day 10 July 13th- flight to Shanghai & world expo

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

We started our day with a team picture in front of the Bell Tower in Xi'an with our NCTA banner. We all left Xi'an clutching our cameras as Jackie's and Clay's were both stolen in the past 12 hours and said a sad goodbye to Jolie (fyi her outfit was again very impressive). Off to Shanghai but were delay as we heard "Air traffic we are delayed a few minutes" about 8 times. We finally really realized that we would be leaving about an hour late.

Shanghai
We did a duffle shuffle in the airport and then were off with Mr. Wu to the World Expo. We were met with throngs of peple and the ques were really intimidating but Clay had the USC connections to get us in the backdoor of the USA pavillon. I enjoyed the USA show. Definitely filled with corporate sponsorsips (Citibank, Johnson & Johnson, Chevron, etc). We had our photo op alongside Obama and Clinton's pictures and cut the line to see the show. We were greeted by USC students who were entertaining the crowd in Chinese and we pretended to laugh along but didn't understand anything. We were then led into 2 theatres for some great American propaganda.

The 1st video started with our secretary of State Billary Clinton and ended with a message from Obama. The video was mostly a new vision of the future from the perspective of elementary school students; How the wind can charge your cell phone, cars that run on fruit juice and other "future Green technologies." Of course the corporate executives and professors from Washington University also put in their 2 cents. The video highlighted the American values of innovation, education, youthfulness, the USA as a land that welcomes immigrants, land of dreamers and a country committed to being green. So a bit of exaggeration, but I think that is what the World Expo is all about, like Epcot on steroids.

The 2nd video was a film about a young girl who drew a picture of replacing a garbage ridden corner with a beautiful garden. She overcame many obstacles (vandalism, rain, $) by spreading hope to others and garnering their generosity (tools, time, labor, strength from the muscle man). So I guess it does 'take a village'. It was a message of hope, youthful vision, cooperation and again made the USA seem much committed to Green technology then it actually is. From there we enjoyed a group hot pot dinner with yummy peanut sauce and then off in small groups to see the Expo.

My group saw Chile (lots of wine and girl's upside down bedroom), Caribbean (posed with posters of Hussein Bolt and Bob Marley), Some African countries- Ugandan Gorillas, Zimbawe's ancent city. Norway gave you the feeling of the fjord and viking ships. Netherlands was a series of ramps with displays of Dutch inventions and sheep to sit on. China's of course was the biggest and even though we walked for 3 hours we never made it to the most expensive pavillon, Saudi Ariabia.

The whole Expo was like Epcot on steroids without a fast pass. We were there too late to be burdened by the long lines but it is astonishing to think of the millions that have visited. I think we all returned to our beautiful Radisson hotel exhausted.

[clay dube]

That long wait aboard the plane was tough. At least they feed us and kept the air conditioning on. That doesn't always happen.

I hope that others will discuss their impressions of the Expo and the individual pavilions. Here are some interesting resources to look at:

What student ambassadors are saying:
http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=2042

Nations are trying to brand themselves:
http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=2103
To see interviews with Japanese, Spanish, and other officials about their efforts to influence Chinese minds and a great video about the Expo at night, please go to:
http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/index.php/research/shanghai_expo_blog/

[Anonymous]

After hearing a lot about the World Expo from family friends and reading about it in the media, I was quite excited and was expecting a lot. After having been there, I can say it was a bit of a "let down" for me. Why? As Jennifer said, it seemed more like a glorified Epcot Center (Walt Disney World in Florida) or for west coast people, it seemed like a glorified Polynesian Cultural Center on the north shore of Hawai'i.

I was amazed at the architecture of the different pavilions and more amazed at how the Expo is literally a city itself. They have their own sanitation crew, police patrol crew, etc...

We had limited time there and obviously rushing through each pavilion didn't allow us the time to truly experience and enjoy what the creators of each pavilion wanted us to. In hindsight, I would've rather have grabbed dinner at a "stand" which would've allowed us a bit more time.

Although the weather and lateness of the day drove away many, the large numbers of people there was also a factor that made it unappealing.

I clicked on Clay's link to read about what Student Ambassadors said. If we had several days and "back door passes" to bypass lines, I think our experience would have been much more different.

My thoughts on the city of Shanghai. It's called the "Paris of the East" for a reason. A very international and cosmopolitan city. I remember my mom saying that my grandmother (pre World War II days) would often head to Shanghai to "party with her girlfriends" It is indeed a very cosmopolitan city and I can't imagine living there. It doesn't seem like China. When I think of China, I think of Pingyao but as we all know, China is an up and coming world economic power!

[Edit by="josephchan on Aug 11, 2:14:27 PM"][/Edit]

[Author]

Posts