2010 World Expo, Shanghai

What is the world expo? I mean, I had never heard of it... Wait a second--like a world fair? As in "The Great Exhibition" at the Crystal Palace (UK) back in the mid-1800s?!! Yes, apparently I did listen in my history and political economy courses.
The World Expo happens every ten years, and countries choose to invest in a "pavilion" to showcase their nation's culture and creativity with anticipation of future economic returns. These pavilions are definitely not cheap, but approximately 73 million people visited the expo in Shanghai from May to November 2010. I read that China's pavilion (and only China's) reopened earlier this month... That's some strong national pride.

With my ticket

Infamous United States

Vera and I visited the expo in early August. We went in the late afternoon, when the lines were shorter, the tickets cheaper, and the heat... still hot but not the intense mid-day heat wave. It was a good plan and I'm glad we didn't do it any other way. I remember thinking the expo was half interactive kids museum and half a mini-disneyland-like place... but without the rides and maybe far longer lines.

Libya

Most countries have their own pavilions with really cool architecture and amazing, creative displays inside. The big first world nation pavilions had lines that lasted hours. And the smaller third world nations? You could walk right through without the slightest hesitation or much foot traffic... And most of the small African nations were squished into one big building.. no wonder many ignorant folks call Africa a country. (Angola, Nigeria, Libya etc had their own pavilions) Looking back, the size and 'greatness' of a pavilion was a pretty good indicator of economic development or maybe a nation's ranking on the human development index.

Had just won world cup!

Vera talked to one of the men selling 'authentic' African jewelry from a small nation like Tanzania or Mozambique--I can't remember which--and he told her in French that most all the jewelry was actually made in China. So the chinese swarming these stands were buying what they could probably find in any market... at 10x the price. It all seemed so silly to me.





At my hostel, however, I talked to a pair of Danish girls that loved the expo. They really just appreciated seeing the representation of different nations and culture. In that respect, yes it was cool and I would definitely take my kids because it makes learning about the world and other countries far more tangible and provides an opportunity for cultural understanding. There was an African drums performance which was awesome. Those guys were so full of energy--so much passion and zest for music, dance, life. But it then makes me wonder if the resources from some of these nations would be more valuable invested in other things--education and health within their nations. Maybe poorer nations don't even pay for anything related to the expo.. but to me the expo just highlighted to visitors who the world superpowers are and who can be clumped together into "the global south."

I didn't make it into the China expo-- obviously it had the longest line since a hUGE majority of visitors were Chinese. USA also had an extremely long line... I'm talking hours here. We went into Russia, Spain, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, the Netherlands, Angola, Libya, all of the small African nations in the Africa expo, and a few others. Since Vera's from Russia and I'm from Spain we felt it important to be patient and wait in those long lines. I got tired very quickly because this was after 3 nonstop days in Beijing and the day before at the bund in Shanghai. But I have now been to a world expo!!

Inside Russia Pavilion

Flamenco Dancer in Spain Pavilion

Inside Africa Pavilion