Breaking records, Shanghai Expo closes doors

Ananth Krishnan

The event received more than 73 million visitors

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The State media has promoted the Expo aggressively

34 pavilions were selected as the best at the Expo

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— Photo: Xinhua 

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (second from right) visits the India Pavilion in the World Expo Park in Shanghai, east China, on Sunday.

BEIJING: The Shanghai Expo, the biggest world's fair in history, closed its doors on Sunday after breaking a number of records during its six month-long opening. The Expo, on which the Shanghai government spent an estimated $ 45 billion, dwarfing what Beijing spent on the Olympics, has been the most expensive and well-attended in the 159-year history of the world's fair.

As of Sunday evening, the event had received more than 73 million visitors, breaking the record set by Osaka, Japan, in 1970, which received 64 million visitors.

The event has been seen here as Shanghai's Olympics, a coming-out party for China's financial centre. The city underwent a massive makeover for the event, building new bridges and subway-lines. The huge investment has stirred debate. Local residents have criticised the massive spending and relocation of residents, though officials say the infrastructure overhaul and the considerable raising of the city's profile will bring returns.

Positive reception

In China, the Expo has been promoted aggressively by the State media. The public reception here has generally been positive - most of the 73 million visitors came from the country's own 27 provinces and administrative regions.

“For most people in China who have never travelled outside the country, it is a great opportunity to learn about other cultures,” said Fang Qiuyan (27), a Beijing resident who made the trip to Shanghai last month for the event. The Expo, on average, received 4,00,000 visitors every day. This often meant long lines and four to five-hour waits for visitors at the most popular pavilions. The huge crowds, however, did not seem to deter visitors in recent weeks, with the number of daily visitors crossing 1 million on October 16.

Curiosity of the Chinese

Li Xiaokun, from Heilongjiang in the far north, said part of the reason for the enthusiasm was the curiosity the most ordinary Chinese have for foreign cultures, having only been exposed to them in recent decades after the “opening up” in 1978.

“We can never have the chance to go to France or Germany, but because many of these pavilions had so many things about life in these countries, there is a great desire to see this,” she said, adding, “even if it means waiting in line for several hours”.

Organised tours

Many visitors from the provinces were also sent to the Expo on paid-for organised tours by local governments, with the high ticket prices keeping many away. State-run companies were also encouraged to pay for employees to visit the Expo – all measures to ensure that China broke Osaka's record.

Among the popular pavilions of the 190 countries that participated were Saudi Arabia's - which was the most expensive after China's, and had the world's largest IMAX screen - and the United Kingdom's, a giant porcupine-like structure with 60,000 rods containing seeds, which will be distributed across China's villages. These were among the 34 pavilions that were selected as the best at the Expo. Others on the list were Germany, Chile and Sweden.

India's $ 10 million pavilion did not make it to the list, though the pavilion's organisers consoled themselves with a brief visit from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday.

At the closure of the mega-event, officials said that another Expo of this size was unlikely. “Let's put it this way: I don't think anyone was even talking about Expos before Shanghai happened,” said one Western diplomat.

The next Expo host, Milan, is already tempering expectations. Letizia Moratti, the city's mayor, said, “It won't be as big.”

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