Note: As a guest of CNTO Sydney, Mark Barratt-Boyes visited Shanghai EXPO 2010 on Sept. 2010.
I try to push my way forward to catch a better view of the two beautiful dancers demonstrating their intricate skills on the public stage at the Thailand Pavilion at the World Expo.
The massed throng is just as excited as I am with the girls’ presence and I have to be content with glimpsing them around heads that bob like a toy dog in the back of a car window.
New Zealand Pavilion
I manage to make my way inside, where I am awed by the use of space and the dramatic use of colour. Despite the heat outside, the air of unity and harmony as we slowly make our way through the three exhibition halls fits well with the theme of the pavilion, “Thainess, sustainable ways of life.”
The Thai pavilion is one of 193 countries and 48 international organisations participating in the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China for 184 days until it closes on October 31.The organisers hope to attract 70 million visitors, and as of September 30 it had attracted 57.3 million.
In line with the Expo’s theme of Better City, Better Life, the Chinese government spared no expense setting up the 528 hectare expo site along both banks of the Huangpu River. Thousands of families were moved and over 250 factories, including a shipyard, demolished. Six new subway lines were opened, and the legendary Bund received a major upgrade.
Back outside, I wander down the vast promenade of the Expo Axis and spot the interlinked spheres of the Israel Pavilion, one transparent, the other of stone. I am reminded of the country’s ancient past and its present, but the theme also reflects a dialogue between humanity and life.
Italy Pavilion
On my way around, an orchard of orange trees comes into view in the Whispering Garden, and I am mildly surprised when the trees “whisper” in Chinese and English as I step near them. In the second part of the pavilion, I patiently wait with others to enter a room, where we are subjected to several minutes of a complex audio-visual display highlighting some of Israel’s technological breakthroughs. Did you know, for instance, that they developed a miniature camera you swallow like a capsule so doctors can see and diagnose what’s happening inside you. No, me neither.
Lunchtime brings with it a choice of fast food, but instead I join the locals at one of the teeming dining rooms. I point to a poster on the wall with a picture of meatballs and sauce, pay up and within a few minutes I receive a tray, which also has some soup and cutlery. The staff shout at each other through their microphones but this is a military operation.
I am directed to a seat, look around and realise I’m the only non-Asian in the place. When I look around for my napkin, the woman sitting opposite me hands me hers, plus a sanitised handwipe from her bag.
“Chi chi,” the Chinese word for thanks, I reply, and she smiles.
My next goal is to find the New Zealand pavilion, which takes me some time to reach. The site is not easy for me to navigate around, but as I walk down the streets linking the pavilions, I admire the undoubted creativity of the pavilions’ designers.
The Australian pavilion mimics the red ochre of the Outback, Portugal’s outer wall is of cork, while the United Kingdom pavilion is formed of 60,000 transparent rods, each containing a seed. During the day the rods channel light into the interior, but when darkness falls they light up so the structure takes on a glow.
As I approach the New Zealand pavilion, I am first struck by the pohutukawa tree, which provides some welcome shade. It can’t be real, and it’s not. But it’s a real work of art. The pavilion’s project director, Mike Pattison, says many visitors have been fooled, and keep trying to pluck off the leaves.
As he takes me on a guided tour, I join the others on another tactile experience, running my hand over a large boulder of cool greenstone. As we ascend a walkway, I follow a day in the life of a typical New Zealand family, with a little girl dreaming of a picture she will create at school that day. Mum makes breakfast, the girl is off to school, and we pass scenes of her showing off her drawing. Special effects, including I’m sure, a whiff of pinus radiata, the most popular material for building homes, and tracks from favourite local recording artists, add to the realistic air.
England Pavilion
We break out into the rooftop garden to find twilight is well underway. Pongas, or tree ferns, hang over the path, which traces the mountains to the shore. Mist and steam provoke images of New Zealand’s thermal areas of springs, geysers and pools of boiling, bubbling mud. We pass through a glade of tropical plants from the South Pacific before descending to ground level at the pohutukawa tree again.
“Ninety-five percent of our visitors are Chinese, four percent are from the rest of Asia and one percent from everywhere else,” says Pattison. “We are just trying to give them an impression of New Zealand. ‘That’s us. This is New Zealand’.”
As to its future, Pattison likens the pavilion to a theatre set, and staff will begin dismantling it a day after the Expo closes. He agrees the pohutukawa should be saved, and perhaps parts of the pavilion will reappear somewhere in New Zealand in due course.
On my second full day at the Expo I pass the Moldova pavilion. For someone with a good knowledge of geography, Moldova, a landlocked country in eastern Europe, seems as distant as legendary Timbuktu.
Most of the staff in the Expo pavilions are local Chinese with limited English, but I spend some time talking to a Moldovan woman and try the wine she says their country is noted for.
She pours me a glass of cabernet sauvignon. “I think we have better in New Zealand,” I remark.
She concurs. “We had trouble with our import licence and this is not our best wine. Come to Moldova and I promise you will be impressed.”
I have been told the Italian pavilion is special, and join the queue to join the queue to get in. Luckily we all wait in the shade, with a spray of water mist to help keep us cool. The local children are impressively stoic, standing patiently or sitting on the colourful folding stools which are a popular Expo souvenir.
As we slowly zig-zag to the entrance, I pass a family of Italians.
“We have to queue to see our own country,” one says as we pass shoulder to shoulder.
“This is not how it should be. Where are you from?”
“Ah, New Zealand! We were there last year. A beautiful country.”
“Make sure you see our pavilion,” I say as we lose eye contact.
The two-hour wait for the Italy pavilion is worth it, although the waiting time for some pavilions is more than twice as long. I feel as if I’m walking through a Fellini film set dressed with marvellous examples of Italian style and innovation. Ferrari and Gucci are there, of course, along with many lesser known names. Hundreds of different types of pastas line a wall, and there are excerpts of music and architecture. A woman sits at a table working some fine leather and many other crafts are on display. I make time to ascend the escalator to the restaurant, where I dine on pasta and chianti wine. It is a splendid lunch.
The other highlight of my day is the Spanish pavilion, which looks from the outside like a giant wicker basket. Inside, I see a long stage with a white backdrop. Suddenly a flamenco dancer appears, her shoes hammering the stage while wild Spanish scenes swirl behind her.
As I exit the Expo, I am just in time for the nightly Expo parade down the main street. Each troupe has its moment to perform, and it is fun to try and guess their origin. The parade is noisy, colourful and memorable, much like the Expo itself.
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