The Closure of the Expo 2010

The 184-day Shanghai World Expo had come to an end, and the closing ceremony was held at the Expo Culture Center in the evening on October 31, 2010. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao declared the closure of the Expo 2010, and he said that the Shanghai Expo had been a successful one and added a glory to the history of the expositions. There were 246 countries and organizations participated in the Shanghai Expo, and more than 73 millions of people visited the exhibitions. Golden awards were given to the United Kingdom Pavilion, Saudi Arabia Pavilion, and Germany Pavilion. The flag of the International Exhibitions Bureau was lowered and hanged over by the Shanghai Mayor to the CEO of the Milan Expo 2015. There were cultural shows performed by singers and dancers.  

At midnight, hundreds of flags of participant countries and international organizations were lowered.at the Expo site.

.

Panoramic View at Expo Culture Center in Shanghai

The Expo Culture Center

The Expo Culture Center is an essential building of Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China. It is the place where the Expo opening and closing ceremonies were held. Situated by the side of the Huangpu River, the Expo Culture Center is shaped like a giant flying saucer. It is particularly beautiful at night as the lights sparkle like thousands of diamonds. During the period of the Expo 2010 from May 1 to October 31, 2010, there were hundreds of free-of-charge cultural performances and entertaining programs taken place in the theaters and cinemas of the Center. Inside the Center, there are shopping mail, ice rink, and restaurants. On the third floor, there is a Firework Observation Deck where people watched the firework over the river during the Expo opening ceremony. On the sixth floor, there is a 360 degree balcony. People can walk along the balcony to make a circle round about the Center. This is the best place where people take the view of the Expo site, including China Pavilion, Taiwan Pavilion, Expo Axis, Japan Pavilion, Korea Pavilion, Saudi Arabia Pavilion, and India Pavilion. This is also the best place to take a good view of the Huangpu River and far across the river to the Puxi section of the Expo.

The Expo Culture Center is a permanent project of Expo 2010. While many building will be demolished after the closure of the Expo, the Expo Culture Center will remain to serve for important events and entertaining activities to citizens. It will surely become a new landmark of Shanghai. 

On the balcony of the Expo Culture Center

Walking on the balcony of the Expo Culture Center, people can take a panoramic view of the Expo site.

Czech Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai

Czech Pavilion

The Czech Pavilion has given us an amazing surprise not just because of its attractive exhibitions but also its hard work for the Shanghai Expo 2010. While most pavilions are closing their doors at 09:00pm, the Czech Pavilion still welcomes new visitors at 09:30pm. The Czech Pavilion is a rectangular building. On the walls of the pavilion, there are a large number of ice hockey pucks patterned in the map of the Old Town of Prague, the capital of Czech. Ice hockey is the national sport of Czech. The entrance of the pavilion is rather pretty. It looks rather like a giant spiraling ribbon. To enter the pavilion, visitors have to get through the ribbon coils.  The theme of the Czech Pavilion is "Fruit of Civilization". In the exhibition hall, there stands a brass statue. In the Czech tradition, people believe that they will receive good luck if they touch a certain part of the statue. It is the first time that people could make a wish with the statue out of Czech. A giant kaleidoscope, named as the Czech Pearl, is shown with various beautiful patterns. Scientific technologies achieved by Czech include nanofiber, contact lens, and crystals. Other than visual displays, the pavilion lets visitor participate in the interactive programs. Sitting on a small airplane, people can see themselves appear on the TV screen and fly over the Czech cities. In another section, people can generate electricity by rubbing the thermal paper. The quicker a person rubs, the brighter the light will be.

Czech Pearl

Flying on a simulator airplane in the Czech Pavilion

Little Mermaid at Denmark Pavilion Expo 2010

Denmark Pavilion

Both Denmark and China are nations of bikes. The Denmark Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai advocates the benefit of bicycles as the energy free transport for cities. Over a hundred bicycles are available for visitors to experience the Denmark city life with zero-carbon transport. The snow-white Denmark Pavilion consists of two circular ramps spiraling around a beautiful pool in an open area. There are pedestrian and bicycle tracks on the ramps. At the center of the pavilion, the little Mermaid sculpture sits on a rock in the middle of the pool.  Throughout the journey walking up to the top of the pavilion, we saw the displays of the famous Denmark products such as beer and toy LEGO. There were not much to see. After we had reached the top of the pavilion which was an open area, we continued our walkway and eventually back to the ground level. The Denmark Pavilion looks great. It has won a prestige award from an American-based exhibitor magazine.  

The main focus of the Denmark Pavilion is the Little Mermaid. The first time I saw the Little Mermaid statue was during my visit to Denmark a few years ago. Sitting on a rock by the seashore at the downtown of Copenhagen, the little mermaid appeared to be smaller in size than I expected. During the period from May 1 to October 31, 2010, people are not able to see the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen because she has been moved to Shanghai for display in the Denmark Pavilion at Expo 2010.

The Little Mermaid at Expo 2010 Shanghai

One Million Visitors in a Single Day at Expo 2010 Shanghai

Queuing for admissions

Today is the 170th day of Shanghai Expo 2010. As the Expo will come to an end in 2 weeks' time, many people attempt to grasp the last chance for the visits. Visitor counts dramatically increased in the recent days. There was a relatively low visitor volume in September because it was raining in most days. The favorable October weather in this month has pushed the number of visitors to the highest record. Over one million visitors flooded into the Expo park on the Double Ninth Festival holiday yesterday. To deal with the huge visitor flows, additional manpower and facilities had been arranged. To date, the accumulated visitors had surpassed 64 millions which is a new record of Expo visitor volume. Both the first week and last week of October are designated to be Peak Days on which tickets cost 200 yuan each. Holders of standard-day tickets (160 yuan each) for the ordinary days will be allowed to visit the Expo park in the last week if an additional charge of 40 yuan is paid. The standard-day tickets can be used in non-peak days or change to 2 evening tickets. 

Iceland Pavilion at Expo 2010 - Small is Beautiful

Iceland Pavilion

Iceland Pavilion is one of my favorite programs in Shanghai Expo 2010. It has a comparatively shorter waiting queue when comparing with most popular pavilions. Iceland was seriously affected by the global financial crisis in 2008, and it was threatened by a volcano eruption early this year. The Iceland Pavilion has a mediocre outlook. Therefore, people don't expect that the Icelandic government puts much resources in the current world exposition. In fact, the financial cost is partially supported by business companies. The Expo is a bridge for the Icelandic business entities to land China. The Iceland Pavilion is small but beautiful in the presentation. All my friends who have been there also highly praise it. When entering the pavilion, we immediately developed an Icelandic feel because the hall was very cold. This was a very pleasant refreshing sensation after waiting for half an hour in the very hot weather at the pavilion entrance. With limited resources, the pavilion provides visitors with the best entertaining program.

There is solely a cubic hall inside the pavilion, and there are no decorations at all. All around the four sides of the hall are white screens. In a small area, the pavilion provides visitors with a stunning effect by making movie projections on the four sides as well as the ceiling of the hall. The movie mainly presents the Icelandic natural landscapes and disturbances including glaciers, waterfalls, oceans, geysers, and volcanic eruptions and explosions. When the waterfall image was projecting on the ceiling of the theater hall, we developed an on-site feel that the waterfall ran over our heads. When there were millions of fishes swimming over us, we had an illusion that we were under the deep sea. The amazing visual effect was reflected by the bizarre applause from the audience. 

The Iceland Pavilion is always full of visitors. The monthly number of visitors to the Iceland Pavilion at Expo Shanghai on June 1, 2010 has exceeded the total population of the Icelandic nation.

An amazing visual effect is developed when the movie is also projecting on the ceiling of the theater hall.

Shanghai Hotel Accommodations Close to Expo Gate 2

People who would like to visit Expo 2010 always ask questions regarding Shanghai hotel accommodations. Based on my personal experience, I could only tell something about the hotels in where we stayed recently. Please refer to my previous blogs dated July 18 and July 27, 2010. We had been to Shanghai a number of times. For the hotels in where we stayed years ago, I would not mention them because the information might be out of date. In my impression, it is not difficult to get a room reservation. Hotel accommodations seem to be sufficiently supplied during the Expo period in Shanghai. Room charges are reasonable. Hotel accommodations in China are generally inexpensive when comparing to those in many other countries.

We greatly enjoyed our visits to the Expo 2010. When we were passing through Gate 2 of the Expo site, we spotted a few hotels/ motels nearby. They are located opposite to or by the side of Gate 2, South Xizang Road, in Puxi. Please refer to the following photographs of the mentioned hotels. They are estimated to be within 5 to 15 minutes walk from Expo Gate 2 as well as the South Xizang Road Metro Station. It is convenient as of Expo visits. However, I know nothing about the qualities of these hotels.

I believe that there should be more hotels located in the area close to Expo Gate 2, but we didn't see them. If people would like to stay in a hotel within a walking distance to the Expo site, these hotels may be of good choices. Puxi is an old residential area at the west side of the Huangpu River in Shanghai. The gates at the Expo Puxi Section apparently are comparatively close to the residential area than those at the Pudong Section. Pudong is a newly developed area with better city planning. Roads are large and wide. Therefore, the distance between the Expo Pudong Gates and residential areas could be far apart. It may take a long time for travelers to walk from their hotels to the gates, even though the hotels may claim that they are close to the Expo gates. 

We spotted a small hotel outside Expo Gate 2

There is a hotel behind the gate

This is the hotel of the previous photo. The name of the hotel could now be identified.

This is another hotel opposite to Expo Gate 2

The hotel is estimated to be within 15 minutes away from Expo Gate 2

The hotel is estimated to be within 15 minutes away from Expo Gate 2

Note: These hotels may have other branches using the same names located at different sites of Shanghai.

Source of Energy - The Heart of the Germany Pavilion

Source of Energy

Among the various exhibitions in the Germany Pavilion at Expo 2010, we appreciate the "Source of Energy" the most. This is the highlight of the Germany Pavilion. The show is very impressive. It is really a fantastic and marvelous journey.

After we had finished our tours moving around from one section to another section of exhibition in the Germany Pavilion, we subsequently came to the last part of the exhibitions. Going down stair and through a door, we got into a large hall where was rather dark. We then found ourselves standing among crowds of people who were spreading around a large circular hollow space. Seeing through a metal-wire barrier, we spotted a giant sphere hanging in the air at the center of the hall. When the show started with glimpse of lights on the metal sphere, we recognized that people were standing around the sphere in different levels. There were around several hundreds of people at a time watching the ten-minute show performed by a 2,000kg metal sphere. We later on learned that the sphere was 3 meters in diameter and covered with hundred thousands of LEDs.

Watching the Source of Energy

Two narrators came into the hall to lead the show. A young German man named as Jens and a Chinese girl Yan Yan started the introduction with dialogues. Yan Yan invited one of the volunteer visitors to blow on her microphone. We were surprised to see the sphere respond to the blow and start moving. It looked like that the movement of the sphere was pushed by the blow. Everybody cheered up and shouted. Jens encouraged us to shout loudly. Our noises made the sphere swing like a hanging pendulum. Yan Yan divided us into two groups. The group with louder noises made the sphere swing more to the opposite side. The louder we could shout together, the greater gradient the sphere would swing and turn. The colorful image patterns on the surface of the sphere kept changing, twinkling and sparkling. This had lightened up the entire hall. As we shouted to a greater level, the sphere revolved faster and the lights turned brighter than before. This cheered us up and let us feel the power of co-operations in the delivery of energy to our city.

Source of Energy performance in the German Pavilion

Pavilion of Public Participation at Expo 2010

Pavilion of Public Participation

The Pavilion of Public Participation is located at Zone B in Shanghai Expo 2010. Its theme is "Our Home". It highlights an idea that "Each Action You take Will change Our Life". By participating in an interactive program, visitors learn about the history and progress of Shanghai Expo before its opening to the public. The first part of the exhibition is named as "Visual Impressions" which brings up an Expo memory in Shanghai. A full record of the Expo 2010 is interpreted via photo exhibitions on a large screen. A great number of photographs are presented. Photo topics include the application, biding and preparation of the exposition as well as the construction of the Expo site. When a visitor is standing within a distant of 2 meters in front of the screen, an image bubble appears and magnify the photograph. If the visitor moves close to the screen, the bubble will sink to the bottom. When moving away from the screen, the bubble rises to the top. The bubble will follow the visitor's movement going from one screen to another. The second part of the exhibition is labeled as "Experience". Visitors can take part in an interactive activity to design an ideal city by selecting images from the touch screen monitor on a machine. Visitors will experience hosting an exhibition and picture the future.

Inside Pavilion of Public Participation

We spent less than 5 minutes on the queue to get into the Pavilion of Public Participation. As the pavilion was not large, visitors finished their touring fast. And only a few of them were interested in the activity participation. We finished our tour in the Pavilion of Public Participation within 10 minutes' time. There were not much to see.

The Charm of the Saudi Arabia Pavilion - Expo 2010

Saudi Arabia Pavilion

Why are there always extremely long queues snaked around the Saudi Arabia Pavilion in Shanghai Expo 2010? The longest queue-up time was once estimated to be 9 hours. It's crazy. What is in the pavilion? Many people raise a great curiosity about the attractions of the Saudi Arabia Pavilion. Is it worth spending tremendous time on the queues? Only after I have visited the Saudi Arabia Pavilion, I start understanding why a great number of visitors are willing to sacrifice their time for the admissions. My friends who have visited Saudi Arabia Pavilion agree with me that the pavilion has given us a beautiful memory.

The outlook of Saudi Arabia Pavilion is super charming. It features a giant hanging boat shaped like a half moon resting with a dozen of steel poles on the elevated ground. Underneath are pools, fountains, and gardens. When entering the garden, visitors will see a barrier in the style of a mini Chinese Great Wall. When leaving the garden, people will see date palm trees stand along both sides of the exit. Along the edge of the moon boat that is high up in the sky, a large belt-shaped TV revolving screen presents various artistic patterns in turns with welcome notices in different languages. Date palms are also planted on the top deck of the boat to form part of the rooftop garden. The boat appears to be full of dreams and imaginations.

The spiral walkway

After we had entered the pavilion, we walked up along a ramp. Both the entrance and exit pathways form part of the atrium hall. The entrance in the form of a continuous upward spiral ramp was on the outer circle of the atrium, while the exit pathway was located at the inner circle in spiral downward direction. There was a transparent barrier separated the entrance and exit pathways. A fountain was sited at the ground level in the hollow center of the atrium hall. After walking up for about three circles' turns, we reached the top level of the boat. We saw a warning notice before getting into the main pavilion. The notice wrote, "The film may cause dizziness. For those who suffer from heart disease or hypertension, please consider carefully". Passing through the door, we stepped onto a conveyor belt. The conveyor made us move slowly along the body of a round-shape giant theater. Initially, we were in the darkness. But then, we found ourselves embraced by a huge inverted movie screen. The huge concave screen was far under our feet and extended to our sides. This is the largest cinema in the world, I believe. The movie introduced the distinct features of Saudi Arabia including their people, natural environment, cities, culture, lifestyles, and arts. I loved the background music which seemed to be in Arabic style. It gave us a sense of comfort, like flying over wild fields. Following the movie' pathways to various areas in Saudi Arabia, we felt that we had experienced a journey of thousand miles. As we were standing on the moving conveyor and the desserts and oases moved from far to close projections below us, we had a feeling like staying on a flying saucer. It was grand and amazing. The journey was wonderful and fantastic.

Exit of the Saudi Arabia Pavilion

A wonderful journey in the Saudi Arabia Pavilion

On the top of the Moon Boat

"Super Rice" Growth at Expo 2010 shanghai

Super rice planting

World expositions are optimal places for acquiring knowledge. Before visiting Shanghai Expo 2010, I have never thought of learning something about rice. I know little about agricultural planting. After I have been to the "super rice" exhibition at China Pavilion in Expo 2010, I start realizing that the Chinese government has been putting very much effort on the research of hybrid rice engineering technology. Super rice is China's key agricultural development with phase accomplishment in rice increase production. What is super rice? It is interesting to learn about it.

What is super rice?

Hybrid rice is produced by crossbreeding of different types of rice. Super rice refers to the rice variety that has a significant increase output. In the section "Land of Hope" at China pavilion, live super rice plants were displayed. They appeared to be healthily tall and strong. Grains were in golden color. The staff of the pavilion introduced the super rice to us. It is the latest specie of high-yield hybrid rice developed by the "Father of Hybrid Rice" Yuan Longping and co-researchers. The study of super rice is an on-going project since the birth of the first generation of hybrid rice in 1970's. The current variety of super rice has more than  30% output than the ordinary rice. In order to display the flowering plants, 16 batches of super rice had been planted with different seedling time. Each batch of super rice would be transferred to the display  area and stayed there for 7 to 10 days. The first batch of flowering super rice had been transported to China Pavilion, and the rice seeded in May would be matured in September.

The Land of Hope at China Pavilion in where the super rice is shown

China Pavilion at Expo 2010

China Pavilion

The China Pavilion is the top  attraction in 2010 Shanghai Expo. Its building is grand and magnificent, blending the modern architecture with a taste of the ancient Chinese culture. The theme of the China Pavilion features the Chinese wisdom in urban development. In the first section of the exhibition, we watched a short movie which showed cases of Chinese's experiences in urbanization over the past 30 years. We then moved to the main gallery in where we were fascinated to see a giant animated rendition lively presenting a scene of Chinese people' activities during a festival back to the days 900 years ago. The scene is an imitation of the famous ancient Chinese painting scroll "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival". In the picture, animated characters were shouldering commodities, selling groceries, riding donkeys, enjoying dinners, rowing boats, etc. We strolled along the "bank" of the animated "river" which stayed right below the 128 meter-long animated rendition. Referring as one of the China's national treasures, the real painting of the "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" was also displayed in the pavilion. Other displays were valuable antiques in the hall "Crystals of civilization".

Architecture China Pavilion

In the second section, we came to the "Land of Hope". There were projections of future apartments showing how people would improve their quality of life in cities. In the agricultural area, there were displays of super rice which were tall and strong. One of the signboard's indications was the emphasis of rural-urban harmony. In further explorations, we entered the hallway in where children paintings were displayed. Peeping through the glass wall of the hallway, we could view distant scenery of the Expo site and people lining up in front of the China Pavilion. We were, in fact, staying as high as in a modern high-rise building. Getting into another exhibition hall, we found a chance to rest our tired legs by riding an excursion train. The train tour offered us a dynamic and exciting journey of discovery and enabled us to learn about Chinese wisdom in city planning. 

Looking down from the China Pavilion

The final section of the exhibition expressed the  effort of the Chinese government in the advocacy of low-carbon lifestyle to its citizens. Energy saving facilities such as wind power generators and LED bulbs were displayed. Reaching the end of the exhibition hall, we came to a large ring-shape lotus pond surrounded by sliding rains. We got into the center part of the lotus pond and stepped onto the extraordinarily long escalator which sent us down to the open-area podium. Passing the Chinese garden, we got our way to the exit. 

Watching the animated painting scroll

Part of the animated version of the ancient Chinese Painting scroll "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" 

The greatest attraction in the China Pavilion

Optimal Choice of Entrance Gate to the Expo Site

Reservation spot at Zone E Puxi

There are in total 13 entrances/ exits for the Expo site. Many people are making searches for the optimal choice of the entrance to the Expo site. That entirely depends on the zone area where you would like to pay a visit to. As the Expo site is extremely large, it is not possible for you to tour all 5 zones in a day's visit. More than 70% of the site area is in Pudong where most people are interested in. Fewer visitors are found in Puxi because there are fewer attractions. 

The China Pavilion remains to be the most popular visiting point in Expo 2010. Gate 5 (Gaoke Road West) is comparatively close to the China Pavilion. It is also not too far a distance if you walk along the Expo Boulevard from Gate 6 (Shangnan Road) to the China Pavilion. Many visitors rushed to the China Pavilion from Gate 5 in the very early morning with an eager for the visit. However, they couldn't achieve the visit without a reservation ticket. Therefore, it is wise to reach the reservation spot to obtain a ticket first. There is not any reservation machine at the China Pavilion. All reservation spots are far away from the China Pavilion. I am not quite sure about the reservation spots in the Pudong section. But I know that there is a reservation spot at Zone E of Puxi. This is close to Gate 3 (Bansongyuan Road), but Gate 3 is not directly connected to any metro line. If you go by subway, you may consider going through Gate 1 at Zone D and take a free shuttle bus to reach the reservation spot in Zone E. Puxi is less crowded with people. 

Since the opening of the Expo, the greatest number of admissions has been from Gate 8 (Houtan Gate) at Zone C. This is the zone where the American, European, and African Pavilions are sited. This area is always crowded with people. There are 3 shuttle bus routes staring from Gate 8 to reach various pavilions. The Shibo Avenue bus route is the best choice if you would like to go to the UK, France, Switzerland, and Spain Pavilions. It is also not too far away to walk from Gate 8 to the USA Pavilion. Based on the official statistics, Gate 8 received 80,000 visitors on June 13, 2010. On the same day, Gate 7 (Changquing Road) received 65,000 visitors. The other 3 gates at Pudong are also crowded.

Instead of waiting long at the gates in the Pudong Section, you may consider entering the Expo site from Gate 1 at Puxi and take the subway Metro Line 13 (Lupu Bridge) to Pudong. After getting out from the Shibo Avenue Metro Station, you can make an easy access to the Australia, Finland, or Denmark Pavilion. It may be more fast than you enter from the gates at the Pudong section.

Permanent Expo Projects in Shanghai

Escalators of China Pavilion

 A friend asked whether or not the 2010 Expo would be extended so that he could have a chance to go in November. The answer is unfortunately not because there are international rules to follow. The 2010 Expo will last until 31 October 2010. Five structures namely the China Pavilion, Theme Pavilions, Expo Boulevard, Expo Center, and Cultural Center, will stay permanently (The Theme Pavilions include the Urbanian Pavilion, Pavilion of City Being, Pavilion of Urban Planet, Pavilion of Footprint, and Pavilion of Future in Zone B, D, and E respectively). After the closure of the Expo, there will still be chances to visit these areas. Therefore, some visitors make their smart plans by visiting these permanent projects in later days. 

Escalators of China Pavilion

The China Pavilion will surely become the landmark of Shanghai. The design of the China Pavilion is based on the concept of the Oriental Crown to express the spirit and deposition of Chinese culture. All exhibition halls are sited on the upper floors. As a start, visitors have to ride a lift to the main exhibition hall where is located on the top floor. After they have finished all exhibitions, two extremely long escalators will take them down to the podium. People will see these escalators from the outside of the Pavilion. Some people said that these two escalators contradict Feng Shui, thus will be demolished after the Expo.

There is an unofficial saying that the Saudi Arabia Pavilion will be retained as there is a wish from its fans who are not patient enough to line up for hours for the entry. Others said that five most beautiful foreign pavilions will be allowed to retain permanently. However, China has officially denied the rumor.

There is a lotus pond inside the China Pavilion. It is connected by two extremely long escalators to the Chinese garden on the patio of the building.

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.

2101 Expo visit plans

The Czech Republic Pavilion

When I initially planned for visiting the 2010 Expo in Shanghai, I didn't expect to be able to get into the popular pavilions as I heard that there were always long queues at the entrances. I thought I would rather spend a few relaxing days just to see the outer parts of the pavilions. In the reality, I finished visiting all my favorite pavilions. I had achieved more than I expected.

Good timing is the key for achievement. We found that queues for admissions to the popular pavilions were particularly long in the morning and afternoon. Relatively less people were found at lunch hour and in the evening. Please note that the hit pavilions may stop the queues earlier than their closure time as there have already been too many people lining up for entries. At the time of our visits, Saudi Arabia Pavilion stopped the queue at 7:00pm and Japan Pavilion stopped at 8:00pm. Czech Republic Pavilion is one of the popular pavilions with long queues during daytime. However, we got into it without spending a minute for queuing. It was at 9:00pm. Nobody was waiting at the entrance.

Our plan was to visit the unpopular pavilions during daytime and visit the hit pavilions in the evening. If people don't like queuing, I will suggest that they purchase evening tickets which allow them to stay between 5:00pm and 12 midnight in the Expo site.

When planning for the Expo visit, try avoiding Saturdays. Relatively higher numbers of visitors have been found on Saturdays since the opening of the Expo 2010. According to the news release from the official website of the Expo 2010, the highest record of visitors has reached 500,500 last Saturday. One may also consider avoiding the visits in July and August as more visitors are expected during summer holiday.For the planning of Expo transports, please visit the Expo transport guide and make a printout of the Shanghai MTR map before your journey. I suggest that you read the Site Maps and Pavilions so that you could plan your visit route to your targeted pavilions.

World Expo 2010 Entertainment and Events

Expo roadshow parade

Various entertainment programs and art performances are held in the Expo Culture Center everyday. During the period of my visit to the Expo, there was a grand show running by the top-class local singers and dancers. Their routine shows in Beijing usually cost people a few hundred yuans for a ticket. The show is now free of charge. What people need to pay is just the admission fee for the Expo. If people would like to watch the free shows, it is better for them to check the performance program from the Expo official website http://en.expo2010.cn. There are various types of shows taken place in almost every square within the Expo site. When I was lining up for the entry of the Germany Pavilion, there was a roadshow parade passing by. After I had finished my dinner in the evening, I met the parade again. This was an unexpected entertainment.

Expo roadshow parade at nighttime

One of the Hong Kong newspapers reported that there was a mess in the Shanghai Expo. After I had been to the Expo 2010, I did not agree with this report. I found the Expo site a fantastic place for touring. The Shanghai Expo had given me a beautiful memory.  I heard that thousands of fans rushed to the Culture Center for the free tickets of the show conducted by a South Korea Singing Group. Same as everywhere over the world, fans could become crazy when they are eager to see their idols. My impression to the Shanghai Expo is very good.  I highly praise it. After all, it is not easy to manage a few hundred thousands of people every day. Unfortunately, some people create chaos by jumping into the queues. 

Night Parade show at Expo 2010

Shanghai Expo Transportation

Expo Entrance Gate 1

The public transportation network for the Shanghai Expo is massive and convenient. Metro lines 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 13 are in services to reach the Expo site. Labels and instructions over the metro stations are so clear that visitors won't get lost. Please read my page Expo Transport Guide for details.

On our first day of the Expo visit, we entered the site in Zone D through Gate 1. Groups and individual visitors were lining up in different queues for admissions to the park. I went to the nearby toilet while waiting for the gate to open. Toilets are clean. Entrance gate queuing areas open at 08:30am. We went through security checks quickly. Zone maps are available at entrances. Once we had got a map, we could easily move around. 

Shibao Avenue Metro Station

The site is extremely large. It is good that there are free intra-site transport services. There are frequent shuttle buses running among zones and across the Huangpu River. Six ferry piers are in service to facilitate people traveling across the river. Piers L1, L3, and L5 are located in Puxi. Piers L2, L4, and L6 are situated at Pudong. A metro line (Number 13) also carries people to the site, away from the site, and within the site across the river. Apart from free shuttle services, visitors can also pay to tour the site by riding the golf-cart-like vehicles.

We left the site through Gate 1 on our first-day visit. Since the gate is about 15 minutes' walk from the Luban Road Metro Station (Metro Line 4), we took a free shuttle bus which stopped right at the Station. It was convenient. There were volunteers helping us out of the gate.

We entered the Expo park from different gates at Pudong on the following two days. In the very late evening of our second-day visit, we left the park through the Shibao Avenue Metro Station (Metro Line 13) which is located at Zone B inside the park. We then got change to Metro Line 7 through security checks at Gate 9 inside the Madang Road Metro Station. We were lucky to catch the last train. 

The first Expo Axis

In the very late evening of our third-day visit, we left the site through Gate 6. From there we saw the full scene of the first Expo Axis. The night view of the Expo Axis is  particularly charming and magnificent. The lighting keeps changing its color, and there sometimes appears the wording of Expo. This is the best location for photographing the Axis. Inside the park, people won't be able to see the beautiful back side of the Axis. On the way to the station, we also saw the flags of all participating countries. There is no need to take any shuttle bus because this gate is close to Yaohua Metro station (Metro Line 7). We caught the last train at 11:15pm.

Expo 2010 Shanghai

Barrier free channel at Expo Gate 8

There has already been 21 days since the opening of the Expo 2010. The accumulated number of visitors is 4,370,000. There were 320,000 visitors yesterday. This has exceeded those on the first two days of the Expo. Those who are disabled, aged 70, or carrying babies can use priority channels (barrier-free channels) for admissions to the Expo or certain pavilions. Services for wheelchairs or baby prams are available.

Purchase of Subway Day Pass

In addition to various sales points and online sales, admission tickets for the Expo 2010 can be purchased at 10 ticket offices at the Expo entrances. The Expo ticket office at Madang Road Metro Station sells same-day ticket between 8am and 5pm, and evening tickets between 4pm and 8pm. Evening ticket holders can enter the Expo between 5pm and 9pm. Visitors are recommended to hold Metro return tickets or one-day pass so that they can save their time in queuing for tickets when leaving the Expo site. However, if they plan to leave the site after 10pm, it is believed that there will not be too many  people lining up for the purchase of metro tickets.