Legco logo

August 1, 2020 @ 9:07 pm · Filed by under Language and politics, Typography

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This is the logo of Legco, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong:

It is a stylization of the "lap6 立" ("set up; erect; establish; enact") of:

Hoeng1gong2 dak6bit6 hang4zing3 keoi1 lap6faat3 wui6 (Jyutping)

Hēunggóng dahkbiht hàhngjing kēui laahpfaat wúih (Yale)

Xiānggǎng tèbié xíngzhèng qū lìfǎ huì (Hanyu pinyin)

香港特別行政區立法會

now written in PRC simplified characters as

香港特别行政区立法会

"Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region"

or, for short:

Laap6faat3 wui5 (Jyutping)

Laahp faat wúih (Yale)

Lìfǎ Huì (Hanyu pinyin)

立法會

now written in PRC simplified characters as

立法会

"Legislative Council"

Here's the Legco logo as reimagined by the endlessly creative graphic designers of the Hong Kong protest movement:

With the "L" of "Legislative" and the central portion of "立" effaced by the PRC hammer and sickle (as happened during the recent, sudden imposition of the National Security Law, 27 years ahead of schedule according to treaty), it makes a powerful statement.

Readings

  • "Handfoot" (7/31/20) — which is followed by a lengthy list of suggested readings.

August 1, 2020 @ 9:07 pm · Filed by under Language and politics, Typography


8 Comments

  1. D.O. said,

    August 1, 2020 @ 9:38 pm

    Is there any significance in hummer and sickle ideogram being rotated 90° clockwise from it's usual orientation?

  2. John Rohsenow said,

    August 2, 2020 @ 1:20 am

    "Is there any significance in hummer and sickle ideogram being rotated 90° clockwise from it's usual orientation?"
    Stroke order?

  3. Michael Watts said,

    August 2, 2020 @ 1:40 am

    Is there any significance in h[a]mmer and sickle ideogram being rotated 90° clockwise from it's usual orientation?

    I assume this is just done so that the image still looks kind of like 立. Using the ordinary orientation, it would look like those two interior diagonal strokes are crossing each other, which they shouldn't do.

  4. Victor Mair said,

    August 2, 2020 @ 7:09 am

    The previous two comments are on the right track.

    Basically, with the hammer and sickle reoriented as in the new graphic design, the character looks more like 立 in its cursive or running /semi-cursive calligraphic form / hand than if it had retained its customary orientation.

  5. Victor Mair said,

    August 2, 2020 @ 8:31 am

    Mark Metcalf proposes to emend "effaced" in the first line of the last paragraph of the o.p. by changing it to "defaced".

  6. David C. said,

    August 2, 2020 @ 10:42 am

    Always thought it was curious that the logo needed to include the "L" for Legislative from English, when other institutional logos don't always have both languages included.

    There are a few imaginative logos done for other Hong Kong government departments and agencies that incorporate elements from both English and Chinese:
    – Brand Hong Kong – initially ridiculed for the exorbitant fees paid for it, the logo is a dragon that is a stylized rendering of the characters 香港 ("Hong Kong") and has the letters "H" and "K" at the feet of the "dragon".
    – Urban Renewal Authority – the letter U for "Urban" embeds the Chinese character 人 ("people"), symbolizing the connection between urban renewal and people in the community
    – Lands Department – 地 ("land") that also looks like the acronym L.D.
    – Food and Environmental Hygiene Department F.E. can also be read as a cursive 食 ("food", "to eat")
    – Office of the Ombudsman – O.O. with the second O doubling for 申 ("to report" [a complaint])

  7. AntC said,

    August 2, 2020 @ 6:00 pm

    @DavidC there's also 'China Light and Power', the Hong Kong electricity suppliers, that line up c l p so that it looks like the character for central/middle (Empire) — i.e. China. see clp.com.hk

  8. Chas Belov said,

    August 7, 2020 @ 4:37 pm

    Wait, now PRC is imposing simplified Chinese on Hong Kong?

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