World Expo sneak peek through the eyes of an expat: “Incredible”
The Tibet pavilion.
After a revealing week of trial runs, staff in Shanghai are putting the finishing touches to the World Expo before Friday's opening ceremony. While some Chinese Web users are mocking what they describe as a shambles, not everyone who's visited the sprawling park is disenchanted. One of our Observers says that the World Expo is the place to be this summer.
The Expo held a trial run between 21 - 26 April, allowing the public to enter before the official opening. And they did. Hundreds of thousands of people took the opportunity to investigate the park, which at 5.3 square kilometres, is twice the size of Monaco.
“The architecture is incredible, the atmosphere exciting, but there’s nothing inside the pavilions that you haven’t seen elsewhere”
Adam Minter is an American writer based in Shanghai. He runs the blog Shanghai Scrap, where he's following the expo. He visited the park twice during the trial period.
The architecture is incredible. Like everyone, I really love the UK pavilion. The Russian, South Korean and Danish pavilions too, are exquisite. However... while all of these pavilions look great on the outside, they haven't really got anything on the inside. The exhibits are archaic, museum-like. I've been to a lot of the pavilions and the only one which is interactive and different, is Canada's. While the outside isn't great, the inside is incredibly creative. For example, you can take a virtual bicycle ride around Canada.
Photo posted on Flickr by “zenra”.
The Japanese have made a huge effort to highlight their technology; they have a robot band - which is much cooler than it sounds. The French pavilion is not terribly exciting, but it will no doubt be popular among the Chinese as they have a very romantic view of France; you can even have your wedding inside the pavilion!
Posted on Flickr by “zenra”.
What's not great is the queues, which are ungodly. Most of the pavilions are not worth queuing three hours for. There's nothing inside that you haven't seen elsewhere. Time is better spent walking around and taking in the architecture. However, this is a queueing culture...In China you queue for everything. I do think however that after a few weeks, the message might get round on the Internet, that the pavilions aren't worth queueing for.
Posted on Flickr by "Qiao-Da-Ye賽門譙大爺".
There's going to be a lot of music, dance, performing. The varied food is going to be great too. Each pavilion has made a real effort to bring in their national dishes. And the parks... I think I'll come here a lot when it's calmed down. Why not share a bottle of wine at the Spanish pavilion with a few friends in the evening? An evening pass costs around 90 RMB, which works out at $12 [€9]. Not bad for an evening out.
Posted on Flickr by "Qiao-Da-Ye賽門譙大爺".
For me, as a foreigner who's travelled, just walking around getting the vibe of all these Chinese people who are experiencing foreign people and cultures for the first time in their lives, that's the fun part. The atmosphere is so exciting.
I was alarmed by just how unprepared the staff, the grounds, and most of the national pavilions were for the onslaught of visitors. [Photo taken on 21 April].
I don't know the name of Expo 2010's Master Planner, but I'm sure that - whoever it is - has a good sense of humour. Why? While wandering on the Expo (World's Fair) site in search of the North Korean pavilion, I happened upon the Iranian pavilion - next door to it. (Read more...).
The [queue for the] Thai pavilion. Note that the people holding umbrellas are compacted into five gates that run roughly a city-block in length.
A sign on the wall of the North Korea pavilion...
The Tibet pavilion, housed beneath the China pavilion, along with the other provincial pavilions."
