http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/LE04Cb02.htmlExpo 2010, Shanghai's mother of all World's Fairs, officially opened on May 1 with crowds estimated at more than 200,000; even more came on Sunday for a total weekend attendance of 433,000, according to official sources.
The opening day was blessed by good, though hot, weather, with no "artificial sky clearing" measures required according to Tang Xu of the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau; such artificial methods had been used for the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, according to reports.
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The lengthy, elaborate program for the Expo opening began on April 30, with a huge Las Vegas-like extravaganza at the UFO-shaped Expo Cultural Center featuring a reported 2,300 performers, including Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan, concert pianist Lang Lang, and opera singer Andrea Bocelli. VIPs who attended included French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, North Korea's de facto head of state Kim Yong-nam, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak , European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, and other dignitaries from Armenia, Mongolia, the Seychelles, and many other countries. Besides these high-level officials, Kekyi Wangmo and Jangba Tsering, two children orphaned by the earthquake which struck Tibet two weeks ago, were also invited. At 8.30 pm, President Hu Jintao declared the Expo formally open.
After the indoor ceremony, an enormous outdoor display began along the Huangpu River separating the two main areas of the Expo grounds as evening fell; this included 80-meter fountains and a massive fireworks display, with streams of sparks showering off the Nanpu and Lupu Bridges over the Huangpu, and fireworks forming images of smiley faces and Haibao, the Expo mascot. Thousands of colored LED balls floated in the river, with hundreds of boats festooned with the national flags of countries represented at the Expo powering upstream through the brightly lit balls. On the Puxi side of the Expo site, what was claimed to be the world's largest LED screen at 25 meters by 80 meters, spelt out "Welcome to Shanghai, China" in red and gold. An expo song, written by American Quincy Jones and Chinese classical composer Tan Dun, was played, using words in Shanghainese dialect.
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Another issue involved, indirectly, one of the Expo's most famous attractions, the Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen harbor, now on display at the Danish pavilion. To replace the statue during its absence, the Danish authorities permitted a video installation by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei to be installed in the harbor. Ai, who provided the basic design for Beijing's Olympic stadium, is one of the most famous artists in China. Yet the choice by the Danish government has political implications, for he is one of the most determined and relentless critics of the Chinese Communist Party, most specifically over the lack of freedom of speech, especially artistic freedom, in the country. A few characteristic quotes:
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On the way to the US pavilion, past the China pavilion and dozens of stunning and indescribable European and Southeast Asian pavilions, we stopped only at the Hungarian pavilion (a sentimental priority for the author, who is 50% Hungarian by blood). The structure included a very well-done tourism film, but its main attraction was the largest gomboc ever put on public display. A gomboc is a unique 3D shape discovered in 2006 by two Hungarians, the engineer Gabor Domokos and the architect Peter Varkonyi. Wikipedia describes it as "a convex three-dimensional homogeneous body which, when resting on a flat surface, has just one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium". <3>
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Walking past the spectacular and very large Russian pavilion led us to the Americas area and the US pavilion, whose underwhelming exterior design has been likened to a "combination air cleaner and Bose sound system". Nevertheless, it was extremely popular, with exceptionally long lines (2 1/2 hours according to one first-hand report); these lines were only for the main exhibit area, where the major attraction was a film based on the "rising to the challenge" theme. It was possible to enter a small part of the building, containing a gift shop and an area for corporate displays. The shop was doing a land-office business with keychains and souvenir sweatbands (made in China, needless to say); the corporate sponsors, who included GE, Microsoft, Citigroup, Chevron, Visa, Motorola, Wrigley's Gum, and others, were also attracting some interest.
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At night, the Expo assumes a completely different aspect due to stunning lighting displays; computerized LED technology was on offer almost everywhere, perhaps most spectacularly at the "Oil pavilion", collectively sponsored by China's three state oil companies. The outer surface of the Oil pavilion was covered with LED lights showing a striking computerized animation with continuously shifting colors.
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all the snips are long - this is a three page article
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