EXPOShanghai Newsletter Countdown: 383 days to go www.expo2010china.com Newsletter No. 21, April 13, 2009 Media service center in business THE Expo Organizer has opened a media service center for journalists at the Expo headquarters in Pudong. The 2,800-square- meter center has a 500-seat press room with facilities for simultaneous translation and a newsroom equipped with computers and broadband Workers install the glass roof on six horn-shaped “sunny valley” structures over Expo access. There are also small Boulevard, the main gateway to the Expo Site, connecting the subway station with main rooms for interviews. pavilions. The glass panels can collect rainwater and draw sunlight to underground levels. The Organizer has invit- ed 50 Chinese and foreign journalists to inspect the media center and offer their Five main venues feedback. During Expo 2010, the premises will be turned into a registration center for journalists and the media all taking shape center will be located in the Expo Center near the China Pavilion. BUILDERS have finished struc- theatrical performance effects. and solutions to urban problems. About 100 journalists can tural work on five primary Expo The 126,000-square-meter cen- It is expected be completed by buildings — the China Pavilion, ter is scheduled to be operational September. work simultaneously in the Theme Pavilions, Expo Center, by the end of this year. The Expo Center, the main center’s main newsroom. Expo Performance Center and The iconic China Pavilion is in venue for hosting ceremonies, Local journalists can also Expo Boulevard. the installation and interior dec- forums and conventions, is use the facility as their per- Designed in a seashell shape, oration phase and will host the also in the interior decoration manent bases. the Performance Center has a exhibition, “Crown of the East,” phase. The 142,000-square- Some Expo staff will work main theater that can be adapted toward the end of the year. meter building will also house at the media center to handle to accommodate 4,000 to 18,000 The Theme Pavilions, the Expo operation and media interview applications by seats, according to need. 129,000 square meters in floor center. journalists from around the The stage will have state- space, will highlight the Expo The Expo Boulevard, the main world. of-the-art prop and lighting 2010 theme, “Better City, Bet- gateway to the site, is scheduled equipment to deliver superb ter Life” and display innovations for completion by October. Expo Fact To date, 234 countries and international organizations have confi rmed their participation in Expo 2010. 2 Newsletter No. 21, April 13, 2009 Xinhua signs Expo deal In Brief XINHUA News Agency has participants and journalists. more visitors to Expo 2010. Tickets sold in HK, signed an agreement with the Xinhua will do its best to pro- The agency will dispatch a team Expo Shanghai Organizer to be its mote Expo Shanghai around the of reporters to cover events and Macau and Taiwan official news service authorized to world and contribute to a success- news stories during Expo 2010. TICKETS to Expo 2010 went on send Expo-related reports around ful Expo, said Lu Wei, the news It will provide news updates and sale in Taiwan on April 6 after the world. agency’s deputy director. feature reports to newspapers, sales began in Hong Kong on April It will file stories in Chinese, Zhong Yanqun, Full-time radio and television stations, and 2 and Macau on April 3. Organiza- English, French, Spanish, Russian, Deputy Director of World Expo Internet news portals. Xinhua will tions, institutions and businesses Arabic, Portuguese and Japanese. Shanghai 2010 Executive Com- also cooperate with the Organizer can make group bookings through The State-owned news agency mittee, said she believed Xinhua’s in promotion campaigns for the China Travel Services in Taiwan, w i l l a l s o s u p p l y i n f o r m a t i o n t o E x p o news service would help attract world fair. Hong Kong and Macau. Macau’s New Sintra Tours is also an agent. Regular tickets will cost US$23.40 MediaCorp an and early birds get a discount. event partner Imports arrive SINGAPORE’S MediaCorp has THE first batch of materials from been appointed an official media foreign Expo participants to build partner for Expo Shanghai. Me- pavilions was shipped to Shanghai diaCorp’s more than 20 channels on April 1. Japan sent two trees around the world, including Chan- to the city’s Waigaoqiao Wharf to nel NewsAsia, will broadcast the be planted in or outside its pavil- 2010 world fair. ion. The Shanghai Customs has It will also broadcast a weekly opened a green channel for Expo infotainment program, called materials. Participants who build Expo Connections, from May and pavilions need to import or buy assist the Organizer in a program their own construction material. featuring Singaporean and Shang- hai entertainers. Plant revived Blooming lovely THE Nanshi Water Plant began a Shanghai Daily Crowds packed the flower trial run on April 1 and will supply show at the Shanghai water to the Expo Site beginning on cell phones Botanical Gardens during in August. Built in 1902, the plant used to supply water for the SUBSCRIBERS to Shanghai Dai- the Qingming Festival on city’s downtown area. Shanghai ly’s mobile newspaper can keep April 4-6. This year’s show Chengtou Corporation spent 1.1 themselves up to date with news features Expo-themed flower billion yuan (US$161 million) on of Expo 2010. The mobile edition arrangement and sculptures renovating it to boost its daily sup- is designed for foreigners and bi- with more than 3,000 varieties ply to 700,000 cubic meters. The lingual Chinese readers. of flowers on display. “Home of Haibao” and “The first-phase renovation will allow To subscribe, Shanghai Mobile Volunteers” are among works the plant to pump 500,000 cubic users can send a text message to drawing the most attention. meters of water a day. 10658258; Shanghai Telecom The show, to end on May E-Surfing users can send a text 10, also presents soil free Confidence high message to 10628666; and Shang- cultivation to be widely used in hai Unicom users can send a text the city’s Expo decorations. A SURVEY of 2,714 Shanghai res- message to 106286662. idents, including some expatriates, has found that an overwhelming Expo Online majority of local people are confi- dent of China’s capability to host a splendid and successful Expo. The Virtual venue support keeps growing survey by the Shanghai Quality ITALY, Malaysia, Romania, Tur- They will build “experiencing “walk around” the 3D pavilions, Association found that 94 percent key, Singapore, Honduras, the pavilions” and 16 cities will show play games, chat with pavilion of the respondents believe Expo Republic of Korea, Finland, Bo- online their models of Urban Best chiefs, and even plan a city of the 2010 will be a great success. About livia, Germany, Georgia, Spain, Practice. future. half of those surveyed said they Argentina, Sweden and Austria Their virtual pavilions, en- Detailed information about planned to visit the Expo, and 31.1 are the latest countries to join in livened by multimedia and 3D Expo Online is available at http:// percent of foreign respondents Expo Shanghai Online, bringing technology, can offer browsers in- www.expo2010.cn/czsw/wssbh/ currently in the city wanted to see the number of participants to 171. teractive experiences. Visitors can index.htm. the Expo. Expo Fact The Expo Site lies along the Huangpu River mainly between the Nanpu and Lupu bridges. Newsletter No. 21, April 13, 2009 3 Local homes keen to host visitors Visitors to Shanghai Shanghai residents Expo next year can take English enjoy a special treat lessons and other training that few get to experi- courses as ence. Some of the part of their preparation to city’s senior residents host overseas will invite visitors from visitors during Expo 2010. overseas to their homes for a taste of life here. Yang Jian looks down the long- tang (lanes). YE Huizhen, 66, lives alone in her Shanghai daily life. These fami- Ye Huizhen, 20-square-meter home in a 1930s lies are natural “pavilions” outside 66, tends lane house. As she walks, the the Expo Site, quipped one Expo goldfish in her mottled wooden floor creaks, and organizer. lane house. there’s a pleasant smell from her According to the community’s Her home has rosewood furniture. An electric “Expo Family Plan,” foreign been selected fan hangs from the ceiling — just guests will be invited to one of as one of the like the ones in movies about old these homes in the morning. The 35 Expo host Shanghai. A sewing machine sits hosts will take them to nearby venues in the silently in a corner, reminding Jing’an Park for morning exercises city’s Jing’an people of its popularity among and then to the market to shop for District. Shanghai homes decades ago. food. After that they will cook and It is a typical home in Shang- have lunch together. hai’s old quarters and it is here that In the afternoon, they will It will cost a foreign visitor 100 Ye, a retired worker from a Ye will undertake a special task teach foreign guests how to make yuan (US$14.62) to stay with a Shanghai watch factory, thinks — to host foreign visitors during dumplings and speak the Shang- family for one day; 30 yuan just the project will enrich her life: “I Expo 2010.