Fast Track to the China Pavilion in Expo 2010

Signboard showing the way

Among the many exhibitions in Expo 2010, the China National Pavilion has been many visitors' top interest. To get access to the China Pavilion, one should firstly get a reservation ticket ready at hand. However, the demand for tickets is far greater than the supply. Therefore, many people feel disappointed in the failure getting a ticket from the reservation spot. There were some discussion messages left on the community networks saying that it was hard to get a reservation ticket. In the following paragraph, I am going to show you an optional route to achieve an access to the China Pavilion. 

Starting from May 19, 2010, there is a fast track option to obtain reserved tickets. After visitors have finished collecting 16 stamps from a visit to the Urban Best Practices Area (UBPA) in the Expo's Puxi Section, they can trade it for a reserved ticket for either China Pavilion or Saudi Arabia Pavilion. The stamps should include 15 UBPA cases (7 Asian, 7 European, and one American/ African cases) and one from the entry point to the site. Stamps should be issued in a booklet entitled "City Name Card" which can be obtained in Zone E, Puxi. There are signs leading you to the site once you are in the area. And there are volunteers helping you for the direction. Please be aware that such fast track is for individual visitors only. Group visitors are not entitled for the fast track offer.

City Name Card for China Pavilion

When we reached the distribution point for the "City Name Card" booklets at around 09:30am, the booklets for the China Pavilion are still available. However, the booklets for the Saudi Arabia Pavilion had all gone. As we are aware, 900 to 1,000 booklets for the China Pavilion will be distributed every day, but only 500 per week to the Saudi Arabia Pavilion. If people can't finish collecting the stamps within the same day, they can continue the collection when coming to the site again. In the reality, people can finish visiting the 15 UBPA cases quickly because there are not much to see and visitors don't need to wait for a moment. Some city cases have only a counter in the UBPA pavilion. After the completion of the 16 stamps, visitors can go to the Puxi Information Center in Zone E for the trading. For updates, please check the official Expo website http://www.expo2010.cn/ in case of any policy changes.

City Name Card for Saudi Arabia Pavilion

 

World Exposition Museum in Expo 2010

Preface-Expo City of Mascots

The first world exposition was initiated in London, United Kingdom, in 1851. It was soon held in turns by various cities in the world. Such world fairs provide countries with good opportunities to learn from one another the progress and achievement in new concepts, new inventions, new technologies, new cultures, and new lifestyles. Universal expositions are the showcases where technological advancement could be shown, as well as the platforms where innovative ideas could be brought together.

It would be great if we could learn more about what people thought when firstly seeing the display of the Otis elevator in New York City's World Fair in 1853. Did people feel amazing at the very first time talking via a telephone line in Paris' World Fair in 1878? The juicy fruit gum came up in Chicago's World Fair in 1893. Ice-cream cones and aircraft showed up in St Louis' World Fair in 1904. Tape recorders and televisions appeared in New York's World Fair in 1939.

I expected the above would be found in the current World Exposition Museum in the Shanghai Expo, but I was wrong. Instead, we saw both eastern and western human history in the Museum. There was a display of the Preface-Expo City of Mascots. If you ask me whether it is worth to pay a visit to the World Exposition Museum, I would say yes. It is because there is a display of the most precious oil painting of the first World Expo at London. After all, we had only spent 10 minutes for the entire visit. There was not any queue at the entrance. The World Exposition Museum is opposite to the Pavilion of Footprint at Zone D in Puxi. If you are going to the Pavilion of Footprint, you may consider going to the World Exposition Museum too.