Tens of thousands of people crammed into the Shanghai World Expo yesterday at the start of the six-month mass display of culture and technology seen as a showcase of China’s growing economic might.
Organizers have said all 500,000 tickets are sold out for opening day at the massive Expo park along the Huangpu river, where visitors will wander through the exhibits of 189 nations, as well as dozens of companies and organizations.
“Everything is very colorful,” Cui Yan, a 23-year-old Chinese university student, said outside the Mexican pavilion. “The architecture is amazing.”
PHOTO: EPA
“There are so many highlights — I’m worried I can’t see all of them on this trip,” said Cui, who traveled from Ningbo, in neighboring Zhejiang Province, to be one of the first to catch a glimpse of the eye-catching Expo pavilions.
A sea of people waited to visit China’s red inverted pyramid — the centrepiece of Expo park — but lines were long at all pavilions. Signs outside the US and French venues said visitors faced a wait of four hours.
Eager visitors used umbrellas to shield themselves from the blistering Shanghai sun as they waited patiently, the long lines doing nothing to dampen their enthusiasm.
PHOTO: AFP
“I want to see the Canada pavilion first. So many of my relatives have emigrated to Canada and I want to get an idea of what kind of life they’re living,” 58-year-old female retiree Huang Huifang said.
A record number of countries are participating in the event, which is expected to attract at least 70 million visitors — the vast majority of them Chinese, many of whom have never traveled outside the country.
Li Huahe, a 47-year-old telecoms company employee from Urumqi in far-western Xinjiang — on the opposite end of the country from Shanghai — said he bought his ticket months ago, but could only stay a few hours before heading home.
PHOTO: AFP
“I woke up at 5am and I have a 2pm flight. I’m worried about the crowds. I want to see at least one pavilion today,” Li said outside the Swiss pavilion, which boasts a chairlift that soars over a three-story-high meadow.
Nations with an eye on China’s consumer market of 1.3 billion people are pulling out all the stops to attract the attention of Expo visitors.
“I really hope people will discover the attitude of the Netherlands. We want to have friendly relations with China,” Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said as he surveyed the grounds from the top of the “Happy Street” pavilion, which aims to capture the feel and creativity of Amsterdam.
Highlights include Britain’s stunning dandelion-like “Seed Cathedral,” Spain’s “Big Basket” made of 8,500 wicker panels and Switzerland’s pastoral pavilion.
Du Yuping, a 52-year-old steel company employee from Shanghai, came prepared for the long lines — with a blue folding stool. He said he came to Expo park last week on a trial opening day and ended up waiting up to three hours to see one pavilion, but was pleased to see that operations were running more smoothly yesterday.
“I want to visit the Expo at least six times,” Du said, sitting on his chair in the line outside the Norwegian pavilion. “I’m focusing on European pavilions today.”
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the