Shanghai Primps For Its Biggest Party
Russell Flannery,Forbes.com
Posted: 05 May 2009 2009 hrs
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SHANGHAI -- Beijing, China's political capital, dominated the stage in China last year with its successful hosting of the Olympics. This week, Shanghai, its big rival for influence and tourist dollars, started the final countdown to an event that the city hopes will allow it to grab the international spotlight.
The Shanghai World Expo will open a year from Friday on May 1, 2010, and run till Oct. 31, on a picturesque stretch along the city's Huangpu River near the historic Bund. No small number of records are expected to fall: It will take up the biggest area of any world expo--2.2 square miles--and organizers expect 70 million visitors, more than any previous expo. About 5% are expected to come from abroad.
Yet no matter how good the preparation, the expo's success will depend on factors beyond the city's control. Security, which hurt the appeal of the Beijing Olympics for visitors and businesses, will again be a government concern, especially given the Shanghai Expo’s half-year length. In addition, the global recession could dampen turnout. With many American companies hurting, it is unclear whether the U.S. will be able to organize a national pavilion.
With a year to go, the city says all’s well for now. Some 234 countries and international organizations have signed up to participate, government officials said at press events this week. "Our preparations have been going smoothly," and the government has switched its focus to operations from attracting participants, said Hong Hao, director general of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination.
The Shanghai Expo marks the first time that China has hosted the event, which dates back to 1851, when the Great Exposition of the Works of Industry of All Nations was held in the Crystal Palace in London. Shanghai, a center for traders and romantics known as the "Pearl of the Orient" before the communist revolution in 1949, has emerged as one of Asia's most popular tourist destinations and multinational business hubs following three decades of economic reform. City leaders hope that the expo will be the city’s coming out party. The expo was most recently held last year in Zaragoza, Spain, with much less international attention.
The financial stakes are big for Shanghai, as well as exhibitors looking to impress locals. Spending on construction at the expo site will total $2.6 billion, which doesn’t include the city’s infrastructure spending. As high wage costs, fat city payroll taxes and the global recession hit manufacturing in the city, Shanghai more than ever also needs to build up its tourism and service sectors to keep growing. The city’s GDP in the first quarter grew a relatively meager 3.1%, only half of the country’s overall 6.1% increase.
Beyond the construction around the Expo area itself, it's hard to miss signs of Shanghai's preparation. The city is in a frenzy of infrastructure construction as new subways and roads are added ahead of the event. Older buildings in high-profile locales are getting a fresh coat of paint. Shanghai is divided in half by the Huangpu River, and expo events will be held on both sides, squeezing traffic on both.
One notable expo structure will be the China Pavilion. It has a classic Chinese architecture design which seems out of place in internationally minded Shanghai; at more than 60 meters tall, it will be hard to miss. The government says the China Pavilion is loftily “designed to reflect the idea of Chinese wisdom in urbanization’ which includes constant diligence, benevolence though profound virtue, learning from nature and harmony in diversity.”
If there is a U.S. pavilion, it would join the Chinese one in the eastern half of the event, but America could be a no-show at the expo. Unlike numerous countries, U.S. law bars the government from funding pavilions at world fairs, and with the economy in the tank, efforts to raise money from the private sector appear to be coming up short. The expo said in a statement that it is “making every effort to ensure that the United States will be represented.” Reportedly, a Chinese offer to provide an interest-free loan was turned down. U.S. firms such as General Motors are participating in separate pavilions; Cisco and IBM are sponsors.
The expo, whose main theme is “Better City, Better Life,” will also feature a first-ever “Urban Best Practices Area” that highlights how cities around the world are trying to improve the quality of life for urbanites--a fitting topic for China, the world's most populous nation, since urbanization leads more than 1 million people from the country’s cities into urban areas annually. As with Beijing's Olympic logo, the Shanghai Expo is giving its emblem some Chinese flavor. The symbol was inspired by the Chinese character for “world,” and is supposed to resemble a family.
The expo will have a corporate pavilion area that hosts 16 businesses. Among them: Coca-Cola, the People’s Insurance Company of China, Vanke Group from Shenzhen, and the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp.
Its list of global partners includes Siemens, China Eastern Airlines, China Mobile, China Telecom, Bank of Communications, General Motors and its main local partner, China National Petroleum, State Grid, Baosteel Group, Broad Air Conditioning, People Insurance and Shanghai Industrial Investment.
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