The World's Fair's successor is now called Expo. This year's version, Expo 2010 is running from May to October in China's most global city... Shanghai.
The tag line is: "Better City, Better Life".
An incredible 70 million visitors are expected!
Shanghai was once China's most metropolitan city back in the 1930s. It had earlier been a vital trading point, and where East did truly meet West. The Shanghai of the 1930s is always depicted in movies as the original sin city and a place of intrigue and spies. It has appeared in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and The Mummy 3: Curse of the Dragon Emperor.
Shanghai is a city I would love to visit one day so I can emulate Michael Palin in Full Circle on a bridge over the Huangpo River and view the incredible skyline of the new Shanghai financial district, and also to look at the old financial center, the Bund.
The World's Fair (or Expo) is an opportunity for suppliers and customers to come together and see what deals they can make. It is also a calling card for a city and a nation, a bit like winning the Olympics or World Cup, as tourism and global press coverage increases.
Barcelona held Expo 92 and the Summer Olympics of 1992 at the same time, which really did put Barcelona back on the global map.
Shanghai has always felt more global than traditional Beijing, so it will it be a success? The Mag-Lev train link is rumoured to not yet be complete....
Will Shanghai meet the target of 70 million visitors?
In a city of 14 million people it is just all too incredible. I honestly think that if my golf trip in October doesn't come off then I want to go to Shanghai!
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