SHANGHAI -- I had the luck to spend a whole week at the World Expo in Shanghai as a press correspondent for the China Radio International. In the seven days at the Expo Park, I saw a lot of pavilions, exhibitions and shows. I had intense impressions from both China and the world, nevertheless it feels like I still could stay for another month just to get an overall idea of every pavilion worth visiting.
Which pavilion is the best? That is very hard to tell. In my view, the UK Pavilion is the best-designed, the China Pavilion is the most grandiose, the Saudi-Arabian with its magnificent IMAX-desert-magic is the most breath-taking, the Italian is the most stylish and the list could continue. If you step into the Morocco Pavilion, you can feel as if you have just entered the palace of the Sultan of the Arabian Nights, I was absolutely amazed by its great interior, but the pavilion of Nepal can also boast with magnificent structure and fantastically balanced ornamentation.
It is very interesting to observe how different countries often choose similar ways to attract the attention and raise the interest of visitors. In my opinion, just few attempts are overwhelmingly successful, while most of them can reach only partial or limited results. It seems to be difficult for most countries to find the way to the Chinese soul, but many of them try quite hard to do so.
It does not really matter whether the Shanghai Expo is regarded by the participants as a symbol of China's rise or a gorgeous opportunity for country marketing, the point is that everybody thinks it is special. Not only some world-famous reliques and pieces of art from all around the globe can make one think that the cream of the world's cultures is represented on the side of the Huangpu River, but there is large number of top ballet performances, concerts and shows almost every night that can fulfill wide range of high cultural entertainment needs, too. It is advisable to get well-informed about the programs at the Expo, I just walked by the Expo Center at about 8 p.m. twice in the week, and got free admittance to the concert of the European Union Youth Orchestra and the performance of the National Ballet of Spain, shows that you cannot see anywhere in the same week. This is one of the magic things of the Expo.
It is difficult to predict at this early period what heritage the Expo will leave on China and the world, but every pavilion has something to do with rational urban planning, sustainable development and respecting the nature. "Better City, Better Life" is a key element of the 21th century life which more and more countries are aware of. I hope the Shanghai Expo will make a significant contribution to the spreading of the environmentally friendly thinking among the companies worldwide, and what is even more important, in the society. I suppose it would be an excessively optimistic attitude to expect the world to even mentally unite in harmony in only half-a-year period of time, but the 2010 Shanghai Expo has the potential to bring people from different cultural backgrounds closer, and increase mutual understanding.
Szentesi Ambrus Gabor is a Hungarian correspondent for the China Radio International.
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