Hangzhou, China on a worldwide search for the "Modern Marco Polo" traveler

HANGZHOU, China, March 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- This is your welcome to participate in the "Modern Marco Polo – Dr. Hangzhou" global recruitment campaign and get a chance to visit Hangzhou, China and become a true aficionado and scholar of the Eastern lifestyle. The event will offer you a wonderful opportunity to experience the uniqueness of Chinese culture and civilization dating back over 5,000 years, including learning about and experiencing the best of Chinese tea, Chinese silk, sigillography (the art of Chinese chop and seal making), kongfu (Chinese martial arts) and traditional Chinese medicine while being remunerated to the tune of 40,000 euros. For more information, please visit Hangzhou's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/HangzhouChina.

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(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130311/MM74126 )

The inauguration ceremony for the global recruitment campaign was held at 3pm on March 11th in Hangzhou. Hangzhou Tourism Commission's director Li Hong and deputy director Wang Xinzhang as well as Google's global vice president and president for Greater China Dr. John Liu joined over 20 foreign dignitaries and more than 40 journalists in attending the event and witnessing the official launch of the campaign on Hangzhou's official pages on the world's four major social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. With this event, Hangzhou became the first Chinese city to promote itself through these four global social platforms. The event also marks the transition of Hangzhou's tourism marketing efforts into the new media era. 

The "Modern Marco Polo - Dr. Hangzhou" global recruitment campaign consists of several online activities: "Hangzhou Challenge" training, "Travel Gear" and choosing my Chinese name - my Hangzhou menu - my Hangzhou wardrobe - my Hangzhou love story. Participants must qualify before they can compete for the title of "Modern Marco Polo - Dr. Hangzhou" by fulfilling three key prerequisites. The winner will be entitled to the world's most poetic free 15-day sojourn in Hangzhou where he or she will be fully immersed in the quintessence of what is Chinese culture, including experiences with Chinese tea, Chinese silk, traditional Chinese medicine, sigillography and kongfu.  The winner will also be awarded an employment contract with an annual remuneration amounting to 40,000 euros whereby he or she will take on the role of "Dr. Hangzhou" and tourism ambassador for the city of Hangzhou with the responsibility of promoting the city's delights. The only requirement of the job role is to share his or her experience in Hangzhou.

Through a process whereby fans selected and voted on a variety of layouts and designs, a totally brand-new "look" for the Hangzhou official website which faithfully reflects the typical features that supporters associate with the city was launched on the same day. Similar to the Hangzhou official website, the elegant and chic design of the global recruitment campaign website features the new Eastern aesthetic style and uses traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy to depict Hangzhou's "water world" with its characteristic canals and bridges.   

On March 11^th, our overseas guests can attend the offline interactive event, where they can give a performance in the Google photography studio. Videos featuring the performances and incorporating the background of Hangzhou will be produced and uploaded to the global recruitment campaign section of Hangzhou's official page on YouTube. In the future, Google will create a digital landscape for Hangzhou and upload the 3D video featuring the city's most well-known scenic spots, including Xihu (West Lake), Xixi National Wetland Park and the Grand Canal.

1. "Modern Marco Polo - Dr. Hangzhou" Recruitment Campaign
Employment Term: One Year
Reward and compensation: a 15-day sojourn in Hangzhou plus an annual remuneration of 40,000 euros
Job description:
a. Sharing one's interesting experience in Hangzhou on Facebook and Twitter
b. Playing the main role in a film promoting Hangzhou
c. Acting as "tourism ambassador" for Hangzhou's overseas tourism marketing organization 

2. Event Highlights
a. Living a simple and pure life in a floating world: creating a virtual experience in Hangzhou

Hangzhou is a Chinese city with rich and deep historical and cultural roots perfectly embodying the characteristics of Eastern aesthetics. For over a thousand years, the city has maintained the essence of Chinese traditional culture while continually incorporating new and fresh elements to advocate a simple and pure lifestyle that achieves a genuine sense of harmony between man and nature in today's world of information overload. With digital technologies, the digital campaign focused on Chinese culture is designed to showcase the Eastern lifestyle, including Chinese traditional calligraphy, cuisine, silk and devotion, providing guests from abroad with the opportunity to experience a wonderful journey through Chinese culture in a virtual world.

b. Eco-interactive experience: innovative tourism marketing model

Today, new media, especially social media, now dominates the global media arena. As a government agency, Hangzhou Tourism Commission hopes to make a breakthrough in promoting itself in overseas markets with the campaign. To enhance the interactive experience of participants and to reach the largest possible audience, the HZ Commission has established four media channels in overseas markets where it holistically brings together content maintenance, online campaigns, online advertising and the experience as a visitor to Hangzhou. The concept of the "Modern Marco Polo" traveler, which is at the heart of the campaign, aims to enhance the reputation and influence of Hangzhou as a city worth visiting by exploring in-depth the story of the well-known traveler and his spirit while providing a great interactive experience

c. Cross-cultural communication: building a bridge between Chinese and other cultures

The Travels of Marco Polo that described the many splendors of China has, since it was first written, spurred European interest in exploring the world of the East, opening a way for intellectual and philosophical exchanges between East and West. Hangzhou is an inclusive city and has been voted "China's happiest city" for ten years in a row. One of the key intents of the "Modern Marco Polo - Dr. Hangzhou" campaign is to revitalize the exploratory spirit of Marco Polo and to encourage people from around the world and with different cultural backgrounds to communicate in an open, amicable and inclusive way, creating a more harmonious world. Our guests from abroad attending the campaign will not only get to know Hangzhou for the famous tourist attraction that it already is but also, more importantly, will gain a much deeper understanding of Chinese culture through the living Chinese city that has been considered a window to the outside world.  

SOURCE Hangzhou Tourism Commission