Late last night I saw preparations for a new jewelry store in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province. I called it a China Gold store in my post, in part because the logo for the store appeared to be a merger of the letters C & G and I didn't know they hadn't yet placed all the characters for its Chinese name on the storefront sign. The logo seemed unfamiliar, however, which caused some rumblings in the back of my mind.
Today the sign was complete, and the store was already open for business.
With the full Chinese name displayed, "中国金銀珠寶" (Zhōngguó Jīnyín Zhūbǎo), I realized it wasn't a store for the chain I had previously had in mind, 中国黄金 (Zhōngguó Huángjīn). Zhōngguó Huángjīn uses the English name "China Gold", a literal translation of the Chinese name, and the stores are franchised by a large state-owned enterprise based in Beijing — China National Gold Group Corporation — which also commonly uses the name "China Gold". I shared a photo of a China Gold store earlier this year in a post about International Women's Day Sales in Jiangmen, Guangdong. Their logo is visually distinct from the one used by the store in Ganzhou.
I didn't see any English names at the Ganzhou store today. The best I could easily find online relates to the Hong Kong registration of a company with the same Chinese name. They used "China Gold Silver Jewellery", also a literal translation of the Chinese name. I can't see a CGSJ acronym in the Ganzhou stores's logo though.
Whatever name the company would prefer to see used in English, their logo is not only notable for its similarity to the Chanel and Gucci logos but also for it capturing the acronym of a well-known competitor's English name. Both issues seem unlikely to be coincidences. The logo probably wouldn't leave either Chanel, Gucci, or China Gold very happy.
Today the sign was complete, and the store was already open for business.
With the full Chinese name displayed, "中国金銀珠寶" (Zhōngguó Jīnyín Zhūbǎo), I realized it wasn't a store for the chain I had previously had in mind, 中国黄金 (Zhōngguó Huángjīn). Zhōngguó Huángjīn uses the English name "China Gold", a literal translation of the Chinese name, and the stores are franchised by a large state-owned enterprise based in Beijing — China National Gold Group Corporation — which also commonly uses the name "China Gold". I shared a photo of a China Gold store earlier this year in a post about International Women's Day Sales in Jiangmen, Guangdong. Their logo is visually distinct from the one used by the store in Ganzhou.
I didn't see any English names at the Ganzhou store today. The best I could easily find online relates to the Hong Kong registration of a company with the same Chinese name. They used "China Gold Silver Jewellery", also a literal translation of the Chinese name. I can't see a CGSJ acronym in the Ganzhou stores's logo though.
Whatever name the company would prefer to see used in English, their logo is not only notable for its similarity to the Chanel and Gucci logos but also for it capturing the acronym of a well-known competitor's English name. Both issues seem unlikely to be coincidences. The logo probably wouldn't leave either Chanel, Gucci, or China Gold very happy.
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