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.