Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) arrived in Shanghai yesterday afternoon to prepare for the opening of the Taipei Pavilion at the World Expo today. He later joined other Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) figures, including former KMT chairmen Lien Chan (連戰) and Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), who were in Shanghai to attend the expo’s opening.
Hau told reporters upon his arrival that he expected the city’s participation in the world expo to strengthen cross-strait exchanges at the city level.
“Shanghai will also participate in the Taipei International Flora Expo in November. We expect the exchanges of these two major cities across the Taiwan Strait to promote cross-strait relations,” Hau said at the Shanghai Orient Hotel.
Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng (韓正), who visited Taipei earlier this month to promote the expo, will join Hau, Hon Hai Group chairman Terry Guo (郭台銘) and pop singer Wang Lee-hom (王力宏) to open the Taipei Pavilion today.
However, the pavilion’s official opening ceremony will be held later this month.
The Taipei Pavilion, which is located in the Urban Best Practices Area, showcases the city’s ubiquitous wireless Internet access and garbage and recycling policies.
The pavilion is divided into several areas, including a huge three-dimensional theater showcasing a six-minute short film directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) on Taipei’s landscape and friendly environment.
Andy Chen (陳慶安), director of the Taipei Pavilion, said more than 17,700 people visited the pavilion during the trial run from last Thursday to Wednesday. The pavilion will limit the number of visitors to 6,000 per day.
The pavilion is a transparent cube with a giant ball in the center and the outlines of Yushan and Alishan painted on the facade.
The expo, which runs through Oct. 31, is expected to attract more than 70 million visitors. It showcases the latest concepts for “Better City, Better Life.”
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