EXPO Liaoning

I know I bought a fake Haibao, but I don’t care, it’s just a souvenir and is much cheaper,” a tourist surnamed Wang from China’s Sichuan Province said. She just paid 15 yuan (US$2.19) to buy a 30-centimeter-tall Haibao doll, the mascot of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai, in a store in the city’s Yuyuan Garden for her son. An authentic Haibao doll of thesame size is 95 yuan in the official Expo souvenir shops and the price is the same across the country. The woman’s five year old son held the big doll with a smile on his face. He shouted “Haibao, Haibao,” but he might not know that it’s not really the Expo 2010 mascot. It is a lighter blue in color and fatter than the real mascot.

More people, especially children, have come to recognize the mascot and tourists buy Haibao toys as souvenirs. But an increasingly number of stores are selling counterfeit Haibao dolls. On Nanjing Road Pedestr ian Mall, one of the most crowded commercial areas of the city, street peddlers brazenly lay out their stalls selling fake Haibao toys in front of the largest licensed Expo souvenir flagship store of the city. In People’s Square, peddlers divide their fake Expo products into two parts and tell passers by seriously. “The five-yuan Haibao doll is fake, don’t buy them , but the 15 yuan one is absolut elyauthentic. ”Yuyuan Garden area, a tourist destination as well as one of the largest small commodity whole saling markets in the city, has the largest number of stores selling fake Haibao toys.

Almost one in every two stores displays Haibao dolls hanging in the shop fronts. The fake Haibao dolls are quite popular. About 1,000 dolls can be sold on average every day, a store keeper near the garden said proudly. But when being asked where the dolls come from, she became cautious and refused to answer. Her store is only 10 square meters but within three minutes, she solda 15-yuan Haibao doll and a thre eyuan Haibao key ring.

But the licensed stores in the same area can only sell no more than 100 Haibao dolls every day, said Zhang Mingyi, manager of a licensed Expo souvenir shop in the garden. The fake item stores have great Business brisk for sellers of fake Haibaos and souvenirs Expopedia Expopedia impact on the business of the licensed shops. Zhang said his store opened in May and was the first store selling Expo products in the Yuyuan Garden area. The sales volume was about 10,000 yuan every day at that time, but dropped dramatically to only 3,000 yuan as more and more fake Haibao stores showed up. A sales woman surnamed Shi in Expo’s Nanjing Road flagship store said sales had decreased by more than 30 percent because of the peddlers in front of their store. “The city’s departments should crack down on these stores, not only to protect us but also to avoid buyers being fooled,” Zhang said. Continue reading →

The city’s exhibition center for World Expo Shanghai 2010 has opened on Huaihai Road M., featuring frequent updates in Expo preparation during the two-year countdown. It will be running until the six month Expo opens on May 1,2010. Organizers expect more than 1 million people to visit the 1,000 square meter display on the third floor ofthe Hong Kong New World Tower. It opens daily from 9am to 6pm. Reservations are required at least three days in advance. Tours will be conducted in both Chinese and English. To date, 205 countries and international organizations have confirmed their participation in the Expo 22 of them have signed formal contracts. The new Expo display, which opened on May 1, features the history of World Expos, international and China memorabilia from Expos and updates on participants, pavilions, planning and infrastructure.

The designs for national pavilions will be displayed as they are released. One of the oldest bricks from the Great Wall, from Hebei Province, is displayed it was first exhibited with nine others at the 1982 World Expo in Knoxville in the southern US state of Tennessee. A replica of a famous Maotai liquor bottle will be displayed. The original was smashed in 1915 in San Francisco at the Panama Pacific International Exposition to attract drinkers with its powerful fumes. It worked. That Guizhou Province liquor is internationally renowned today and won a gold medal at the exhibit. The Shanghai show is similar to, but more extensive and richer than, the Expo touring exhibition that opened at the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center to markthe 1,000 day countdown last August. It is filled with multimedia information and interactive displays. National flags line the walkway to the entrance. “The colorful entrance marks a grand gathering of all nations. Perhaps only at the United Nations can we see a similar scene, ” said Yu Li, chief planner of the exhibition. He praised Hebei and Guizhou provinces for their brick and Maotai contributions.

The Thomas Edison gramophone that was unveiled at the 1989 World’s Fair in Paris will be on display. “People had to wait three hours to see the gramophone almost 120 years ago, now it’s just a touch away, ” said Yu.A 180 degree screen shows promotional videos for the event. Vicente Loscertales, secretary general of the International Expositions Bureau, congratulated organizers in a letter, saying “Shanghai organizers are marking an important step in the communication process and significantly contributing to one of the main objectives of the exhibition, education of the public.” “This exhibition center will create the necessary bridge between 2010 Expo Shanghai and civil society, ”he said. “It will constitute an important platform for communication. Continue reading →

When people see thei conic China Pavilion draped in red cloth and formed in the ancient Chinese dougong architectural style at the Shanghai World Expo site, most will be curious about what will be exhibited inside the huge and fancy structure. The pavilion is at first glance a very obviously Chinese structure. When the Chinese red veil is lifted, it will reveal a complex structure that celebrates a diverse range of traditional Chinese elements, including architecture, calligraphy, gardening and urban planning. However, the inside will be full of modern elements. Visitors will be able to ride in a cable car, watch a movie directed by young Chinese director Lu Chuan and view a multimedia display of a top national treasure painting. The exhibition will tell a Chinese story about a “city” and a “search.” The theme will be the “Search ofthe East” looking for the wisdom that the ancient Chinese used to tackle urban problems, the design team for the inner exhibition of the pavilion revealed when it unveiled the exhibition plan in Shanghai last Thursday. The three story China Pavilion will have a “Footprint of the East” main section on the top story, a “Journey of Wisdom” area on the second story and a “Blossoming City” area on the ground. The main exhibition area will be its upper section. Visitors will first be taken to the 8,500 squaremeter section on top of the pavilion by lifts

They will watch a film directed by Lu, a 10-minute movie displaying the evolution of Chinese cities, especially in the past 30 years. It will be shown in a 600 seat theater. “The movie will be edited to create some scenery that could notbe seen in reality, just like a magic world,” director Lu says. He isfamous for his 2004 award winning film “Kekexili: Mountain Patrol.” Visitors will then be led to another highlight a massive projection of the painting “Along the River During the Qingming Festival,” considered a national treasure. The painting, depicting life in Bianjing (today’s Kaifeng, Henan Province), the largest city in the world more than 1,000 years ago, will be projected on a 100 meter long wall. Multimedia technologies will be used to make the more than 1,500 characters in the painting walk and move.

Great inventions

The original painting is on display at the Palace Museum in Beijing although the designers say it could be exhibited at some point during the Expo. Cable cars will be used in the “Journey of Wisdom” section. China’s four great inventions the compass, paper, printing and gunpowder along with stone bridges, Jiangnan (region south of the Yangtze River) gardens and wooden constructions will be exhibited in this part of the journey. The 3,400 squaremeter ground section will be simply decorated for visitors to relax. The walls will be painted white and illuminations will showcase the scenery of future cities.

Water will be a big feature in the pavilion. Brooks and waterfalls will link the three exhibitions. Water was chosen to represent the wisdom in Chinese culture. Most of the important cities are located along rivers, says YaoKai-yang, creative director of the Taiwan YAOX Edutainment Co and creative director of the pavilion. The exhibition will showcase how to use Chinese wisdom to tackle current and future urban problems, according to Pan Gongkai, president of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts and chief designer of the exhibition.

The urban population in China has increased to 45.79 percent in 2008 from 10 percent in 1949, while Chinese society has remained stable and in harmony. It proved that China has the wisdom worth sharing with other countries on the subject of urban development, Pansays. It will take 45 minutes to finish a visit to the pavilion. The organizer expects 50,000 people to visit everyday. Main construction and the facade has been completed. The exhibition areas will be finished in March next year.

From the beaches of the Zhoushan Archipelago in the East China Sea, people can view mountains draped in clouds and mist, listen to the voice of the sea and enjoy a bounty of seafood. Now they can also get a glimpse of Shanghai World Expo from about 250 kilometers away. It’s all in the sand. The annual Sand Sculpture Festival is underway on Zhujiajian, an island southeast of Zhoushan Island in Zhejiang Province. Until it closes on November 30, local people and visitors will be able to marvel at sand replicas of many of the Expo pavilions and exhibits that are on display at the Shanghai Expo Exhibition Hall on Huaihai Road M.

The Expo sand reproductions are part of a broader beach exhibition entitled “Future Ocean City.” More than 40 sand sculptors from China and abroad spent about two weeks carving the sculptures. They also include buildings of the ancient fabled island of Atlantis and of modern-day Venice. A sand gate encloses all the sculptures, giving visitors the impression of entering a city in adesert. And, surprising to the touch, the sand has a cement-like hardness to it because sculptors spray a kind of glue to make them waterproof. In fact, there wasa heavy rain the day before the beginning of the exhibition, but no sculptures were ruined.

The town of sand sculptures even includes a pond to bring seawater in around the various works, which are linked by wooden bridges. Visitors first enter the “Legendary City,” replicating parts of Atlantis, an island said by Plato to have sunk beneath the sea during an earthquake. On a 10 meterlong relief sculpture sit palaces and temples, with fish swimmingin and out. The urban scenery of Amsterdam and Venice are showcased in the next section. A windmill, tulips and wooden shoes a recarved along with beaches and quaint Dutch houses. Another work exhibits the scenery of the Venice Carnival, a traditional festival that began 1,700 years ago. Bulls fight and pigs run along a street filled with dancing people in masks and traditional costumes. In the Expo Venues section, the splendid red China Pavilionis carved on a relief structure, which may be disappointing to visitors hoping to see it in three dimensions.

Norway has never failed to attract tourists with its spectacular and charming landscape of forests, fjords, mountains and coastline. And for World Expo 2010, Norwegians promise visitors to its national pavilion a full experience of all these. The pavilion of the Scandinavian country will be constructed around 15 model trees made of wood and bamboo. The trees will be arranged in such a way as to present a clear interpretation of Norway’s varied landscapes. All the model trees will becovered by a semi-transparent roof and when the sun shines through the roof, it will create the effect of shade or blue skies.

The roof will also be able to collect solar energy to make the entire pavilion self-sufficient. It will house the Fjord Restaurant which will serves Norwegian food and a business center for conferences and forums, creating special experiences of eating near a fjord or having a meeting in a forest. Visitors will enjoy a “powerful sensory experience,” said Arild Blixrud, Norway’s acting commissioner general for the Expo. Designers got the idea for the pavilion when walking through a forest in Norway, said Siv Helen Stangeland, one of the chief designers. “Through this innovative design, Norway wanted to present its concepts in resource and energy conservation with the theme ‘Norway Powered by Nature’,” said Oyvind Slaake, Norway’s viceminister of trade and industry.

Most Norwegian cities are closer to the sea, forests or mountains, and Norway will show the world“ how we invite nature into the city and use nature to improve the quality of life,” said Philip Lote, communications director of Norway’s Expo delegation. The country signed its participation contract with the Expo organizers on October 16. So far ,225 countries and international organizations have confirmed their participation in the Expo, with 108 have signed participation contracts. The US $22.8 million NorwayPavilion will not be constructed from scratch, but assembled using prefabricated laminated wood building kits and bamboo which will be shipped from Norway. But the stability of the pavilion will not be a concern as Blixrud says it will be able to withstand even the most powerful typhoon.

Wood is widely used as a construction material in Norway while bamboo is the traditional construction material in China. The pavilion will also aim to present a combination of Norwegian and Chinese cultures, said the commissioner general. Another highlight will be the Norwegian government’s post Expo plan for the “trees pavilion.”“ The government hopes to leavethe 15 trees in China after Expo as a symbol of friendly relations between the two countries,” Blixrud said. They could be split into single trees and moved to different areas of China and used as restaurants or conference halls or located in local parks for people to enjoy.

What’s your impression of Shanghai’s Metro?Brighter than Paris’ and cleaner than Beijing’s? Regardless of other comparisons, it shares one thing withmost other subway systems in major cities around theworld: It is extremely crowded during rush hours. Millions of people in Shanghai take the Metro to work. After a long tiring day in the office, the stuffy crowded metro carriages can be depressing. Imagine if you could hear birds singing, read beautiful poems and look at colorful pictures would that brighten the trip?

Shanghai’s Metro may start using public spaces in metro lines to display arts and fashions. The Metro company has decided to turn Metro Line No. 13, the future Shanghai Expo line running to the Expo site, into another “exhibition hall” forthe event.Shanghai will have 11 Metro lines in 2010, totalling 400 kilometers, in which five lines, No. 4, 6, 7,8 and 13, will have stops in the 5.28-square kilometer World Expo site. The mini-line No. 13, with only four stations, is set to be the main transportation tool for the Expo site and will travel between the two sides of Huangpu River.

The metro stations of line No. 13 will have special “Expo direction” signs, Ying Minghong, chairman of the Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, told a forum on Metro and Expo.“Also, we will use Expo related colors and patterns in the 14 stations of the five metro lines running through the Expo site,” said Ying.“ Even if the visitors can’t read any Chinese or English, they will know which lines will take them to the Expo site. ”“The daily capacity of Shanghai’s Metro lines is estimated to reach six million by 2010,” said Hu Jingjun, deputy director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination.“About half of the daily 400,000 passengers visiting during the Expo period from May 1 to October 31 are expected to take Metrolines to the site,” said Hu. “The Metro is no longer a simple transport tool.

With lighting boxes and LCD screens, the trains could also be used in public promotion,” he added. Shanghai has already carried out a joint trial art project with Britain :Shanghai trains displayed some British poems on the Metro lines, while trains on London’s underground displayed Chinese ones. In Lisbon, Portugal, the total metro network covers only 19 kilometers, but the entire system doubles as an huge underground art gallery: Each station is decorated with artworks made from different tiles.

Local elements “Shanghai could invite young calligraphers to inscribe the names of metrostations,” suggested Albert Asseraf, director of strategy, research and marketing at JCDecaux, at the forum. “Also, the stations could have more Chinese traditional elements, such as tiles with papercut patterns on them,” said Asseraf. “And the stations on Huaihai Road, which symbolizes fashion in Shanghai, could display some of the city’s popular garments from different eras, such as the qipao, the traditional woman’s costume.

”Li Tiangang, a professor at Fudan University, suggested showcasing more of Shanghai’s history at the stations. Li said the Metro stations in the former Nanshi District (now part of Huangpu District), where people can see the original look of old Shanghai, could display some of its rich legacies from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. “For Xujiahui,” Li said,“ some elements of latter day culture could be displayed, such as images of the city’s first observatory and the Xujiahui Cathedral, one of the largest Catholic churches in Asia.

Twelve countries and two international organizations from Oceania will build an 8,100 square meter joint pavilion at World Expo 2010. The South Pacific Tourism Organization (SPTO) signed a participation contract with Expo organizers last Tuesday on behalf of the Pacific blockin Suva, the capital of Fiji. A total of 42 countries and international organization shave signed participationcontracts.The Oceania Pavilion willshowcase the beauty of thePacific Ocean nations, their unique culture and sustainable lifestyle through the theme “Pacific Ocean —Spring of Inspiration.”The island nations of Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Tonga, Micronesia, Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, as well as the Pacific Islands Forum, authorized the SPTO to organize and coordinate their Expo 2010 participation.

Zhou Hanmin, deputy director general of the Bureau of Shanghai WorldExpo Coordination, signedthe contract on behalf of organizers, and noted that the joint pavilion would be aboost to relations between China and the Pacificnations. Peter Vincent, board chairman of SPTO, said the joint effort underlined the unity of the island countries .Last Wednesday, the United Republic of Tanzania also signed a participation contract with organizers. The east African country will take part in the exhibition ofthe 31,000 square meter African joint pavilion to show case their achievements in city planning, such as inits capital Dar es Salaam. Also last week, Sri Lanka and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies signed World Expo 2010 contracts and unveiled their themes for the exhibition.The Red Cross chose thetheme “City Life, Humanity Without Borders” for its 500 square meter lease pavilion. The Red Cross Society of China will be in charge of exhibition planning and preparation work. Sri Lanka will choose five cities to display its development during its 3,000 year history, said Hubert Jayakody, commissioner general of Sri Lanka for Expo. Continue reading →

The Expo organizerhas one sloganfor Expo volunteers that reads“My Will, My Help, MyPleasure.”Can you understand it? Foreigners might bepuzzled when they seethis slogan on volunteers’uniforms, pointed out LuGusun, a senior Chinese linguist with Fudan University. Lu enjoys a great reputationin the academic circle andedited the Chinese-EnglishDictionary, first in the1980s. “The phrase ‘My Will’sounds like a last testament and foreigners willwonder what the volunteeris supposed to do. ” Hesaid it would be better tochange the word “will” into“determination.

Lu came up with a betterexpression after a quickthought — “Determined tohelp, delighted in helping.”Another Expo slogan says“Our City, Your Joy.” Lu saidit sounds like as though it isimposing the expression onforeign visitors. He suggestedchanging it to “Shanghai —made lovelier by us. ”A common slogan in thecity is “2010, we are togetheras one.” Lu suggested something like: “In 2010, we arelike minded. ”A good slogan should bedirect and comprehensible. It should let people get theidea as soon as they see the slogan, he said.The main slogan forExpo volunteers is “At yourservice at Expo,” whichwas written by Lu. “Theslogan says ‘I am ready tohelp’ directly,” he explained. Foreigners will understandthat the person wearing theslogan is ready to offer helpto them in a friendly manner. The professor said he hasreceived many other versionsfrom the organizer as translations for slogans, but noneof them sounded satisfactory.

For example, one translationreads: “World is in front ofyou. We are by your side.”This is like a “mentally challenging puzzle,” Lu said. The organizer likes tosay they will “assure socialsafety” in the Expo site. Itwas hard to understand. Abetter expression would beto “maintain law and order.”Sometimes, it is better toretain the Chinese flavorwhen translating Chineseidioms and proverbs, because the Expo is to be heldin China, Lu suggested. Buthe reiterated that it should bebased on “acceptability,” asa basic precondition. When Lu translated thereport into English for theChinese government to bidfor the 2010 event, he cameup with a Chinese idiomwhich literally meant the seais vast because it accepts allrivers. It could be translatedsimply into “all inclusive”or “receptive to all externalinfluences,” but the Chineseflavor would be lost. Continue reading →

People will have atough time decidingwhich pavilionsto visit during theShanghai World Expo. All200-plus Expo pavilionsfrom across the world havespecial highlights.However, one pavilionthat is really worth visiting,a pavilion that will offer afeast for eyes, stomachs andeven pockets, is the BelgiumPavilion.The Belgian Expo teamunveiled its pavilion designearlier this month after agreat deal of speculation.

The pavilion will also behome for the EuropeanUnion’s Expo debut outsideits member countries.Visitors will enjoy the“bon vivant” lifestyles of thecontinent. A mini chocolatefactory will make authenticBelgium chocolate and this isfree for visitors.As well, the renowned“diamond kingdom”willgive away 26 diamonds.The pavilion has beenwidely acclaimed. Xu Bo,a senior Shanghai Expoorganizer, told the Belgiansthat he believed the pavilionwould be ranked among thetop three at the Expo afterseeing the design.

Looking at it from adistance, the 5,250-squaremeter Belgium Pavilionseems to be an ordinaryrectangle. Its shape willbe no different from thesimplest of the rentedpavilions at the Expo. Butmoving closer, visitors willencounter a huge shape withchanging, swirling colors.It will be like a giant andweird brain cell, which isthe core concept for thepavilion.Visitors will enter thepavilion via a “vein” walk tothe center of the semi-transparent cell, where they canlook over the inside of theentire pavilion.

The vein andthe cell will be made from anew fiber-like material. Visitors will feel as if they arewalking on something soft,just as if they were walkingthrough a vein, said Herman Vandaele, constructiondirector for the pavilion.The design of the pavilionis meant to reflect the basiccharacteristics of Belgianpeople, who are formal andlow-profile from the outside— like the rectangle — butfull of vitality and innovation inside, said ChristineConix, chief designer for thepavilion. People can get toall the main areas inside thetwo-story pavilion by walking through the veins.She said “movements andinteractions” are the coretheme for the inner exhibition. Almost everythinginside pavilion will move,including the walls.The walls will also featurea stream, of constantlymoving pictures showingdifferent regions of thecountry and including visualsurprises like a Chineseshadow theater.

Different regions will usemultimedia to exhibit theirspecial features.Belgium is most famousfor diamonds and chocolates.The country will promoteboth at the 2010 event andwill be giving both away.Each week of the Expo,Belgian organizers will givea free diamond to a visitor,said Leo Delcroix, the country’s commissioner generalfor the Expo.For a chance to win,visitors will have to text thecorrect answers to questionsabout Belgium, like who isthe king and the number ofregions of the country. Thediamond winners will bechosen by a weekly lottery.The chocolate factory willshow visitors exactly howBelgium chocolate is made.The chocolates from the factory will be shaped likeChina’s Great Wall or theShanghai Oriental Pearl TVTower.

Source: en.expo2010china.com

Tomoko Tanaka is the Shanghai correspondent for TV Asahi, one of the five largest TV stations in Japan. Every month, she sends news reports about Shanghai to Japan. When she is not working, Tomoko strolls along the streets looking for interesting titbits or just learning about the place. But now she has a new place where she can go to either relax or get news. The World Expo 2010 Shanghai organizer, together with the Information Office and Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai government, has set up a foreign correspondents’ center with the assistance of Shanghai Daily to keep journalists up-to-date on Expo preparations.

Journalists from the same regions will be invited together to the center where they will be taken on familiarization tours of the Expo site. Officials will be on hand to answer any questions they might have about the world fair. These question-and-answer sessions will be quite different from press conferences. Chinese traditional cultural performances will be part of the visits. A draft plan talks about musicians laying guqin, a plucked seven-string Chinese traditional instrument, and dancers performing the tai chi dance developed from China’s tai chi. Journalists could also be part of a lucky draw for prizes or invited to perform on stage. It is the Expo organizer’s new method of handling foreign journalists. The journalists will have an enjoyable time as well as getting all the information they need.

The organizer intends to help foreign journalists with the center providing timely and detailed information on the 2010 event and making friends with them, said Xu Wei, spokesman for the Shanghai Expo, also the director of the
Communication and Promotion Department of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination. There are about 88 overseas media outlets in the city, and every day more than 100 journalists cover news across the city. The organizer held the first gathering of journalists at the center on February 18 when journalists from Japan were the guests. About 20 journalists from 12 Japanese media outlets in Shanghai, including the TV Asahi, NHK and Kyodo News Agency, attended. Journalists could ask questions with ease and cameramen could freely film around the Expo site, Tomoko said. She said the center was well-organized and “very nice.” Continue reading →