On January 16, a doodle design by Zhang Bo, an 18-year-old girl from Chaoyang No. 80 Middle School of Beijing, was posted on the homepage of Google China for the whole day. It was a reward for her victory in the first Doodle 4 Google: My China contest.

Dennis Hwang, the judge of the event and Google doodle designer, shared his views on the creativity of Chinese children and the doodle culture after the award ceremony with Beijing Review.

Beijing Review: How do you view the Chinese children's works and their creativity?

Dennis Hwang: This is my second visit to China and I am totally amazed by the Chinese children's works; their creativity far exceeds my expectations. I attended at least six Doodle 4 Google competitions around the world, including Mexico, the United States, Australia, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, before I came to China.

I can honestly say that the competition here in Beijing was the toughest final design to judge. It was difficult to pick the winner because the designers, ranging in age from 7 to 18, were so strong and even; their designs were so creative. The criteria for judging were relevance to the theme, creativity and artistic skill. The finalists were so impressive partly because I know how difficult it is to come up with ideas in such competitions. I was not as good as they are and could not design the works I've seen today when I was their age.

What sets Chinese children apart from other countries is they really drew inspirations from very deep culture and heritage. Instead of just depicting famous buildings or objects, they really designed with their hearts--things like fish, lotus flowers and plum flowers. The culture was very evident rather than materialistic things. That difference was very beautiful.

Will their works inspire your future doodle designs, especially those related to China?

I'm sure they will. My future logos for China will definitely be inspired by the works I've seen today.

Before the event, somebody at Google China told me the Chinese children might be shy and structured. I think they were absolutely wrong. As soon as I walked into the auditorium for the award ceremony, I saw the children were cheering and laughing with classmates and making friends. I was really surprised by how brilliant these kids were, how bright and creative. I left with tremendous respect for Chinese children and their environment. I was also impressed by the local education committee's support for the event.

One of my earliest logos was for the Chinese lunar New Year. That was many years ago, and since then I have always tried my best to celebrate the occasion globally. I've learned about Chinese cultural traditions such as the Mid-Autumn Festival and moon cakes. I still remember the design for Teacher's Day in China. We were told that it was an important occasion in China and we had to think about teachers' positive influence on children. I asked our Chinese co-workers what objects or symbols were considered to be positive and associated with teachers in China. They said candles, the blackboard and flowers. So we added those elements to the design. There is no doubt that China has been a significant part of Google doodle history.