Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
image as three people (you, me, him/her holding hands symbolizing the big
family of mankind). h e Chinese description claimed that it derives its image
from the Chinese character “shi (
)” (“world”) which represents the con-
cept of the world expo: “Understanding, communication, happy-together,
and cooperation.” Most obviously, the English version of the website high-
lighted the pavilions from other nations, whereas the Chinese version high-
lighted the pavilions from the outlying Chinese provinces. A close reading of
the diff erences between the o' cial expo-related materials (text descrip-
tions, videos, and photographs) revealed important content shifts depend-
ing on the audience, with the Chinese content receiving considerably less
“environmental” material than the English-language version, while
increasing the “cultural” content in discussing the expo themes.
Despite the lack of formal usage of the “betterment” discourse in Chi-
nese, the closest linguistic equivalent circulates around city “health” and
city “illness.” Around 1998-2002, infl uential urban research introduced the
discourse of
chengshi bing
(city illness). h ese early works defi ne
chengshi bing
as the problems that occur during the process of a city's development, which
include tra' c, shortages of water and energy, polluted environments, and
an “imbalance” of energy inputs. In addition, city illness is caused by over-
population and the speed and scale of urbanization processes.
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h e core idea
is that sick cities can be remedied with physical infrastructure that clears up
the various “clogs” in the system, a representation of ideal city life that runs
through the Pavilion of City Being, the only theme pavilion designed by Chi-
nese companies, as I'll discuss below.
haibao harmony
If you traveled to Shanghai from 2002 to 2010, you probably saw lots of
Haibao, the o' cial mascot of the Shanghai World Expo. According to the
English version of the expo website, the mascot was created from a Chinese
character meaning people, and embodies “the character of Chinese
