Shanghai Expo 2010

Shanghai Expo just kicked-off on May 1, 2010. As usual, when China organizes an international event, the opening ceremony is spectacular. Both the outdoor display along the Huang Pu River and the indoor ceremony in the China pavilion are memorable for the people who watch the show, and of course they have a dazzling display of fireworks. Shanghai Expo is, without a question, is the biggest expo ever held by any country/city.

Some of you might have never heard about the World Expo, which is held twice a year. It is an international organization governed by the Bureau International des Expositions, and it started on 1851 (older than the Olympics). Some of the notable expos in the past are; 1915 Panama World Expo: Inauguration of Panama Canal, 1939 New York Expo: Building The World of tomorrow, 1962 21st Century Seattle Expo: Man in the Space Age, and 1988 Brisbane Expo: The Era of Discovery. The World Expo is not only a showcase and a mode of advertising of the tourism in the city where the event is held, but it also tries to get all the participating countries in the same page regarding the theme of each expo so that the message is delivered to all countries in the world. All participants will have their own pavilions and show to the visitors their ability in representing the theme of each expo.

After a great success with the Beijing Olympic in 2008, China is once again at the center of the world’s attention. Through this event China will not only be able to promote its tourism, its readiness to be a "superpower", but also to show the world that it is ready to show the world that it cares about the environment. The theme of the expo literally represent China's main goal for hosting this huge event: "Better City, Better Life".

Up to this point, I think China has been really successful promoting the event. Aside from the eviction issues, this is the only World Expo that is well-advertised in the last decade. The choice of city is also great because Shanghai, like New York in the United States, is the capital of financial activities in China. It is the largest city, and it has the best infrastructure in China before Beijing was totally restructured for the Olympics.

Shanghai Expo 2010 is a bigger event than the Beijing Olympics 2008 in terms of the length and the area used for the events, also most importantly number of visitors. The event is 5 months long from the beginning of May until the end of October, it is using up 5.3 kilometer square of land and, the organizer is expecting 70-100 million people would come to the event and many more will be exposed through television and other media coverage. This year Expo is BIG in a lot of aspects: number of countries participating, the total area being used, money involved, advertising, and what not. And as always China tries to make everything it does look flashy, and big.

Ok, so China is the main purpose of China hosting this event is to showing off its ability to arrange international event and make it the largest, the most expensive and the most fabulous and the most flamboyant in the history.
WRONG

I think the government’s main goal is not that explicit. There is no doubt that China will make this event flashy just like what they did with the Olympics. But, being flashy is not their main goal. In my opinion they have two goals: helping third world countries to get involved in the world-wide event, and promote its awareness of environmental issue.

China is trying to bring as many countries as possible in order to create such impact to the “forgettable” and overlooked countries such as Timor Leste, Mauritius, Armenia, Gabon, Chad, etc. This is one way China could promote its “superpower-wannabe” campaign. China government has also been actively helping African countries and other third world countries for their developments. China has been actively helping poor or small countries by lending them money and helping them developing infrastructure and technology.

The bottom line of this expo is that China tries to showcase its beauty and its goodwill. It seems like China is trying to say to those small countries (who have never been invited to any expo before), “Hey no one cares about you in this world, but I do! Let’s joint the party!” This is a very sympathetic political move. Put it this way – those small countries must feel like an NBA rookie player who gets invited to Kenny Smith’s NBA all-star weekend party. And of course, those countries would not come out with the most lavish pavilions or with the most advanced technology, but at least the visitors (remember, there will be 70-100 million people) will see them. All African countries’ pavilions would actually be in the same zone as the pavilions of the United States and some European countries, where they expect a very high human traffic throughout the Expo. Moreover, China also has a message to oil-rich African countries such as, Angola, Guinea, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, and Sudan, “Hey I am taking care of your little brothers (mean: poor African countries) here, can you also share some of your oil??”

There are two issues that China has been continuously accused for: human rights and environmental issue. The Expo gives China an opportunity to fix its reputation on the environmental issue. It is explicitly stated in the logo and the slogan of the Expo. “Better City, Better Life”. The logo of the event is a character of the world “shi” means earth, and is modified so that it looks like three people holding on.

China government has issued a lot of regulation regarding the environment, but there is still plenty of doubt and uncertainties regarding the government’s seriousness on this issue. With this event, the government is trying to send a message to the whole world that they actually cares about the environment and showing the world that it also tries to save the world from the global warming and other scary issue about the sustainability of the Earth. Also, with a lot of pavilion, especially from European countries, proposing new technologies of how to live “green”, China would have a lot of new ideas to make their industry-packed cities (i.e. Shenzhen, Shanghai, Wuhan, Tianjin) better cities for their people and thus would be more attractive for foreign investors as well, which leads to the ultimate goal that this country has, to be an economic super power.

Well, I am very excited for this expo and I might be there in late July, so I could probably report some deeper insights as I get there, see you guys!