On the evening of April 13, along with the award ceremony of the first “Enduring Memories of Hangzhou” Photography Competition”, an exhibition of the prize-winners is being held at the site of the light show.

The competition itself was held at the end of last year. The one-month competing event, which turned out very popular, received nearly 1,000 entries. The voting and prizes of the public and the expert judges were finally given to 64 sets of photos.

The results were officially announced at the award ceremony. A series of photos scrutinizing the city and the West Lake won photographer Xu Hui the first prize. One of his entries, named “Enchanted in West Lake”, looks impressive. Shot in the early morning after rains, the photo clearly presents Bagua Fields and Yuhuang Mountain in the foreground, the West Lake in the middle, and the city buildings in the background, a perfect blend of the ancient and modern elements like a fairyland.

“I could never leave the West Lake”, said Xu, who has shot hundreds of thousand photos about the lake in more than a decade. “I love the city, I love the lake, and I am discovering, and recording, the beauty.”

Meeting the public on the same day, the 64 prize winners take different angles to show the changes and development of Hangzhou. Some of them capture the moments of the show, some depict the stunning image of the West Lake, some reflect the growth of Hangzhou, and some show the inheritance and innovation of the urban culture.

“In general, the works focus on a wide range of topics from novel angles. It speaks for the ‘Greater West Lake’ and rich cultural heritages,” said Xu Jian, a judge of the competition and vice chairman of Hangzhou Photographers Association. He saw from the works the photographers’ love for West Lake, reflections on Hangzhou culture, and aspirations for a better life.

“Using cameras to record the beauty of the West Lake and the city’s development, and blending the natural and humanistic charms of the Lake, this is an encounter of old and modern days, and of material and spiritual civilizations.” Yu Ying, chairman of “Enduring Memories of Hangzhou”, said in her address that the competition is staged to record the light show. It is also an innovation of cultural transmission, and help spread the culture of Hangzhou.

Over recent years, as a great name card of Hangzhou’s tourism, “Enduring Memories of Hangzhou” offers an insight into the natural landscape. In 2021, a visual system of the landscape with rich connotations of the West Lake, which won the national honor of being selected as the “Typical Case of Brand Building of State-Owned Enterprises in 2021”. In 2022, the company hired 9 photographers, including Xu Jian and Ye Binsong, as the Ambassadors of the West Lake. This photography competition and exhibition were another effort to protect the West Lake, sustain the charm of the city, and promote the high-quality development of Hangzhou’s culture and tourism.