30 young fashion designers from 16 countries cruise into the final round at the China International Young Designer Contest. The winners of this year's competition will be revealed Tuesday, coinciding with the opening of China International Fashion Week. Finalists may come from diverse cultural backgrounds, but their inspiration is the same - Chinese characters.

30 young fashion designers from 16 countries cruise into the final round at the China International Young Designer Contest. (Photo: CCTV.com)

Most foreign contestants say Chinese characters appear intricate to them. Some chose to try to simplify them.

Some contestants were so taken by the grace and fluidity of Chinese characters that they used tassels to interpret them.

Chinese designers, obviously have a natural advantage in interpreting the theme. Some were inspired by the inscriptions on ancient bronze. Others chose traditional Chinese paintings as the basis for their design concepts.

30 young fashion designers from 16 countries cruise into the final round at the China International Young Designer Contest. (Photo: CCTV.com)

This set is called "Post Industrial Era". The designer wanted to remind people never to forget traditional ways of writing, despite the exponential growth of Emails and short messages.

The young fashion designer contest was launched last September. It received submissions of more than 1600 works from 23 countries and regions.