Sustainable Shanghai Expo doesn't need Olympic glitz

• Source: Global Times
• [20:53 April 26 2010]
• Comments

By Marion Masar

In recent years, people around the world have become used to China's ability to host gigantic events.

The Beijing Olympic Games set the standard for opening ceremonies high, and I think chances are that few other countries will do it bigger and better than China did in 2008.

Now comes the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. It has broken several records, such as the largest fair in history by land size, and is likely to break the record for number of visitors.

The opening ceremony, scheduled on Saturday, will be broadcast worldwide. With the massive promotional campaign in the media, expectations are running high.

However, the Olympic Games and the World Expo are completely different when it comes to business structures, financing and their fundamental purposes.

In the case of the Olympic Games, the money from selling the broadcasting rights to TV stations around the world makes up a large portion of its proceeds. That is why the organizers have to make the event, particularly the opening ceremony, as attractive as possible.

The World Expo, however, is financed from ticket sales, so it doesn't have the same need to make the event appealing to a worldwide TV audience.

They still try to put on a show. At the World Expo in Aichi, Japan in 2005, the music presented by 14 robots at the opening ceremony was very impressive. During the Hanover World Expo, Germany in 2000, the opening ceremony started with a music show, performed by a female violoncello player and a robot drummer, their exquisite cooperation drawing applause from audiences.

But even those can hardly be compared to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Yet even without the glamorous opening ceremony, the visitors have much to look forward to in the Shanghai Expo. The whole event carries the spirit of sustainability. The organizers have promised that the whole event will be carbon-neutral. Solar panels will power many of the pavilions, and electric vehicles will be used.

A number of new Shanghai landmarks have been created that will be spectacular mementos of the event, including a clam-shell shaped cultural center, a pavilion shaped like sand dunes and the China pavilion.

The costs and the sustainability of building these pavilions remain controversial. In the past, some countries were reluctant to participate mainly because of the benefits were thought to be outweighed by the high costs.

At the Hanover World Expo, where countries created their own pavilions, the average investment was approximately 13 million euros ($17.39 million).