Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
number ever to go to a world expo (and one of the larger single-day events in
recent history). Even on relatively “low-attendance” days (in the 500,000
to 750,000 range), lines to get into the $164 million Saudi Arabian Pavilion
(a.k.a. the Moon Boat, meant to evoke the desert) stretched to nine hours.
Regular waits for the other popular national pavilions (Japan, Russia, Ger-
many, and Spain) ranged from three to seven hours. Although I can't
say why all those people waited in those long lines (Americans are well
known, according to U.S. theme-park industry research, to resist lines that
make us wait even one hour), I know why
I
did. I wanted to know what the
Shanghai 2010 World Expo was all about, particularly its view of the eco-
logical future it imagined and represented to its national and international
audiences.
What shaped the twists and turns of the ecological plotline of the expo?
First and foremost, the event was extolled as yet another sign of China's
emerging ascendancy in global aff airs, as the fi rst expo organized in main-
land Asia (previously, the only Asian host nation was Japan). Similar to how
the United States used it various expos in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, China used large-scale events like the Beijing Olympics
and the Shanghai World Expo to project its power. Large international events
both condensed and consolidated national and cultural identities, particu-
larly as China is moving to global economic hegemon status and seeking the
cultural power and infl uence to match.
Certainly, China's economic strength was a major factor in why it was
awarded the event. h e entire o' cial expo budget was RMB 28.6 billion (4.2
billion U.S. dollars).
1
Following just two years after the global spectacle of
the Beijing Olympics, the expo was Shanghai's turn to shine. h e site was
also the largest physical expo site in the history of these events, at 528 hect-
ares (about one and a half times the size of New York City's Central Park) and
split into two parts along the banks of the Huangpu River.
2
According to
expo organizers, the Shanghai Expo is also host to the largest numbers of
