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As the opening day is rapidly approaching, the blueprints of 2010 Shanghai World Exposition are now translating into realities. Among these miraculously metamorphosing shapes are the magnificent China Pavilion, the Performance Center, the Theme Pavilion and the Expo Center. These four giant structures stand along the Expo Axis.
On May 1, 2010, pavilions of 192 countries, 50 international organizations, 18 corporations, 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of the mainland, and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan will be ready and open to visitors. It is estimated that 70 million people will visit the pavilions in an area of 3.28 square kilometers.
What are there for us to see? How do we see them? Thanks to my visits to the 2000 Hanover World Expo, the 2005 Aichi World Expo and 2008 Zaragoza World Expo, I would like to discuss some pavilions that might become popular in 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
UK Pavilion: Palace of Seeds
The pavilion features a unique appearance: it looks like a giant square box with some 60,000 slender transparent rods extending from the surface and quivering in the breeze. Thomas Heatherwick, the designer of the UK pavilion explained that the slightly gloomy interior of the pavilion is the place where visitors could encounter ancient manuscripts. He hopes visitors would contemplate how humanity should live with the nature.
What these transparent rods do is more than transmitting light from the outside into the interior. Each rod contains a seed from both the Royal Botanical Garden of UK (also known as Kew Garden) and the Kunming Institute of Botany of China.
The pavilion is named as “Palace of Seeds” for various reasons. The people of UK have a passion for nature. They built the world’s first city park in 1840 and they run the Kew Millennium Seed Bank. The designer wants the seeds to symbolize innovative and inspirational thoughts for future. What could be more powerful? The rods will be saved after the exposition and distributed as souvenirs to schools.
Spain Pavilion: A Wicker Basket
It looks like a wicker basket, but it is only the appearance. Under the wicker cover is a large steel structure. Even the wicker cover itself is unique: it is hand-woven and it is in various colors and it is covered with a special water-proof material. Ample sunshine can go through the wicker material. The 8,000 m2 inside of the pavilion is mainly decorated with bamboo and translucent paper. Solar panels on the top provide energy to the architecture. It is an attractive and artistic structure made in an avant-garde style.
The pavilion symbolizes Spain’s view of the future: nature. That’s why the pavilion emphasizes its great handicraft tradition. Wicker products are seen in everyday life in this Mediterranean country. Wicker is a material from nature and constitutes an element for innovative ideas for the pavilion. As wicker is also a traditional handicraft material in China, it is used as a symbol for cultural exchanges and fusion between China and Spain.
Japan Pavilion: Harmony of Hearts, Harmony of Skills
Featuring a message for the future: Connect for a Harmonious Future, the pavilion looks like a silk cocoon in color purple. It is therefore nicknamed the Purple Silkworm Island. The pale purple symbolizes the red of the sun and the blue of the water. With various skills, the pavilion utilizes the elements of nature. For example, by using the membrane structure and solar batteries, the pavilion makes use of light and solar energy most efficiently. A technology of water-misting is also used inside the pavilion.
The Japan Pavilion is divided into three sections, representing the past, the present and the future of the country’s sustainable urban development. The future section is the highlight of the pavilion. In this section, visitors can watch a stage play called “Saving the Crested Ibis”. Crested Ibis is a precious bird in both China and Japan. In the early 1980s, the precious species was rediscovered in Shaanxi Province in northwestern China. Chinese and Japanese experts worked in close partnership and did research on breeding and protection. In 1989, the scientists for the first time successfully bred Crested Ibis artificially. This success played a key part in bringing the precious species back from the danger of extinction. The bird has become a symbol of friendship between China and Japan. The 20-minute play will be repeatedly staged in the pavilion during the expo.
Saudi Arabia Pavilion: Moon Boat
The pavilion looks like a boat sailing toward Mecca. Within an outdoor section of the pavilion grow 150 date palm trees. The boat signifies the Silk Road on the Sea existing between China and Middle East more than 1,000 years ago. The huge boat features elements of desert, oasis and sea, which define the geography of the Middle East country. Date palm trees bring the biggest benefits to Arabians, as amply testified by Saudi Arabia: villages and cities grow and survive with date palm trees. The 150 date palm trees for the Saudi Arabia Pavilion had been transplanted in Shanghai before they were transplanted to the Moon Boat.
The pavilion highlights the theme of “Vitality of Life”, displaying how the country has successfully built a beautiful life in a fiercely difficult environment where there is no river and no lake. There are four kinds of cities in Saudi Arabia and the four kinds reflect the five elements in urbanization in Saudi Arabia: sand, water, oil, knowledge, and national unity.
USA Pavilion: the Eagle Flies
United States was very late to confirm its intention to build a pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The belated decision was due to two considerations: the USA was not very enthusiastic about world expositions partly because of its embarrassing financial failure in hosting 1984 New Orleans World Expo and partly because of legal restraints barring the American government from funding such a pavilion. USA Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has played a crucial part in ensuring American representation in the expo. She spent nine months raising $54 million.
Though the construction of the USA Pavilion started in July, 2009, it will have been completed by early March, 2010. The pavilion looks like a flying eagle and the central green belt in the pavilion resembles a huge eagle nest. The roof garden is inspired by the vegetable garden in the White House. The pavilion consists of four sections. In the third section a film will be screened to illustrate the American Dream.
Tom Cooney, vice consul-general of US Consulate in Shanghai, says that visitors are welcome to visit USA pavilion and hear an America story about dream and future based on four core themes: Sustainability, Teamwork, Health, and the Chinese Community in America.
France Pavilion: Sensual Delights and Romance
The French people’s passion for a sensuous life is best showcased in the pavilion at the expo. The design chosen for the Shanghai event is called “Sensual City”. The pavilion emphasizes harmony between man and nature. The vertical French-styled garden will present an unprecedented landscape which encircles the pavilion and climbs to the roof.
The director of the pavilion is Franck Sarrano who turns out to be a son-in-law of Zhejiang Province, for his wife has her ancestral roots in Changxing County, Zhejiang Province. From May 1st to October 31st, France Pavilion will organize “Romantic Weddings at France Pavilion”. Couples are welcome to celebrate their marriage in an atmosphere typical of French romance. Couples will receive a gift and a wedding certificate branded France Pavilion.
The pavilion will also have a wall of flat screens where visitors can watch excerpts of old French films and images of modern France. The mascot of the France Pavilion is Leon the kitten, a popular image in a French cartoon. Visitors will also see seven great masterpieces by timeless greats such as Millet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, and Rodin.□
On May 1, 2010, pavilions of 192 countries, 50 international organizations, 18 corporations, 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of the mainland, and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan will be ready and open to visitors. It is estimated that 70 million people will visit the pavilions in an area of 3.28 square kilometers.
What are there for us to see? How do we see them? Thanks to my visits to the 2000 Hanover World Expo, the 2005 Aichi World Expo and 2008 Zaragoza World Expo, I would like to discuss some pavilions that might become popular in 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
UK Pavilion: Palace of Seeds
The pavilion features a unique appearance: it looks like a giant square box with some 60,000 slender transparent rods extending from the surface and quivering in the breeze. Thomas Heatherwick, the designer of the UK pavilion explained that the slightly gloomy interior of the pavilion is the place where visitors could encounter ancient manuscripts. He hopes visitors would contemplate how humanity should live with the nature.
What these transparent rods do is more than transmitting light from the outside into the interior. Each rod contains a seed from both the Royal Botanical Garden of UK (also known as Kew Garden) and the Kunming Institute of Botany of China.
The pavilion is named as “Palace of Seeds” for various reasons. The people of UK have a passion for nature. They built the world’s first city park in 1840 and they run the Kew Millennium Seed Bank. The designer wants the seeds to symbolize innovative and inspirational thoughts for future. What could be more powerful? The rods will be saved after the exposition and distributed as souvenirs to schools.
Spain Pavilion: A Wicker Basket
It looks like a wicker basket, but it is only the appearance. Under the wicker cover is a large steel structure. Even the wicker cover itself is unique: it is hand-woven and it is in various colors and it is covered with a special water-proof material. Ample sunshine can go through the wicker material. The 8,000 m2 inside of the pavilion is mainly decorated with bamboo and translucent paper. Solar panels on the top provide energy to the architecture. It is an attractive and artistic structure made in an avant-garde style.
The pavilion symbolizes Spain’s view of the future: nature. That’s why the pavilion emphasizes its great handicraft tradition. Wicker products are seen in everyday life in this Mediterranean country. Wicker is a material from nature and constitutes an element for innovative ideas for the pavilion. As wicker is also a traditional handicraft material in China, it is used as a symbol for cultural exchanges and fusion between China and Spain.
Japan Pavilion: Harmony of Hearts, Harmony of Skills
Featuring a message for the future: Connect for a Harmonious Future, the pavilion looks like a silk cocoon in color purple. It is therefore nicknamed the Purple Silkworm Island. The pale purple symbolizes the red of the sun and the blue of the water. With various skills, the pavilion utilizes the elements of nature. For example, by using the membrane structure and solar batteries, the pavilion makes use of light and solar energy most efficiently. A technology of water-misting is also used inside the pavilion.
The Japan Pavilion is divided into three sections, representing the past, the present and the future of the country’s sustainable urban development. The future section is the highlight of the pavilion. In this section, visitors can watch a stage play called “Saving the Crested Ibis”. Crested Ibis is a precious bird in both China and Japan. In the early 1980s, the precious species was rediscovered in Shaanxi Province in northwestern China. Chinese and Japanese experts worked in close partnership and did research on breeding and protection. In 1989, the scientists for the first time successfully bred Crested Ibis artificially. This success played a key part in bringing the precious species back from the danger of extinction. The bird has become a symbol of friendship between China and Japan. The 20-minute play will be repeatedly staged in the pavilion during the expo.
Saudi Arabia Pavilion: Moon Boat
The pavilion looks like a boat sailing toward Mecca. Within an outdoor section of the pavilion grow 150 date palm trees. The boat signifies the Silk Road on the Sea existing between China and Middle East more than 1,000 years ago. The huge boat features elements of desert, oasis and sea, which define the geography of the Middle East country. Date palm trees bring the biggest benefits to Arabians, as amply testified by Saudi Arabia: villages and cities grow and survive with date palm trees. The 150 date palm trees for the Saudi Arabia Pavilion had been transplanted in Shanghai before they were transplanted to the Moon Boat.
The pavilion highlights the theme of “Vitality of Life”, displaying how the country has successfully built a beautiful life in a fiercely difficult environment where there is no river and no lake. There are four kinds of cities in Saudi Arabia and the four kinds reflect the five elements in urbanization in Saudi Arabia: sand, water, oil, knowledge, and national unity.
USA Pavilion: the Eagle Flies
United States was very late to confirm its intention to build a pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The belated decision was due to two considerations: the USA was not very enthusiastic about world expositions partly because of its embarrassing financial failure in hosting 1984 New Orleans World Expo and partly because of legal restraints barring the American government from funding such a pavilion. USA Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has played a crucial part in ensuring American representation in the expo. She spent nine months raising $54 million.
Though the construction of the USA Pavilion started in July, 2009, it will have been completed by early March, 2010. The pavilion looks like a flying eagle and the central green belt in the pavilion resembles a huge eagle nest. The roof garden is inspired by the vegetable garden in the White House. The pavilion consists of four sections. In the third section a film will be screened to illustrate the American Dream.
Tom Cooney, vice consul-general of US Consulate in Shanghai, says that visitors are welcome to visit USA pavilion and hear an America story about dream and future based on four core themes: Sustainability, Teamwork, Health, and the Chinese Community in America.
France Pavilion: Sensual Delights and Romance
The French people’s passion for a sensuous life is best showcased in the pavilion at the expo. The design chosen for the Shanghai event is called “Sensual City”. The pavilion emphasizes harmony between man and nature. The vertical French-styled garden will present an unprecedented landscape which encircles the pavilion and climbs to the roof.
The director of the pavilion is Franck Sarrano who turns out to be a son-in-law of Zhejiang Province, for his wife has her ancestral roots in Changxing County, Zhejiang Province. From May 1st to October 31st, France Pavilion will organize “Romantic Weddings at France Pavilion”. Couples are welcome to celebrate their marriage in an atmosphere typical of French romance. Couples will receive a gift and a wedding certificate branded France Pavilion.
The pavilion will also have a wall of flat screens where visitors can watch excerpts of old French films and images of modern France. The mascot of the France Pavilion is Leon the kitten, a popular image in a French cartoon. Visitors will also see seven great masterpieces by timeless greats such as Millet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, and Rodin.□