Little Mermaid all packed up for her big Expo date with Shanghai

The Little Mermaid statue - Denmark's top tourist attraction - is removed from Copenhagen Harbor for the first time since it was placed there in 1913.



The Little Mermaid statue - Denmark's top tourist attraction - is removed from Copenhagen Harbor for the first time since it was placed there in 1913.



The Little Mermaid statue - Denmark's top tourist attraction - is removed from Copenhagen Harbor for the first time since it was placed there in 1913.

With careful wrapping and a bodyguard on hand for the entire journey, the famous Little Mermaid statue was boxed up in Denmark yesterday for its voyage to China for the 2010 World Expo.


It is the statue's first journey from Copenhagen Harbor since its creation in 1913.


The children's story, The Little Mermaid, still popular all around the world, was written by one of Denmark's favorite sons, Hans Christian Anderson (1805-1875).


A farewell was held about 2:45pm local time (8:45pm Beijing time) at the statue's Langelinie Park home.


Two dancers, dressed as a Chinese-style dragon and a mermaid, performed, symbolizing the close ties between China and Denmark.


Chinese and Danish children sang songs in their native languages at the send-off.


Farewell speeches were given by Danish Economic and Business Affairs Minister Brian Mikkelsen, Copenhagen Lord Mayor Frank Jensen and officials from the Chinese Embassy in Denmark.


"It is, of course, emotional for most of the people of Copenhagen to say goodbye to their beloved Mermaid, but many Danes think it's a positive thing that she will be the representative for Denmark at the World Expo," Christopher Bramsen, Commissioner-General of Denmark for the Expo, told Shanghai Daily.


Bramsen presided over the park farewell ceremony.


"The mermaid is practicing what her 'father,' Hans Christian Andersen, said ... 'to travel is to see'," said Claus Tuersted, the senior architect of the Denmark Pavilion at the World Expo, who was born in Copenhagen.


The statue is expected to be on show for visitors in Shanghai from April 25, a week before the Expo starts, when an unveiling ceremony will be held at the Denmark Pavilion.


It will return to the Danish capital toward the end of November.


The statue - 1.25 meters high and weighing about 175 kilograms - will undergo several more days of packing procedures before leaving Copenhagen Airport and arriving at Pudong International Airport late next week.


Bramsen said the departure and arrival times were confidential for security concerns.


A veteran Danish stonecutter, who is in charge of the protection and repair of all monuments in Copenhagen, including the Mermaid, will accompany her during the 12-hour flight.


In Shanghai, about 50 Chinese and 20 Danish workers have finished most of the preparation work in the Denmark Pavilion for the statue.


A 20m-wide arch-shaped cement pool has been completed in the middle of the pavilion where the statue will sit in water.


Visitors will be allowed to walk barefoot through the shallow water to get as close as 5m to the iconic statue.

Germany Pavilion finishes final touch

cone-shaped structure housing a revolving metal sphere

The Germany Pavilion has been completed and will have a test run in late April.


The pavilion with the theme of Balancity (a new term combining balance and city) will join the test run of the Expo site on April 20, 24 and 25.


Visitors to the high-tech pavilion will find solutions to urban problems and experience the feel of a real city inside. The pavilion covers 6,000 square meters.


The Germany Pavilion will hold classic and hip-hop concerts. A 350-seat canteen will offer sauerkraut boiled with beef, sausage from Nuremberg and pork shanks from Bavaria.

Inspiration glitters at architectural seminar

Talented Finnish and Chinese architects gathered in Shanghai yesterday to brainstorm their inspirations, visions and innovations at an ongoing seminar "Snowball-Event," which is part of Finland's cultural program for the 2010 world Expo.


The three-day event, organized by the Finnish Association of Architects (SaFa), consists of a two-day seminar exploring common grounds and differences between Finnish and Chinese architects, a networking program as well as a one-day excursion.


The program aims to offer insights into the latest achievements of both Finnish and Chinese architects through presentations of new projects to explore solutions and share visions.


It touches upon the common ground between Finnish and Chinese practitioners in the field of sustainable urban and architectural design to establish potential business and creative matches between Finnish and Chinese architects. The theme of the upcoming World Expo, "Better City, Better Life" is also reflected.


Tomorrow, attendees of the seminar will visit the Expo site, the Tongji University, Xintiandi, which is the city's popular entertainment and bar area, and the 1933 Old Millfun, a former slaughterhouse that has been turned into a venue for fashion industry, entertainment, arts, dining and shopping.

First trees planted in Expo forest

Expo Forest has been established in Shanghai.





Expo Forest has been established in Shanghai with the first trees planted in the green belt near Xupu Bridge.


It is the first forest project specially planted to reduce carbon emissions at a large event in China. CANGO Green Commuting Fund is sponsoring the 3,885-square-meter forest.


It will form part of the city's outer ring forest belt, now stretching 98.9 kilometers long and 500 meters wide.


Representatives from Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, Xuhui District, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 77 industry associations and enterprises joined the campaign to plant trees on Wednesday.

Spain Pavilion hits milestone

Sunlight filters through the panels, creating a beautiful scene.

The Spain Pavilion has just been completed, looking like a huge basket with 8,542 pieces of rattan-covered steel and glass structures outside.


It will be open on April 23 and 25 for a trial run of the Expo site. The pavilion took designers and workers one year to complete construction.


The steel frame of the structure has been "dressed" in 8,524 wicker panels in brown, beige, and black. Sunlight filters through the panels, creating a beautiful scene.


The black panels form the shapes of Chinese characters - sun and moon, for instance. All reference elements of nature.


Three exhibition rooms, with installations by Spanish film makers from three decades, will be inside.

A six-minute film made its premier inside the pavilion yesterday, which blends nature with flamenco, passion, sports and arts to explore the "origin" of Spanish culture.
Benedetta Tagliabue, the designer of the Spain Pavilion, shares her visions.


A six-minute film made its premier inside the pavilion yesterday, which blends nature with flamenco, passion, sports and arts to explore the "origin" of Spanish culture.


It will offer tapas with live performances from musicians, comedians and illusionists at 6pm and 8pm every day. There will be flamenco shows every day in September.


The average cost for a meal at the pavilion will be 280 yuan (US$41.06) to 300 yuan.

UK Pavilion lit up

The dazzling cube or "Seed Cathedral" formed by more than 60,000 transparent acrylic rods of the United Kingdom Pavilion gets illuminated tonight for the first time as the structure was handed over to its operators.


At the handover ceremony, Carma Elliot, British consul general in Shanghai, expressed gratitude for those constructors involved in the project for their hard work. Tagging the pavilion as a "gift" to China and an "open city park" at the Expo site, she invited visitors to embark on an unforgettable journey through the pavilion.


She said the pavilion is like her child as she has worked on the program for three years.


The UK's Expo team with the British consul general in Shanghai will take charge of the daily operation and management after receiving the pavilion built by the MACE Group and Jiangsu Suzhong Construction Group Co Ltd.


The 6,000-square-meter pavilion is composed of the cube-like structure known as the "Seed Cathedral" and the area around it is designed like wrapping paper, making it seem as if the wrappers have fallen open to reveal a sparkling jewel of life.


During the daytime, each of these 7.5-meter-long rods will act like fiber optic filaments, drawing on daylight to illuminate the interior. At night, light sources embedded in each rod will allow the whole structure to glow.


Visitors can relax around the open space or enter the "Seed Cathedral" to admire the seeds in the spines, marveling how such tiny seeds can produce wonders of nature and life.

Vice-premier urges Expo construction be stepped up

Constructors work on the Austria Pavilion.


Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan yesterday urged construction of exhibition pavilions and facilities to be sped up in a "race against time," with little more than a month left till the opening of the Shanghai World Expo.


"With the joint efforts from various aspects, the preparation work for the Shanghai Expo has been going smoothly as a whole. However, there are still challenges," said Wang, also chief commissioner with the event's organizing committee, in Beijing yesterday.


Wang said currently the most urgent task is the construction of facilities in the venues.


"We should improve service and facilities with stress on details to satisfy Shanghai residents and both domestic and overseas visitors," said Wang.


In addition, Wang urged mapping out a plan to cope with peak attendance periods and bad weather.


Offering the largest-ever exhibiting area of 5.28 sq. km in the World Expo history, a record 70 million visitors from home and abroad are expected to attend the Expo from May 1 to Oct. 31.

German ambassador: City to become central point of life in future

The city will become the central point of our life in future, and the development of future cities all depends on human beings' progress, German ambassador to China Michael Schaefer said at a press conference in Beijing yesterday.


How to build a city with inside harmony? Schaefer quoted a question which is closely linked to the theme of German Pavilion - "Balancity".


The key factors of building future city consist of natural ecological balance, social stability and all-around sustainable development, Schaefer said at a press conference briefing on Germany's participant in the Shanghai Expo 2010.


The 6,000-square-meter structure will be Germany's largest Pavilion at any Expo, Schafer said, and around 70 million visitors are expected during the whole Expo.


"This magnificent structure impressed me at the first sight." Schaefer added.


Schaefer also emphasized the meaning of "balancity" to the media: a marriage of the terms "balance" and "city"– is Germany's interpretation of the Expo theme: "Better City, Better Life".


It means an amazing city in balance between renewal and preservation, innovation and tradition, urbanity and nature, society and its individuals, work and recreation, and finally, between globalization and national identity.


This central idea can be directly experienced by visitors everywhere in the German Pavilion. Every visitor brings vigor to the "banlancity". Once entering the pavilion, they will become an indivisible part of the structure.


Taking part in the Shanghai Expo will be a good chance to express itself for Germany, it will be presenting itself as a multifaceted nation and an innovative, forward-looking country that also places great value on the preservation of its roots and heritage.


Despite the worldwide global crisis, Germany insisted on attending the Shanghai Expo. Schaefer believes that the relationship between China and Germany will become tighter after the Shanghai Expo.


"China and Germany are always important partners for long time," Schaefer said, "Except for the increasing mutual cooperation on trades and technique, the exchanges between two countries also expand onto culture and daily life."


China is under the process of modernization and urbanization and also has to face various challenges and many tough problems. "Germany had experienced the transformation of heavy-industrial society. We would like to share our experiences to Chinese people." Schaeffer said.


At present, German and China government are promoting a friendly cooperation program, named "Germany and China - Moving Ahead Together".


This is a series of events organized by the Federal Republic of Germany in China under the patronage of German President Horst K?hler and Chinese President Hu Jintao.


Under the aegis of the Federal Foreign Office, the aim of this project is to promote mutual understanding as the basis for successful cooperation and to reinforce the image of Germany as a future-oriented, innovative nation.


"It is a great achievement of German-Sino cooperation. This project will attract approximately 1.3 million participants. Through holding seminars and cultural exhibitions, we hope to see more and more Chinese to understand the culture and some other aspects of Germany." Schaefer said.


Germany will promote the ideal concept of future city and its successful experiences on urban redevelopment to the world at Shanghai Expo. It also would like to exchange advantageous thoughts with other countries.


To the rapid urbanization of Chinese cities, Schaeffer made several suggestions: "Now China is entering a very decisive phase of its organization. In the next 50 years, at least 200 million people are going to be moving from the countryside into the big cities, which will pose enormous challenges for all of your cities."


"My suggestion is to learn from the negative experiences, which we have had in our countries in the last century, avoid the mistakes that we have made; learn from our experiences and take the best practices, take the good concepts and try to bring it to balance the needs of dynamic economy," Schaeffer said during the interview with Xinhuanet.


"And on the other hand on balanced ecology, which means the environment is presenting to every human being a framework, in which he or she or children, tomorrow our grandchildren can have a safe, positive life. That is the most important experience which we would like to relate," Schaeffer added.

Li Yining: Legacy of generations past

Li Yining, born in 1930 in Yizheng, Jiangsu Province, Li is a highly regarded economist who has been involved in China's economic reform process. He studied at Peking University from 1951 to 1955 and has been a professor at that institution since 1955. He also served as President of the university's Guanghua Management College. Li introduced the concept of joint-stock companies as part of strategies to reform the Chinese economy. The idea has been caught on and is widely practiced today in corporate restructuring.




When London hosted the first World Expo over 150 years ago, China had just suffered a disastrous defeat in the Opium War and was forced to sign an unequal treaty, ceding territories and paying indemnities under humiliating terms. By then, underpinned by eight decades of Industrial Revolution, Britain had become the first industrialized country in the world, and its ships were plying the waters of the world, including coastal and inland areas of China.


Since then, the world has undergone dramatic changes in politics and economics. China's international prestige and economic clout have steadily increased since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 -- a peaceful progression that has captured the attention of the world. In May 2010, World Expo 2010 Shanghai China will open with great fanfare. Placed in the context of history since the Opium War, the Chinese people have reason to be proud of their motherland.


China's hosting of the World Expo exemplifies this unparalleled progress. Without the liberation of 1949, the economic reform and opening-up policies of recent decades and the undying hard work of all its people, China could have never achieved so much in so short a time. At the World Expo, we will be putting this splendid success story on exhibit for the whole world to see. We look forward to this opportunity with great pride


World Expo 2010 Shanghai China will be a platform for promoting international communication and, for expanding the scope of the nation’s integration with the rest of the world. World expositions have always served as windows for showcasing the uniqueness of host countries. The World Expo in Shanghai, which is already a metropolis of international reputation, will surely usher in a new stage for China’s development and for Shanghai's march toward the goal of becoming a global financial center. This exposition will bring an abundance of opportunities for business to expand internationally. It also will afford us the chance to learn from the experience of other countries in realms such as social and economic development, business management and applied application of technology.


The theme of World Expo 2010 Shanghai China is "Better City, Better Life," which perfectly complements our efforts of recent years to build a more harmonious society. “Better life” means that we should strive for quality of life in our economic growth, stressing the importance of jobs, education and other social services that affect daily lives. "Better life" exemplifies the principle of "people first" and the need to adopt sustainable approaches to development. Cities are the legacy of generations past and the hope of generations to come. Improving urban life requires innovation in determining how our cities look, in ensuring a clean environment and in enriching the spiritual life of residents.


Shanghai does not belong exclusively to local residents. Instead, it is deeply rooted in the nation as a whole and beckons the world at large. Improving life in Shanghai will be a role model for urban development across Chinese cities and, indeed, across the world.


Neither spiritual liberation nor independent innovation has any boundaries. To ensure a better urban life means that cities must embrace innovation, education and knowledge. The World Expo will mark a new starting line across these realms.


I sincerely wish World Expo 2010 Shanghai China every success.

As the host city for a milestone event with such an enlightening theme, Shanghai has shown its courage in addressing the challenges of future urban development and defining the global responsibilities of cities. It is my belief that through World Expo 2010, China will advance from the world factory of material production into an international cradle of civilization's promising future.

Expo maps released for public consultation

traffic guide map two


The Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination is seeking opinions and advice on a tour map and two traffic guide maps to the event.


Information on traffic from Yangtze Delta Region and traffic in the city, pavilions, entrances, parking lots, service facilities, aid facilities, commercial facilities and activities are available on the maps.


The three maps can be downloaded at official Expo Website, www.expo2010.cn. Only a Chinese version is available.

State Grid tells story with a magic box

tour map of the State Grid Pavilion
The "magic box" inside the State Grid Pavilion will use a world-leading six-facet LED-panel to guide visitors during the Shanghai World Expo.


The box is made up of 112 pieces of LED panels, 14.9 meters wide and 13.9 meters high.


From a special screening of about five minutes, visitors will learn how the State Grid meets electricity needs of a vast country like China.

Green benches debut in Pudong Expo Mansion

One thousand benches made from recycled milk and beverage cartons were unveiled at the Expo Mansion in Pudong yesterday.


The 1,000 benches, to be installed at the Expo site, were made from 113 tons of cartons collected from 728,400 citizens in Shanghai.


Ash bins and square stools made from recycled milk cartons will also be put inside the Expo site to promote environmental protection. Recycled papers made from milk and beverage cartons will be used to print Expo performance lists as well.


This initiative was organized by the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, Xinmin Evening News and Tetra Pak.

Expo products exhibition held in Shanghai

Nearly 1,000 Expo products from 11 provinces and cities went on show in Shanghai yesterday.


The exhibition attracted lots of suppliers and retailers at Shanghai Mart. One hundred and two suppliers from Shanghai, Beijing, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, and Shenzhen took part in the exhibition.


The 184-day Expo is expected to attract around 70 million visitors from home and abroad.

Siemens executives visit Expo bureau

scene of the meeting
Top executives of Siemens visited the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination yesterday.


Dr Reinhold Achatz, head of corporate research and technologies, the central research unit of Siemens AG, met Ding Hao, deputy director of the bureau, and dicussed the company's participation in the Expo.


Ding updated visitors with the latest preparations and trial run of Shanghai Expo.

Multimedia national treasure tests Expo run

"Along the River During Chingming Festival"
The highlight of China Pavilion during Shanghai World Expo, a multimedia version of "Along the River During Chingming Festival," was tested yesterday.


The original version, a top national treasure, was painted by the Song Dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145). It captures the daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng.


The figures in the multimedia version looked stunningly real and the water waves clear during the test.

Makoto Iokibe: Superpower responsibilities

Makoto Iokibe is President of the National Defense Academy of Japan. He also serves as a professor of political and diplomatic history at the Graduate School of Law at Kobe University.




Over millennia, China remained an unrivalled central empire in East Asia. The Chinese Empire maintained a splendid civilization peerless in this region and expanded its influence far and wide. The Roman Empire and the Chinese Han Empire in their heydays, and the Islamic Empire and the Chinese Tang Empire rising in the 7th century, all enjoyed advanced civilizations. The vessels in the fleet commanded by Zheng He in the Han Empire in the early 15th century crossed the Indian Ocean and were superior in design and performance to ships such as the Santa Maria, which Zheng’s contemporary Christopher Columbus sailed in his historic trans-Atlantic voyage. Of course, all interpretations of history are open to opinion.


After the Roman Empire collapsed because of the massive migration of Germanic people, the spiritual legacies of its civilization were inherited by the succeeding European world. In comparison, even after the Chinese Empire was conquered by other ethnic regimes, like the Yuan and the Qing dynasties, those ethnic groups were eventually assimilated into the Chinese civilization and subsequently became the driving forces that carried forward that civilization. The Han people have been the chief protagonists in the development of the Chinese civilization.


The Chinese civilization continued with the vicissitudes of dynasties and changes of regimes, repeating the 150-to-200-year historical cycle from one dynasty to another with insurrections in between.


A sudden change took place in this cycle in the 19th century. Although the decline of the Qing Empire was nothing unexpected in historical terms, it coincided with the invasion of East Asia by Western powers, led by Britain. Different from traditional civilizations that depended on manpower and horsepower, the Western civilizations that boomed after the Industrial Revolution were propelled by engines to extend their influences across continents and oceans. This industrialized civilization was the first that turned the earth into a smaller world. For non-Western societies, this ascendancy proved a tremendous challenge. Thanks to its promptness in understanding Western civilization, the island country of Japan soon modernized and rose to the same status as Western powers. By comparison, China took too long to appreciate the forces of change. That kept China plunged in turbulence for 140 years, beginning with the Opium War in 1840.


Since Deng Xiaoping’s initiation of the policy of“reform and opening-up,”China has made rapid progress. Thanks to its outstanding economic growth over the past 30 years, China has once again grown into a big central power in East Asia and indeed the world. Even the global economic crisis that started in 2008 failed to disrupt China’s progress. Instead, it gave China the opportunity to exhibit the great resilience of its economy.


Soon World Expo 2010 Shanghai China will begin. This is not only an exposition for the world to celebrate China’s great progress in the past 30 years but also an opportunity for China to show the world that it will rise to a superpower status equal to that of the United States by the middle of the 21st century.


What kind of superpower China becomes will not only affect its own future but also the destiny of global development this century. I sincerely hope this World Expo will send the message that however powerful it may grow, China will never run roughshod over any other country and will exhibit honorable conduct and high moral standards that foster global prosperity and happiness through economic and cultural exchange.

NZ foreign minister visits Expo site

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully visited the Expo site today.


The foreign minister checked the construction of the New Zealand Pavilion, which has a rooftop garden as a highlight. It covers 2,000 square meters of land and cost NZ$30 million (US$21 million).


Hu Jinjun, deputy director general of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, accompanied the foreign minister on the visit.


New Zealand Prime Minister John Key will visit Shanghai during the World Expo.

Expo forum held in Guizhou

The 26th Shanghai Expo Forum was held in Guizhou yesterday to promote World Expo 2010.


More than 300 people, including Miao minorities, attended the forum in the largest Miao minority village of Xijiang in the southwestern province. It was the last forum on the theme of interaction between urban and rural area before the Expo opens on May 1.


Colorful culture and folk activities were presented at the forum, including a traditional welcome ceremony at the gate of the village, folk singing and dancing and a long-table banquet.


Yesterday marks the 40-day countdown to the Expo. The first forum on the theme was held in last April in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province.

Greenland becomes Expo senior sponsor

Greenland Group signed a contract yesterday with the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination to be a senior sponsor of Expo 2010.


The group will offer fund support to the construction and operation of China Pavilion and Shanghai Pavilion.


The group has offered the largest amount of funding to sponsor the China Pavilion.


Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng, Executive Vice Mayor Yang Xiong and Publicity Minister of CPC Shanghai Committee Yang Zhenwu attended the ceremony.


Greenland is one of China's leading property corporations. The group had joined in Expo projects such as Expo site elevated walkway, the structure of buildings such as Pavilion of Urban Civilization and World Exposition Museum.


Greenland also won the bid for constructing the Italy Pavilion.


The group also took up renovation work in high rises and streets in Shanghai's Hongkou District during the 600-day countdown to Expo 2010, Wuzhong Rd and Guilin Rd Expo projects in Xuhui District and a bridge project related to Expo 2010.

Si-Chen Lee: Rediscovering ties to nature

Si-Chen Lee, born in 1952, is a professor of electronic engineering at National Taiwan University and was elected as the president of the university in 2005. He is also an expert in the field of micro-electronics engineering, qigong and parapsychology, and electro-optical engineering.

Expo tributes from 100 eminent voices



In human history, cities have drawn criticism as often as praise. Through the development of cities, mankind has freed itself from the restrictions of nature. At the same time, however, mankind has gradually lost its attachment to nature. It's ironic that the independence acquired from urban expansion has actually fettered our freedom. Facing this contradiction, we must therefore reorient urban life to achieve a balance between development and nature, between technology and humanity. We must cease allowing the vanity of urbanization to usurp nature, our fellow human beings and our core values. This is the paramount challenge of our generation.



The theme of World Expo 2010 Shanghai China–"Better City, Better Life"–exemplifies the mission we face. We must address the adverse effects of technology with better technology. We must save society by developing better concepts than those we call progress in the face of rampant development. We must re-establish harmonious ties with nature. None of these missions can be accomplished at one stroke. Instead, they require our acute awareness, our determined cooperation and our commitment to achieving success in our aims. The World Expo will duly provide us with a rare opportunity toward that goal.


As the host city for a milestone event with such an enlightening theme, Shanghai has shown its courage in addressing the challenges of future urban development and defining the global responsibilities of cities. It is my belief that through World Expo 2010, China will advance from the world factory of material production into an international cradle of civilization's promising future.

New Zealand Pavilion to show jade culture from two nations

Hei tiki, a carved jade piece from Otago Museum in New Zealand

New Zealand Pavilion will exhibit two jades, one from China and one from the South Pacific nation, during the 2010 Expo Shanghai China.


Hei tiki, a carved jade piece from Otago Museum in New Zealand, belonged to the family of a Maori clan chief. It is a miniature of a Maori man sitting with his head up, and it is 16cm high and 9.6cm wide.


Another jade piece on show will be a cong from Shanghai Museum dating back 5,000 years. It is square of 21.6cm tall and 7.3cm wide.


New Zealand has borrowed the Chinese jade to show a shared culture between the two nations.

Sand dunes in Shanghai

The pavilion of United Arab Emirates (UAE) finished its construction recently for 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The structure’s undulating form was inspired by the legendary sand dunes of the Empty Quarter in the UAE. The pavilion will be dismantled and rebuilt in the Middle Eastern nation when Expo ends.
A worker walks past the newly-completed UAE Pavilion for Shanghai World Expo.

Han meets delegation from Jiangsu's Changzhou

Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng yesterday thanked neighboring Jiangsu Province's Changzhou City for its support to Shanghai while meeting top Changzhou leaders.


World Expo 2010 is at a key stage from preparation to operation and all preparations are going smoothly, Han said while meeting Changzhou Party Secretary Fan Yanqing and Changzhou Mayor Wang Weicheng.


Shanghai has received great support for its eight years of Expo preparation from other provinces, especially cities in the Yangtze River Delta, which includes Changzhou, Han added.


As Yangtze Delta integration accelerates, cooperation and exchanges between Shanghai and Changzhou will be more frequent, Han said. Han also invite Changzhou residents to participate in and visit Expo 2010.


Fan said that residents in Changzhou are looking forward to the Expo 2010, which will soon open.


Changzhou will keep up its service and support to Expo and use the event as a stage to cooperate with Shanghai and showcase itself.

Tsung-Dao Lee:Exploring ‘dark’ mysteries

Our earth is not a big planet in the solar system, and the sun does not stand out from the rest of the 400 billion stars in the whole galaxy which also looks very tiny in the universe. However, thanks to our ancestors who created the Chinese civilization, this planet blessed with brown earth and blue water cherishes more distinctive features with greater intelligence and better human ethics than any other parts of the universe.


Although my tight schedule has restrained my knowledge about World Expo 2010 Shanghai China, I believe its greatest importance as a pageant of human civilization lies in its exposition of how the human race living on this planet has constantly moved forward in its exploration of the world and the universe.


World Expo 2010 Shanghai China will be the first comprehensive global exposition hosted by a developing country. For a developing nation like China, hosting this World Expo in 2010 is not only an effort to build a platform for cooperation between countries across the world but also a great opportunity to further strengthen its exchange with other nations. Through this opportunity, the Chinese nation will closely communicate with other cultures and learn from them.


The World Expo is a stage for exhibiting scientific and technological applications. Over the past 150 years, many new achievements in science, technology, ideology and culture have born a relationship with the World Expo.


It was through the World Expo that major inventions like automobiles, televisions, electric lamps and elevators made their debuts and started to gain popularity. As far as I know, this World Expo will showcase many original technological achievements made in Shanghai and in China as a whole, which have grown out of the efforts by generations of scientists in fundamental research.


How shall we Chinese keep coming up with new achievements in the decades after this event?


As I see it, China cannot afford to miss the 21st century in the field of fundamental research.


In the past, China missed the 17th century symbolized by classical mechanics, the 18th and 19th centuries represented by electro-magnetism, and the 20th century epitomized by quantum physics and the theory of relativity. Now, it cannot afford to miss the 21st century. The development of physics in the new century is closely correlated with ‘known substances,’ ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy.’


According to the research results we have achieved so far, the energy of the known substances consisting of such particles as electrons, protons and neutrons as well as a very small number of positrons and antiprotons only accounts for 5% of the total energy of the universe, with the remaining 95% coming from unknown substances, including approximately 22% from dark matter and 73% from dark energy.


We can realize the existence of dark matter from the effects of gravity, and discern the existence of dark energy from the acceleration of cosmic inflation.


To understand and investigate dark matter and dark energy pose the greatest challenges in modern physics. We Chinese must engage ourselves in these fields.


Some people may doubt China’s ability to lead the world in these fields. I would like to list two examples to clear their doubts. Nova and supernova, two very important concepts in astrophysics, were both first discovered by Chinese.


We discovered a nova back in the 13th century BC (during the Shang Dynasty), and a supernova in the Song Dynasty. To their surprise, the Chinese scientists of that time noticed a shining star in daytime, which looked ‘as big as an egg.’


They recorded its luminance every day for a whole year. These records are among the earliest astronomical observations in the world. Given the remarkable contributions by our ancestors, I strongly believe that modern Chinese scientists can also make outstanding achievements through persistent devotion and unfaltering patience.

Events organized by participants

The events to be organized by participants will include two types: national pavilion days and special days, and special weeks and daily events organized by Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.


More specifically, they will include national pavilion days, special days of international organizations, special days of cities, special days of enterprises, and special weeks of Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.


Daily events include the Expo Theme Month and other everyday events. In the former case, thematic events will be organized for each of the six months during the duration of the Expo according to the programs offered by the participants. Through careful arrangement of these programs, visitors will be helped to appreciate the diversified global culture in a better way. The following is a preliminary schedule the Organizer has worked out: May: the Europe Month; June, the Africa Month; July: the America Month; August: the Oceania Month; September: the Asia Month; and October: the China Month.

Thematic events

Thematic events are planned by the Organizer. Staged inside the Expo Site with enthusiastic participation by the participants, they are designed to develop the theme of Expo 2010. These events will be divided into four series, namely, the folkway series, the festive series, the Youthful Expo series and community series.


Folkway series

These are events designed to promote national culture, interpret folkways and customs as well as show folk arts. Stage shows, on-square events, tours, designing and other events will be organized to spotlight native culture including intangible cultural heritages, thus promoting the dialogue, communication and integration between different civilizations. The Organizer welcomes participants to stage mini shows with local features and of different styles on such sites as their own pavilions, thus helping develop the theme of the Expo.


◇ Festive series:

Well-established cultural and art festivals at home and abroad will be celebrated at different venues in the Expo Site, or parts of them will be demonstrated.


◇ The Youthful Expo series

Included in this series are events masterminded by the Organizer. Featuring the theme of Expo 2010, they are designed to guide global trends of fashion and bring young people around the world together to exchange and share ideas as well as express their future dreams via the platform of the Expo. They will include mainly exchanges and creations by young people and Expo dreams of juveniles.


◇ Community series

These events are designed to show Expo visitors the unique culture of Shanghai communities and the good manners of local residents, as well as display the harmonious interaction between the urban communities in Shanghai.

Four stars join Expo firmament

Four high-profile stars were appointed ambassadors to Shanghai World Expo today, on the 50-day countdown to the event’s opening in May.


They are Hong Kong pop and film star Andy Lau, Beijing talk show hostess and businesswoman Yang Lan, gymnast and entrepreneur Li Ning from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and contemporary classical composer Tan Du.


Lau was appointed Goodwill Ambassador, and said he looked forward to encouraging all Chinese people to promote the Expo.


Yang, also co-owner with her husband Wu Zheng of Sun Television Cybernetworks in Shanghai, was appointed the Image Ambassador. She said she will use her media working experiences to promote the event.


Li, who won 106 gold medals in competitions in China and abroad, became the Expo Health Ambassador.


Li, also chairman and founder of the Li Ning Company which sells footwear and sporting apparel, said he will hold various activities to promote the Expo.


Tan is the Culture Ambassador, working with American composer Quincy Jones on songs for the Expo.


Other Expo ambassadors include Hong Kong movie star Jackie Chan, pianist Lang Lang from Liaoning Province and NBA star Yao Ming from Shanghai.

Spain Pavilion prepares performance feast

The Spain Pavilion will be turned into a cabaret that offers a feast to visitors every night by serving authentic delicacies and sizzling shows.


More than 50 Spanish artists will perform live at Spain's Expo 2010 pavilion, presenting performances that range from avant-garde theatre to soap bubbles and flamenco dancing.


The daily show will be staged twice, at 6pm and 8pm, in the pavilion's amphitheatre, which has 100 seats. A "tapas" menu degustation will be served at the same time.


Confirmed artists include Yllana, with their gestural humor theatre; Pep Bou, famous for his soap bubbles; the contemporary dance company of Sol Picó, the magic of Jorge Blass and Sergi Buka, Jordi Beltráns's marionettes or the fusion between flamenco and music by Bach or Mozart created by Miriam Méndes, along with many others.

Parades to create sea of joy

More than 900 parades involving 23 floats will be staged citywide through the 184-day Expo as Shanghai hopes to spread the celebrations around the city.


Three routes have been designed, covering 2.6 kilometers in total. Two will be in the Pudong New Area, the main venue of the Expo site, and one will be in Puxi.


The 920 parades, five daily on average, are expected to attract 30 million visitors.


A number of sponsors for the upcoming fair and neighboring cities of Shanghai such as Zhoushan and Changshu yesterday signed cooperation documents with the organizer. The sponsors will contribute "floating pavilions" at the parades.

Xikou employs Expo expat promoters

Eight expat promoters pose for picture



Xikou, a Chinese national 4A tourist attraction, will stage its exhibition in Pavilion of Urban Future and the zone employed eight expat promoters yesterday.


The eight come from countries such as Norway, Germany, USA, Morocco and Singapore. They either study or work in Zhejiang's Ningbo City, which governs the tourist zone.


Xikou tourism authority will offer them free passes to the town and the ambassadors will use their cameras and texts to showcase the tourist resort.


"This place is really attractive," said Ove Nodland from Norway, one of the eight promoters.

Students celebrate Expo speech

More than 200 students from Xiwai International School attended a lecture on 2010 Expo Shanghai on Thursday.


This is the sixth leg of the lecture series in local schools, enabling students to ask questions and stage performances.

Representatives from the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination presented gifts to the school. Students also took pictures with their guests and Haibao mascots.

Vishakha N. Desai: Global village, shared future

Vishakha N. Desai



Vishakha N. Desai, is now the president and chief executive officer of the Asia Society. She is the first woman and the first Asian-American to lead the educational nonprofit institution, which was founded to foster understanding between Asia and America.




It is with great pleasure that I add my voice to the individuals and institutions who are coming together to celebrate and congratulate the organizers of The World Expo 2010 Shanghai. Exchanges of this sort are vital as we look ahead to a shared global future.


This unique event celebrating the outstanding achievements of the city of Shanghai under the theme "Better City, Better Life" calls attention to a vision that all cities of the world should strive to achieve. We commend you on your successes and look forward to working with our friends in China as we explore together the Asia Society's mission of "preparing for a shared future."


Asia Society is a leading global organization working to strengthen relationships and promote understanding among the people, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States. We seek to enhance dialogue, encourage creative expression, and generate new ideas across the fields of policy, business, education, arts, and culture.


Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller the 3rd, the Asia Society is a nonpartisan, nonprofit educational institution with offices in Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai and Washington, DC.


Asia Society has had a long history of constructive engagement with China over several decades: through quality programs, including high-level business conferences, symposia, international study missions, education initiatives, publications, art exhibitions and performing arts productions. Since the early 1980s the Society has reached out to a broad range of professionals and citizens interested in foreign affairs and culture. We strive to showcase the millennia-old civilization's artistic achievements of China and its ongoing legacy, manifest today in China's exciting contemporary art scene, of which Shanghai is a critical center. The Society held its signature corporate event, our 11th Asian Corporate Conference, in Shanghai in May 2000. We were delighted to work closely with all levels of government and the private sector to make this international event the ground breaking success it was.


Shanghai was China's pre-eminent international city for more than two centuries. Today, with Expo 2010, Shanghai, once again, reaffirms its international legacy. So it is with great pleasure that I write to congratulate you and wish the organizers of Expo 2010 and the City of Shanghai every success in this cross-cultural demonstration of a global village in the very real sense of the word.