[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MAsPtCNMTI]
Update: Apple has posted a version of the video with English subtitles on YouTube (embedded above).
Apple is certainly not thinking small when it comes to China, with 25 new retail stores promised within a two-year period, and its latest soon-to-open store in Hangzhou features a massive mural covering the entire front of the store. The store is due to open on Saturday, January 24th, the second of five new stores Angela Ahrendts said would be opening by the Chinese New Year on February 19th.
Featuring a poem written around 2000 years ago celebrating the importance of the city—a provincial capital—the stunning calligraphy was hand-painted by Wang Dongling, a famous modern calligrapher. Apple has released a video of its creation …
The video was posted to Apple’s Chinese retail site, showing Wang Dongling making its painting look deceptively easy.
Tim Cook has said that China is a key market for Apple, and retail head Angela Ahrendts described an emphasis on China as one of the three elements of her vision for the company. We recently saw work in progress at another Chinese store in Chongqing, appearing to to be a smaller version of its iconic glass cylinder Apple Store in Shanghai.
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Poetic! After Steve Jobs, Apple continues to ‘Think Different’. One of the many ways to build a distinctive, valuable brand. Poetic!
black characters of white background, STUNNING!
News flash: the calligraphy aesthetic, local history, and meaningfulness of this has nothing to do with your graphic design sensibilities.
I’m sure they’ve done their research but that red logo centered on a white background looks a lot like the flag of Japan.
The color red represents good fortune and joy in China. This looks nothing like Japan’s flag…
It’s a Chinese culture to honor people who kills a lot of Chinese people.
Just look at Mao Zedong’s portrait in the center of Tiananmen square.
It’s a Chinese culture to honor people who fight foreign intruders,including USA,UK，Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia。
Dare I wager the word “stunning” has been downgraded a bit?
I take it you’re an expert on the history of Hangzhou grass script Chinese calligraphy.
People can scoff at Apple’s “intersection of technology and liberal arts” but it’s stuff like this that sets them apart. I can’t think of any other tech company that would honor the local culture of their customers so well. Especially in a nation that has been trampled by Europeans and Japanese, it is only respectful that Apple honors a bit of local culture and language. Can you imagine of Haier and Samsung covered their US products in Chinese and Korean? Yet it’s unique that an American company would stoop so low as to put Chinese poetry on its store.
I don’t think Apple is stooping low.
Respecting your customers is good business.
Let’s not forget this buildings main purpose…to separate Chinese consumers and their money.