Expo 2010, officially the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, was held on both banks of the
Huangpu River in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
,
China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major
World Expo
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
registered by the
Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), in the tradition of international fairs and expositions, the first since 2005. The theme of the exposition was ''"Better City – Better Life"'' and signifies Shanghai's new status in the 21st century as the "next great
world city". The
Expo emblem features the Chinese character 世 ('world', Chinese "shì") modified to represent three people together with the 2010 date. It had the largest number of countries participating and was the most expensive Expo in the history of the world's fairs. The Shanghai World Expo was also the largest World's Fair site ever at 5.28 square km.
By the end of the expo, over 73 million people had visited – a record attendance – and 246 countries and international organizations had participated. On 16 October 2010, the expo set a single-day record of over 1.03 million visitors.
History
Early participation and hosting
Shanghai has been one of the main cities envisioned to host the expos for some time. Many scholars have written about the possibility and made suggestions in books. Unofficial participation in fairs outside China have happened since 1851. In 1910, the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
decided to host China's first fair with the
Nanyang industrial exposition
The 1910 Nanyang industrial exposition (南洋勸業會) or more internationally known as the 1910 Nanking Exposition was the official world's fair held in Nanking, Qing China on June 5, 1910.HK.huaxia.com.HK.huaxia.com." ''南洋勸業會:南京 ...
.
[HK.huaxia.com.]
HK.huaxia.com
." ''南洋勸業會:南京一個世紀前的世博會.'' Retrieved on 8 May 2010.
Selection process
Shanghai scored the highest in each of the four rounds of voting at the 132nd Meeting of the
Bureau of International Expositions
The Bureau international des expositions (BIE; English: International Bureau of Expositions) is an intergovernmental organization created to supervise international exhibitions (also known as expos or world expos) falling under the jurisdiction ...
in
Prince's Palace of Monaco
The Prince's Palace of Monaco ( French: ''Palais princier de Monaco'') is the official residence of the Sovereign Prince of Monaco. Built in 1191 as a Genoese fortress, during its long and often dramatic history it has been bombarded and besi ...
,
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
, Monaco, with
Yeosu
Yeosu (; ''Yeosu-si''), historically also Yosu, and known to the Japanese as Reisui during the period when Korea was under Japanese rule, is a city located on the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula in South Jeolla Province, South Korea an ...
, South Korea maintaining second place. Yeosu later won the bid to host
Expo 2012
Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea () was an International Exposition recognised by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) held in Yeosu, South Korea which opened May 12, 2012 and ran until August 12, 2012. The theme of the Expo was "The Living Oc ...
, a three-month specialized world expo.
Organization
![Shanghai (Huang Pu River at Night) 046](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Shanghai_%28Huang_Pu_River_at_Night%29_046.jpg)
In 2004,
the Chinese central government established the Shanghai World Expo Organising Committee as the organization dedicated to host the event. The Organising Committee set up an Executive Committee which is responsible for the execution and management of expo affairs. Besides, the Shanghai World Expo Coordination is founded for the daily affairs of the Executive Committee.
The site of the event was the
Nanpu Bridge
The Nanpu Bridge (), in Shanghai, China, sister bridge to the Yangpu Bridge, is one of the main bridges in Shanghai.
The cable-stayed bridge
A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support ...
–
Lupu Bridge
The Lupu Bridge (), named after Luwan District, is a through arch bridge over the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, connecting the city's Huangpu and Pudong districts. It is the world's third longest steel arch bridge, after the Ping'nan Third B ...
region in the center of Shanghai along both sides of the
Huangpu River. The area of the Expo 2010 covers 5.28 km
2.
After winning the bid to host the Expo in 2002, Shanghai began a monumental task to reshape the city. More than $48 billion was spent for the preparation, more than the cost of cleaning up Beijing in the preparations for the Olympics in 2008. Shanghai began clearing 2.6 square kilometres along the Huangpu River; that involved moving 18,000 families and 270 factories, including the Jiang Nan Shipyard, which employs 10,000 workers.
Six new subway lines were opened between 2008 and 2010; four thousand brand new taxis were added in the month before Expo 2010 opened and the city's buildings along the river were decorated with more energy-efficient LEDs.
During the expo, the expo site was crowded with national pavilions, sculpture gardens, shops, a sports arena and clam-shaped performing arts centre.
Shanghai trained more than 1.7 million volunteers and adopted Olympic-level security measures, adding metal detectors to subway entrances and screening cars entering the city.
The Shanghai Expo also featured an online version of the expo grounds featuring 3D renderings of the expo grounds, and a 3D version of the pavilion interior and offerings.
Participation
The Shanghai World Expo provided an unparalleled opportunity for the tourism industry. During 2010's Spring Festival, Shanghai received 2.79 million tourists, an increase of 12 percent from the previous year, resulting in record high numbers of visitors. Overall Shanghai's tourism revenue achieved an increase of 13 percent year on year during Spring Festival, resulting in RMB 2.1 billion in total revenue.
![Expo 2010 Shanghai flags and China Pavilion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Expo_2010_Shanghai_flags_and_China_Pavilion.jpg)
192 countries and 50 organizations registered to participate in the Shanghai World Expo, a record number for that time.
Attendance
Over 73 million people visited Expo 2010 during the 184-day event, breaking the previous record of 64 million visitors set by
Expo 70
The or Expo 70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan between March 15 and September 13, 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair ...
in
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
. Organizers had expected 70 million visitors at the start of the expo. About 5.8 percent of the visitors, or 4.25 million, were foreigners.
Finances
Shanghai spent 11.964 billion yuan in operating cost to host the event, making it the most expensive World Expo ever, but the organizers still made an operating profit of more than 1 billion yuan (US$157 million) thanks to the record attendance. The total revenue was 13.014 billion yuan, including 7.36 billion yuan in admission fees and almost 4 billion yuan in sponsorship income. However, the city invested another 19.74 billion yuan to prepare and construct the 5.28 square kilometer site, exceeding the budget of 18 billion yuan.
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony was held in the evening of 30 April 2010 attended by dozens of world leaders.
The ceremony consisted of an indoor and outdoor component.
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
,
Lang Lang
Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with leading orchestras in China, North America, Europe, and elsewhere. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic, ...
, and
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fr ...
were among the performers in the indoor component. The event featured an outdoor display of
fireworks
Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...
, lasers, and dancing fountains after a performance by singers and dancers. The outdoor ceremony was produced by
David Atkins
David Atkins, OAM (born 12 December 1955) is an Australian dancer, choreographer, music-theatre director and producer.
Career
Stage and television
Atkins began his performance career aged 12 with a role in the musical ''Mame''. As an adult p ...
Enterprises. 6,000
LED balls were floated into the
Huangpu River representing fish. Organisers called the outdoor show "the largest
searchlight
A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...
display in history, the largest collection of multi-coloured
laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...
firepower ever assembled in one place, the world's largest LED screen, one of the largest dancing
water fountains
A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect.
Fountains were ori ...
ever, and the "largest light show ever attempted"." President
Hu Jintao inaugurated the opening of the Shanghai World Expo.
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony was held on 31 October 2010, with numerous world leaders in attendance including
Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic polic ...
, Prime Minister of China, Sri Lanka's President
Mahinda Rajapaksa,
Viktor Orbán
Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian politician who has served as prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz since 1993, with a brief break between ...
, Prime Minister of Hungary,
Mari Kiviniemi, Prime Minister of Finland,
Hubert Ingraham
The Right Honourable Hubert Alexander Ingraham, PC (born 4 August 1947) is a Bahamian politician who was Prime Minister of the Bahamas from August 1992 to May 2002 and again from May 2007 to May 2012. He is a member of the Free National Movem ...
, Prime Minister of Bahamas,
Pakalitha Mosisili, Prime Minister of Lesotho,
Ram Baran Yadav
Ram Baran Yadav ( mai, डा. राम वरण यादव) is a Nepali politician and physician who served as the first president of Nepal from 23 July 2008 to 29 October 2015, following the declaration of a republic in 2008. Previously h ...
, President of Nepal and
Ban Ki-moon, General Secretary of the United Nations.
Expo music
Performances
About 20,000 performances were set to be staged between 1 May and 31 October in 2010, many singers present at the expo song writing and preparation process since 2008. Performers included
Alan Tam
Alan Tam Wing-lun MH (; born 23 August 1950) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. He played a major role in developing the Cantopop scene in the 1980s as he was known for singing romantic ballads with modern arrangements. From 1983 to 1987, Alan Tam ...
,
Gigi Leung
Gigi Leung Wing-kei (Chinese: 梁詠琪, born 25 March 1976) is a Hong Kong singer and actress.
Early life
She was born at Tsan Yuk Hospital in Sai Ying Pun on 25 March 1976 and was given the name Leung Pik-chi () for superstitious reasons; as ...
,
Stephanie Cheng
Stephanie Cheng (born 10 October 1984) is a Hong Kong cantopop singer. She debuted under Go East Entertainment with the song "Grown Up" in 2003 and has since released more than six albums and EPs. She is best known for her song "Traffic Light" ...
,
Khalil Fong
Khalil Fong ( Chinese: 方大同; born 14 July 1983) is a Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter and producer.
The biographical film La Bamba, about the life and career of Ritchie Valens, greatly influenced Fong's decision to become a ...
,
Hacken Lee
Lee Hak Kan (; born 6 December 1967), better known as Hacken Lee, is a Hong Kong singer, television host and actor, active from the 1980s until today. In 2013, Lee's song "House of Cards" swept multiple awards in many Hong Kong award ceremonies, in ...
,
Denise Ho
Denise Ho Wan-see (born 10 May 1977) is a Hong Kong-based Cantopop singer and actress. She is also a pro-democracy and Hong Kong human rights activist. In 2012, Ho came out as lesbian, the first mainstream Cantonese singer to do so. In 2014, H ...
,
Hins Cheung
Hins Cheung King Hin (; born 1 February 1981), is a Chinese-born Hong Kong singer, songwriter, record producer, and businessperson. He made his debut in 2001 with the studio album ''Hins' First.'' He has since released 17 studio albums and EPs ...
,
Vincy Chan
Vincy Chan (born 16 October 1982) is a Hong Kong- Singaporean Cantopop singer. She began her singing career after winning 1st runner up at the 2005 New Talent Singing Awards and has since been signed with Emperor Entertainment Group. Her best kno ...
, Philadelphia Boys Choir, National Boys Choir of Australia,
Salut Salon
Salut Salon is a chamber music quartet from Hamburg, Germany, with two violinists, a cellist, and a piano, pianist, all women. It was founded in 2002 by violinists Angelika Bachmann and Iris Siegfried. They have been called "the Harlem Globetrott ...
, the
Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland
The Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland (CBOI) is one of Ireland, Ireland's primary youth orchestras. Based at the Dundalk Institute of Technology in County Louth, the CBOI maintains a membership of 160 young musicians between the ages of 12 and 24 ...
and the
Harvard Din & Tonics
The Harvard Din & Tonics (or "the Dins") are a signature, five-part jazz a cappella group from Harvard University, founded in 1979.
History
The group was founded in April 1979 as a public service project of the Phillips Brooks House Associat ...
, and others.
Theme songs
*The official theme songs of the Expo were "City" by
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
and "Better City, Better Life" by
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
.
*The promotional song of the Expo was "
Right Here Waiting for You 2010
"Right Here Waiting for You 2010" () was a promotional song for Expo 2010, Expo 2010 Shanghai China, composed by Miao Sen (). It was first released in the 30-day countdown on April 1, 2010.
Jackie Chan, Lang Lang, Yao Ming, Yang Lan, Andy Lau, Li ...
" (). Released during the 30-day countdown on 1 April, Right Here Waiting for You 2010 was plagiarized from the 1997 Japanese song "Sonomama no Kimi de Ite" ("Stay the Way You Are") by
Mayo Okamoto
is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter. Her 1995 debut single "Tomorrow" peaked at number 1 on the Oricon weekly single charts. She released her greatest hits album ''Rise 1'' in 2000. The album topped the Oricon weekly album charts.
Expo 20 ...
. This resulted in its use as the Expo theme being suspended. After discussions with Okamoto's management, a compromise was reached such that "Sonomama no Kimi de Ite" is now the official song of the 2010 Expo
*The theme song for Shanghai World Expo volunteers was "By Your Side" () by
Eason Chan
Eason Chan Yick Shun (born 27 July 1974) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Chan was ranked sixth in the 2013 Forbes China Celebrity Top 100 List.
In 2006 Chan's Cantonese album ''U87'' was named one of ''Time'' magazine's "Five Asian Albums W ...
.
*The theme song for the Shanghai World Expo for the Chinese culture was "The World Watching China", sung by Chinese singer
Han Geng
Han Geng (Chinese: 韩庚; Pinyin: Hán Gēng; ) (born February 9, 1984) is a Chinese Mandopop singer and actor. He started his career in 2001, when he was chosen by S.M. Entertainment to become a member of South Korean boy band Super Junior ...
.
*The theme song for Norway was "Powered By Nature" which was composed by
Rolf Løvland
Rolf Undsæt Løvland (born 19 April 1955) is a Norwegian composer, lyricist, arranger, and pianist. Together with Fionnuala Sherry, he formed the Celtic-Nordic group Secret Garden, in which he was the composer, producer, and keyboardist. He beg ...
and performed by his group
Secret Garden. The song was recorded for their 2011 album ''
Winter Poem
''Winter Poem'' is the 2011 and the 7th album by Secret Garden.
Primarily an instrumental album, it features three songs with guest vocals: Moya Brennan of Clannad fame on "The Dream", Fionnuala Gill on "Mary’s Lament", and Tracey Campbell a ...
''.
Mascot
Haibao
Haibao (), meaning "jewel of the sea", is the mascot of Expo 2010, which was held in the city of Shanghai, China from May 1 to October 31, 2010.
Meaning
"Hai (海)" means the sea in Chinese inscribed from the name of the host city, and "Bao (宝, ...
was the mascot of the Shanghai Expo 2010. It means treasure of the sea and was based on the Chinese character for man or person, "人". Some said that Haibao resembles
Gumby
''Gumby'' is an American clay animation franchise, centered on the titular green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey. Gumby stars in two television series, the feature-length '' Gumby: The Movie'', and other media. He im ...
,
[(Japanese)] but the expo's secretariat said that it was an original design chosen through a competition and that they had never heard of Gumby.
Expo Axis
![ExpoShanghai 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/ExpoShanghai_2010.jpg)
The main building – called "
Expo Axis
The Expo Axis is one of the world's largest membrane roofs. It spanned the entrance and boulevard building of the World Exposition 2010 in Shanghai.
The combination of the membrane structure, which has a surface of 65,000 m2 in total with a spa ...
" – has the world's largest membrane construction and was built by SBA (architects) and
Knippers Helbig
Knippers Helbig is an engineering company based in Stuttgart, New York City , and Berlin.
It was founded in 2001 and specializes in structural design and facade engineering of German and international construction projects involving high-rise b ...
(structural engineers). The building consists of some steel-glass funnels with a long membrane construction. The main construction was completed at the end of 2009.
Pavilions
Theme pavilions
There were five central theme pavilions at the Expo 2010, exploring different aspects of urban development. They were called ''Urban Footprints'', ''Urban Planet'', ''Urbanian'', ''City Being'', and ''Urban Future''.
National pavilions
National pavilions
The national pavilions host each participant nation's official representation during the Venice Biennale, an international art biennial exhibition held in Venice, Italy. Some countries own pavilion buildings in the Giardini della Biennale while ...
included:
Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Oman, Pacific Pavilion, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam
and Yemen.
Corporate pavilions
Corporate pavilions included: Aurora Pavilion,
Broad
Broad(s) or The Broad(s) may refer to:
People
* A slang term for a woman.
* Broad (surname), a surname
Places
* Broad Peak, on the border between Pakistan and China, the 12th highest mountain on Earth
* The Broads, a network of mostly na ...
Pavilion, China Railway, China State Shipbuilding Corporation Pavilion,
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...
Pavilion, Cisco Pavilion, Information and Communication Pavilion, Oil Pavilion, Japanese Industry, PICC, Private Enterprises Joint Pavilion, Republic of Korea Business, SAIC-GM Pavilion, Shanghai Corporate Joint Pavilion, Space Pavilion, Space Home Pavilion, State Grid and Vanke Pavilion.
International organisations
The Expo also included a pavilion for the
Red Cross and Red Crescent
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
and several
others.
Urban Best Practice Area pavilions
The Urban Best Practice Area allowed cities and regions an opportunity to share experiences of improving urban living.
San Francisco (a Shanghai sister city) was one participant here,
as were
Dafeng Town in Shenzhen,
Hangzhou,
Liverpool,
London,
Montreal,
Rotterdam and
Seoul.
The Expo also included Chinese displays about Hong Kong and Ningbo.
Legacy
The Expo introduced numerous urban best practices and concepts from all over the world which the organisers hope will be a lasting legacy for better urban life in China and around the world. It advocated for future development to focus on environmental sustainability, efficiency and diversity. The innovations and achievements of the event were summarised in the Shanghai Declaration issued by the participants of the Expo. The declaration also nominated the Shanghai Expo's closing day 31 October as "World Better Cities Day".
United Nations Secretary-General
The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
The role of the secretary-g ...
Ban Ki-moon stated at the closing of the Expo, "Thanks to this Expo, millions of people learned about possibilities for making our cities healthier and safer, cities that better integrate nature and technology, cities that offer their citizens cleaner air and water, and better lives all around".
Within Shanghai, the grounds of the former Expo site now constitute the
Expo Park, including the former China Pavilion. The
Bureau of International Expositions
The Bureau international des expositions (BIE; English: International Bureau of Expositions) is an intergovernmental organization created to supervise international exhibitions (also known as expos or world expos) falling under the jurisdiction ...
(BIE) and the Shanghai government have announced plans to construct the world's only official World Expo Museum in Shanghai, on the Puxi side of the expo site. Construction began in 2012, and the museum opened its doors on 1 May 2017. More than 200 participants from Expo 2010 have donated over 30,000 exhibits to the future museum. The BIE has added into its formal requirements that all future Expo bidders shall support the new Expo Museum.
The Shanghai Expo was touted by the
Chinese government
The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...
as yet another first-rate global scale event, similar in significance to the
Beijing Olympics, which would symbolise the economic and political rise of China in the 21st century. The event would demonstrate to both the Chinese populace and foreign nations the enormous progress of China's urban development in the heart of the nation's economic hub of Shanghai. The event received extensive media coverage in the
Chinese media
The mass media in China consists primarily of television, newspapers, radio, and magazines. Since the start of the 21st century, the Internet has also emerged as an important form of communication by media, and is under the direct supervisi ...
both in the lead up and during the World Expo. According to China analyst Tom Doctoroff, "In terms of what the city was able to achieve, the Chinese were impressed. Shanghai stepped up a level in internationalization". Outside China, the Expo propelled Shanghai onto magazine covers, newspaper front pages and television programmes at a time when it is laying the groundwork to become an international financial centre by 2020.
Controversies
A group of NGOs protested a month before the expo against the alleged displacement of 18,000 families in the Shanghai area in connection with the Expo. Dissident
Feng Zhenghu
Feng Zhenghu (born 1 July 1954) is a Chinese economist and scholar based in Shanghai. Citing Amnesty International, ''The Guardian'' said that Feng was "a prominent human rights defender" in Mainland China. In 2001 he was sent to prison for t ...
was detained in mid April 2010 for threatening to publicly seek redress for them in the courts. According to the U.S. government-run
Congressional-Executive Commission on China
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) is an independent agency of the U.S. government which monitors human rights and rule of law developments in the People's Republic of China. It was created in October 2001 under Title III of ...
, Shanghai authorities used the expo as an excuse to conduct a surveillance, propaganda, and detention campaign against members of the banned
Falun Gong
Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...
spiritual group.
[Congressional Executive Commission on China]
Annual Report
, 2010.
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
controversially sent the original
Little Mermaid statue from
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
to the expo, putting a video replica recorded by dissident
Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly c ...
in its place.
[Cbsnews.com.]
Cbsnews.com
." ''Little mermaid taking trip to China.'' Retrieved on 2010-01-23. Some observers criticized the
Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office
The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council is an administrative agency of the State Council of the People's Republic of China responsible for promoting cooperation and coordination of political, economic and cultural ties betwe ...
's payment for the 9 Hong Kong
undersecretaries to inspect infrastructure projects and hold discussions on city-to-city cooperation. Six legislators from the
pro-democracy camp
The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic L ...
boycotted an invitation to the expo by the Shanghai government because of the
issue of political reform and the
2010 Hong Kong by-election
The 2010 Hong Kong Legislative Council by-election was an election held on 16 May 2010 in Hong Kong for all five geographical constituencies of the Legislative Council (LegCo), triggered by the resignation of five pan-democrat Legislative Cou ...
.
[''South China Morning Post''. 13 April 2010.] The Chinese government postponed the planned visit of 1,000 Japanese youths to the expo in September because of the
2010 Senkaku boat collision incident, which Japanese prime minister
Naoto Kan
is a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011. Kan was the first Prime Minister since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to serve for ...
called regrettable.
State employees were given free one-day vouchers to the expo, and according to one worker, threatened with wage cuts, in order to fulfill the target of 70 million visitors. Long lines at the Germany pavilion caused visitors to shout "
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
, Nazi" and attack workers, according to general commissioner for Germany's pavilion Dietmar Schmitz.
[Chinese.rfi.fr.]
Chinese.rfi.fr
." ''世博德国馆遭游客辱骂扬言要闭馆 .'' Retrieved on 2010-01-23. Free tickets to an expo show featuring
K-pop group
Super Junior caused a stampede that injured 100 people, which spokespersons for the expo and the Korean pavilion allegedly denied.
[The Standard HK.]
The Standard.com
." ''Korean crush sparks ticket rethink at expo.'' Retrieved on 2010-01-23.
See also
*
2008 Summer Olympics
*
2008 Summer Paralympics
The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...
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2010 Asian Games
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2011 Summer Universiade
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Shanghai Expo Park
Shanghai Expo Park () is a park in the district of Pudong within Shanghai. It is situated in Pudong New Area. It is located near the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Events
It hosted the Shanghai Expo 2010 and Strawberry Music Festival 2012. The park i ...
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New International Expo Center
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Urbanization in the People's Republic of China
Urbanization in China increased in speed following the initiation of the reform and opening policy. As of 2022, China had an urbanization rate of 64.7% and was expected to reach 75-80% by 2035.
By 2010, the OECD, based on Functional Urban Area ( ...
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Tourism in China
Tourism in China is a growing industry that is becoming a significant part of the Chinese economy. The rate of tourism has expanded over the last few decades since the beginning of reform and opening-up. The emergence of a newly rich middle cl ...
References
External links
Official website of the BIEArchdaily Shanghai 2010 coverage(details of projects)
Xinhua News Agency's official coverageShanghai World's FairExpo 2010 on ExpoMuseum.com- approximately 240 links
Shanghai 2010 review by WorldExpositions.info researcher Niels Kolditz
{{Authority control
Foreign affairs in Shanghai
Economy of Shanghai
2010s in Shanghai
2010 in China
Events in Shanghai
Articles containing video clips
World's fairs in China