Historic World EXPO opens in China costing more than Beijing 2008 Olympics
Amazing structures at the EXPO show the stuff China is made of.
Historic world EXPO opens in China costing more than Beijing 2008 Olympics
The new state of the act construction costs more than the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
It is a world expo in the tradition of international fairs and expositions. The theme of the exposition is “Better City – Better Life” and signifies Shanghai’s new status in the 21st century as the “next great world city“. The expo Logo features the Chinese character ? (‘world’, Chinese “shì”) modified to represent three people together with the 2010 date. It is the most expensive Expo in the history of the world’s fairs. The Shanghai World Expo is also the largest World’s Fair site ever at 5.28 square km.
More than 190 countries and more than 50 international organizations have registered to participate in the Shanghai World Expo, the largest ever.
China expects to receive almost 100 foreign leaders and millions of people from across the world to come and visit the World Expo. More than 70–100 million visitors are expected to visit the expo, the largest in history.
The World Expo 2010 will be used by 189 countries to showcase what they have to offer China’s 1.3 billion people as well as the rest of the planet.
Around 70 million visitors are expected to go to the different pavilions over the next six months, including four million from abroad.
Like the Olympics, the event is also illustrating China’s growing economic and political clout, both overseas and for its own public.
Around 20 heads of state or government attended the opening ceremony, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Barroso.
After a low-key performance by singers and dancers in an indoor arena, the event moved outside with a dazzling display of fireworks, lasers and dancing fountains.
China has spent more than £38bn on the Expo compared with £27bn for the Beijing Games two years ago.
The fair, which is designed to reflect the urban sustainability theme of “Better City, Better Life”, is double the size of Monaco.
Among the countries taking part are the United States and North Korea.
China’s huge, red, 63-metre high pavilion looks like a top-heavy inverted pyramid. It is the equivalent of 35 football fields and is certain to be the most popular venue.
Spain’s basket-weave structure is an eccentric crowd-puller as is Switzerland’s pastures complete with a chairlift.
Denmark has made a splash by bringing its Little Mermaid statue out of Copenhagen for the first time.
France has impressionist paintings and Rodin sculptures, while Italy is showing works by
Renaissance master Caravaggio.
Britain’s Seed Cathedral, made up of 60,000 gently waving fibre-optic rods with a seed in each tip that resembles a giant dandelion puff, has won rave reviews in previews.
To cope with the big crowds, Shanghai’s tube system has doubled in size in just a year and a third airport terminal has recently opened.
More than 6,000 people have been arrested in the city in the run-up to the launch. Security is so tight that borders with Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are now closed until next Tuesday.
A prominent dissident, Feng Zhenghu, said police confiscated computers from his home after he announced a new manifesto on human rights, a critique of Shanghai’s legal system, to coincide with the Expo.
The Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders said at least six people who protested having their homes demolished to make way for the Expo were sent to labour camps.
And residents in Shanghai have been discouraged from strolling down to the market or to their neighbours in their pyjamas.
http://en.expo2010.cn/a/20100501/000003.htm
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