Finance minister: All Vision 2030 projects have sustainable funding that won't affect public finances    Crown Prince announces medium-term debt strategy to diversify funding sources "A resilient economy capable of overcoming challenges reflects progress towards achieving Vision 2030 goals"    'No excuses' for Israel to not accept ceasefire deal, EU foreign policy chief says    Riyadh Season draws 8 million visitors in 6 weeks    Alkhorayef highlights role of National Initiative for Global Supply Chains in boosting Saudi economy    Saudi Arabia signs investment deals worth SR35bn with foreign firms to strengthen global supply chains    Saudi Arabia unveils updates on Expo 2030 Riyadh master plan at 175th BIE General Assembly Riyadh Expo Development Company established to oversee strategic planning, operations, and legacy development    Saudi FM attends Quadripartite meeting on Sudan in Italy    Georgia's new parliament opens first session amid mass protests and boycott    Gangsters block aid distribution in south Gaza    Russian deserter reveals war secrets of guarding nuclear base    Best-selling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford dies    Cristiano Ronaldo's double powers Al Nassr to 3-1 win over Al Gharafa in AFC Champions League    Saud Abdulhamid makes history as first Saudi player in Serie A    Al Ahli edges Al Ain 2-1, bolsters perfect start in AFC Champions League Elite    Al-Falih: 1,238 foreign investors obtain premium residency in Saudi Arabia    Most decorated Australian Olympian McKeon retires    Adele doesn't know when she'll perform again after tearful Vegas goodbye    'Pregnant' for 15 months: Inside the 'miracle' pregnancy scam    Do cigarettes belong in a museum?    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



China expo to attract 70m visitors
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 26 - 04 - 2010

Near the center of the World Expo grounds, the crimson-painted, crown-shaped China Pavilion towers over other nations' exhibits as a physical display of the country's pride and growing power.
Just as the Beijing Olympics showed China's growing economic and geopolitical influence for a few weeks in 2008, the biggest World's Fair ever will let China's leaders showcase design, tourism and cultural diplomacy over six months.
“The Chinese government is feeling more and more self-confident, but not so confident,” says Ding Xueliang, a China expert at Hong Kong's University of Science and Technology.
“Many ultranationalists hope Beijing will show its hard power, but the government is still very careful. The Expo is a very safe way for them to show China's soft power,” he said.
The expo opening May 1 in Shanghai is expected to attract 70 million visitors, including an estimated 5 million foreign tourists.
China is far from the first power or would-be power to use an Expo to announce its global arrival.
The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London marked the coming of the Industrial Revolution. The 1970 Expo in Osaka, following the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, showed Japan's rise as an industrial power.
During the heyday of the first World's Fairs, China was either poor or preyed upon by foreign colonial powers. For many Chinese, the Shanghai Expo site is a modern, nationalist counterpoint to the colonial buildings down river on the historic Bund.
The China Pavilion, standing 207 feet (63 meters) tall, resembles an ancient crown and is painted the same red as Beijing's imperial palace. It overlooks the eastern half of the Expo grounds, 2 square miles (5.28 square kilometers) straddling the tea-colored Huangpu River.
Many of the other pavilions are more eye-catching in design and better illustrate the Expo's theme of “Better City, Better Life.” The Netherlands' pavilion displays futuristic, green housing on its whimsical “Happy Street” structure.
Canada's features a Canadian wood exterior and interactive programming on urban sustainability designed by the Cirque du Soleil.
The USA Pavilion offers a tale of a young girl who inspires her community to help revitalize a blighted bit of her hometown.
But only the China Pavilion dominates. The brilliant blue strobes shooting into the overlit night sky can be seen for miles.
“China is not only showcasing its 5,000 years of civilization, but also showing what is going on in today's China,” said Ni Jianping of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies. “It wants to show how Chinese people's lives have improved.” The Expo sits atop former steel works and shipyards and spurred a lavish upgrade of Shanghai's crumbling infrastructure. New subways, roads, bridges, tunnels were built to accommodate the crowds. Derelict neighborhoods were replaced by parks, office towers and chic shopping centers. Landscape lighting, fresh paint and extravagant floral displays added the finishing flourishes.
The message: “China is doing better and better. There is no limit to what China can do,” says Shen Dingli, director of the Center for American Studies at Shanghai's Fudan University. “It is a form of power, the power of persuasion rather than of gunpowder.” The official cost of $4.2 billion covers just the Expo site and its operations.
The first trial run this past week brought complaints of crowds, confusion and a lack of food, though by the week's end operations improved and many took the glitches in stride. “We just wandered around. It's nice to look at from the outside, so we just took photos and walked,” said one young mother, who gave only her surname, Liu, as she headed home with her young son.
As a head-turning event, the Expo complements China's campaign to be influential through sports programs, humanitarian aid and cultural and language centers around the world. – APThe Shanghai event has ducked many controversies that preceded the 2008 Beijing Olympics, such as the triumphant round-the-world Olympic torch relay that was thwarted by persistent protests over Beijing's crackdown on a Tibetan uprising. Expo organizers had considered something similar - a round-the-world “friendship boat”


Clic here to read the story from its source.