Liwan District launched the adorable "慧食貓" mascot and the Xiguan food "粵" logo in a launch ceremony of promoting Xiguan food on September 12. “慧食貓" means gluttonous cat in English and is a homophonic pun as "為食貓" which means foodies in Cantonese.

Xiguan is a traditional part of Guangzhou City with old-style mansions, ever-blooming kapoks, and the classic Cantonese Opera. Its authentic Cantonese food is one of the most impressive things in the memory of both locals and global tourists.

The "慧食貓" mascot cat

The "慧食貓" mascot cat embraces a popular dim sum dish, shrimp dumpling, wearing a chef hat and sitting in the Lotus pond of Yongqing Fang, a tourist attraction to experience the Lingnan culture of Guangzhou.

Liu Yi, professor of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, introduced that "慧食貓" is a common memory of children who grew up in Guangzhou, "When the elders call children '慧食貓,' they were expressing their love and care. Therefore, we designed a cute orange cat representing the gluttonous and naughty kid that we used to be."

"Whenever I see the mascot cat, I think of the morning when I gathered with my four-generation family to have an authentic Xiguan morning tea in a restaurant. The cat is not only about food but also about the family affection tied by Xiguan dim sums," Liu said.

He also introduced the launch of "粵" logo , saying, "We noticed that it is popular to put four dim sums in one dish in traditional Cantonese dim sum culture. Therefore, we adopted the appearance of a dish of four dim sums and designed in the upper half of the logo."

It looks like the upper half of the character “粵” when there are four dim sums in one dish.

Liu Yi introduced the design of “粵” logo.

Liu said that both the mascot cat and the logo had registered copyrights and intellectual property rights. "It is significant to cooperate with famous restaurants including Guangzhou Restaurant and Lin Heung Tea House. People will see our logo and mascot in these famous Xiguan restaurant's mines, plates, silverware, and even on the food. When people can relate our logo to Xiguan food, it becomes a brand that tourists would love to consume." he said.

"Moreover, we will create more stories and products of '慧食貓' to attract influencers and tourists to post photos on social media. For example, we can set '慧食貓' statues in front of Xiguan Mansion, Yongqing Fang, and other popular Liwan attractions. When tourists post these photos of '慧食貓,' they and their followers may want to try some authentic Xiguan food," he said.

During the event, Liwan District announced that 20 restaurants and enterprises are selected on a list of Xiguan food promotion ambassadors, including Guangzhou Restaurant, Lin Heung Tea House and Dim-Dou-Duk. 15 personnels and institutions have been listed to be Xiguan food brand ambassador, including GDToday, Executive Chairman of Chinese Snacks Committee Zhuang Chen and Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.