到一個(gè)星期就售罄了，這給了我們莫大的信心。”

從“解放碑”“十八梯”到“大禮堂”“朝天門”“磁器口”“洪崖洞”“長(zhǎng)江索道”“列車穿樓”等，木雕立體小夜燈有了自己的“新十二景”，憑借稀缺性和唯一性，越來(lái)越受到游客的青睞。

推出個(gè)性化定制版

關(guān)于“我愛(ài)重慶”小夜燈，還有一段佳話。

2020年初，新冠肺炎疫情發(fā)生后，日本社會(huì)各界組織抗疫物資捐贈(zèng)中國(guó)，上面書寫中國(guó)古詩(shī)“山川異域，風(fēng)月同天”。這讓老周他們十分感慨，同時(shí)想起了曾經(jīng)在一場(chǎng)文旅推介會(huì)上結(jié)緣的一位日本友人。

通過(guò)聯(lián)系這位日本友人得知，因?yàn)橐咔樗裏o(wú)法回國(guó)，團(tuán)隊(duì)便萌發(fā)了為她定制一盞小夜燈的想法。于是，一盞刻有“山川異域，風(fēng)月同天”的小夜燈出爐了。“我們把這份禮物送給她，希望早日戰(zhàn)勝疫情，待到萬(wàn)象更新之時(shí)，在重慶涮火鍋、吃小面，游洪崖洞、逛解放碑?！比毡居讶耸盏竭@份禮物，發(fā)來(lái)了她與禮品的合照，并表達(dá)了深深的喜愛(ài)與感激之情。

“我們也受此啟發(fā)，不斷優(yōu)化產(chǎn)品設(shè)計(jì)。比如，在產(chǎn)品上定制文字，表達(dá)送禮人的心意等，讓禮品更接地氣，更有紀(jì)念意義?！崩现芩麄冞€專門到長(zhǎng)江與嘉陵江交匯處采集沙粒，洗凈消毒后封裝在小夜燈上，賦予它更強(qiáng)的地域性，更持久的生命力。

因?yàn)橐咔橛绊?，目前小夜燈線下銷售也受到?jīng)_擊。面對(duì)困難，團(tuán)隊(duì)又開(kāi)始尋找新的出路，他們?cè)诰W(wǎng)絡(luò)開(kāi)啟線上直播帶貨，在抖音等網(wǎng)絡(luò)平臺(tái)用重慶言子分享重慶故事，吸引個(gè)人或團(tuán)體定制。老周說(shuō)，“我們本鄉(xiāng)本土的，對(duì)自己的城市那是真的愛(ài)。希望更多的外地游客、外國(guó)游客來(lái)到重慶，愛(ài)上重慶，留下美好的記憶?！?/p>

★ 榮獲2019首屆重慶“優(yōu)質(zhì)文旅商品”稱號(hào)，渝中區(qū)文旅委選為“惠民大禮包”集中采購(gòu)

★ 榮獲2020“重慶好禮”旅游商品（文創(chuàng)產(chǎn)品）大賽金獎(jiǎng)，并入選外事禮品

★ 榮獲2020重慶·渝中文創(chuàng)產(chǎn)品設(shè)計(jì)大賽銀獎(jiǎng)、中國(guó)特色旅游商品大賽銀獎(jiǎng)

★ 榮獲2021“重慶好禮”旅游商品（文創(chuàng)產(chǎn)品）銅獎(jiǎng)、中國(guó)特色旅游商品大賽銅獎(jiǎng)