2010 World Expo Photo Gallery by Peiying Mo at pbase.com

2010 World Expo

Despite warnings from friends and family who have been there and who haven't, we spent the entire day at the expo. It was part sunny at 33°C (~ 92°F) with a humidity probably up in the 90%, we were two of the nearly 300,000 visitors of the day, way below 1,000,000+ people peaked in one mid October day. The crowds were thick as porridge!

The theme of the event is Better City, Better Life, with about 240 countries and organizations reportedly participate the Expo. The event that lasts from May 1 - Oct 31 is expected to draw about 70 million audience, mostly Chinese, mostly sponsored by the government one way or another. It is extremely well organized, all the places are clean and spotless. There are clean energy buses and carts moving those who are too tired to walk. There are fixed umbrellas and shades built everywhere, yet the demand exceeds supplies, especially in popular spots.

Many people came prepared with food and water, fruit, folding stool, umbrella and hand fan, in anticipation of the rumored long wait at some pavilions. The wait ranges from from 4 - 6 hours. Even VIP tickets require a couple of hours wait. As you can see, we only managed to go through less popular pavilions and missed all considered the "best" countries. Handicaps and people over 70 years old used to be able to skip the lines, but there was so much abuse of the system, the privilege was quickly removed and one has to be at least 75 to skip the crowd. Attending the event requires a lot of patience, stamina and curiosity for one to willingly experience some called "misery".

Another major attraction is stamping on the Expo passport. Many people are hired to go from one pavilion after another just to get stamps on the booklet. Even more people come with a dozen of them on hand. Staffs from most countries either eliminate the stamping service, or provide seals and let people stamp themselves. Expect to see these stamped passports on sale for a profits.

Due to heat, we managed to survive the day by drinking water and having plenty of ice creams. We ended the day by taking a cruise that travels on the Huangpu River, with the Expo buildings lit up on one side and the new and old landmarks in the Pudong area on the other.

Entrance to the expo	Today's temp and featured country: Bangladash	Lines are queued up	Everything is controlled in an orderly fashion
Body and bag are scanned as they were at airport	Swipe your card and you are in	Coverage over the Sunshine Boulevard	One of the sculptures representing diversities
Reflection of long lines under umbrellas	Refill water fountain: it is only luke warm with typical taste of Shanghai tap water	Designated smoking area	Light up a cigarette from an infrared machine
The infrared cigarette lighter	There are many shades but even longer queues	The sponsor Yili is the only vendor selling ice creams - we had 5 each.	Each tent is equipped with many fans and mist spraying pipes
There are plenty of signs telling people to be civil at the Expo	There is no personal space! If there is any gab between people, more people will cut in the line	At the Expo Culture Center	The Expo Culture Center at night
Across the river are some of the famous new landmarks in Shanghai	Lupu Bridge over the Huangpu River	The Lupu Bridge at night. The color changes constantly	Many "volunteers" are actually college students from Foreign Language University
Sunshine Boulevard	China: Chinese Wisdom in Urban Development	Symbolizing "The Crown of the East," the structure uses brackets, a traditional technic dates back to 7 - 5 century BC	India: Cities of Harmony
Taiwan's silk screen can be seen from the outside	Pakistan: Harmony in Diversity in the City	UAE: Power of Dreams. It is made of gold colored steel	Sri Lanka: Tradition to Modernity
Oman: An Evolving Journey	Oman: An Evolution Journey	Oman: Chinese tourists ignore the sign of No Flash Photography, the Omanese keeps stroking his foot, showing disrespect	Qatar: My City: Present Ambitions and Future Expectations
Qatar: traditional rugs	Qatar: music instruments. Sign: do not touch	Nepal: Tales of Kathmandu City - Seeking the Soul of a City; Exploration and Speculation	Nepal: another long line inside the building
The building is made of intricatedly carved wood	Mask at the Nepal building	Stamping station: a stamp on the Expo passport from each country has become a collector's item	Israel: Innovation for Life
Israel: History of Jews settling in Shanghai during WW II	Morocco: The Art of Life	Lebanon: The Tell-Tale Cities	Iran: Blending of Diverse Cultures in the City
North Korea: the Paradise for people	Timor-Leste: Be with Us, Be with Nature	Mongolia: a miniture yurt. Sign: do not touch	A Mongolian musician plays a traditional instrument yochin, or horse head instrument
Kazakhstan: Astana - the Hearth of Eurasia	Uzbekistan. The Crossroad of civilizations	Vietnam: 1000-Year History of Hanoi	Japan: Harmony of the Hearts, Harmony of the Skills
Laos and Myanmar are right next to each other	Korea: Friendly City, Colorful Life. There is a 4 hour wait	Korea: The building consists of 20 basic Letters of the ROK alphabet	Saudi Arabia: Vitality of Life, which looks like a half moon when lit at night
The 6 hour wait promises 4-D experience & live trees on the top of the building	Macau Pavillion is rght next to the China Pavilion	Turkey: The Cradle of Civilization	South Africa and Egypt
South Africa is pretty low key with local wines ready for order	Tunisia and Algeria	African Union Commission Pavilion	Angola and Nigeria
African Union Commission Pavilion is made up by mostly merchant vendors	Most jewelries are made in China with resource from Africa	Mali is one of the few that has its own exhibit	Onsite craft work demo. Multiple signs say the same thing: do not use flash
Argentina: Bicentennial of Argentina's Independence	Peru, Columbia and Brazil	Canada: The Living City: Inclusive, Sustainable, Creative	USA: Rise to the Challenge. The mostly uninteresting exhibit draws a 3 hour long wait.
Slovenia: Open Book	Lithuania and Croatia	Russia: New Russia: City and Citizen	Luxembourg: Small Is Beautiful
UK: Building on the Past, Shaping Our Future, built with 60K+ slim and transparent acrylic rods	Italy: City of Man. Early on Salvatore Ferragamo shoes were given out to the last visitors of the day. The practice soon stopped	The Netherlands: Happy Street	France: The Sensual City
Switzerland: Rural and Urban Interaction	Poland: Poland is Smiling - looks like paper cut	Poland: inside there is video with Chinese subtitles	Spain: From the City of Our Parents to the City of Our Children. It is called the basket, made from wickers
Germany: Balancity. The structure is wrapped in silver membrane	Sweden: Spirit of Innovation	Ukrain: Building on the Past, Shaping Our Future.	Romania: Greenopolis - it looks like an apple
Water fountain that dances with music and color change

comment |

Guest		06-Jan-2011 01:23
That was me who post the comment - Laura

Guest		06-Jan-2011 01:23
Don't you think the Crown of East design is one of the ugliest we have ever seen?

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