Australian pavilion creates enthusiasm, laughter for visitors

SHANGHAI - For Peter Sams, director of the Australian pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, the happiest thing every morning is to see hundreds of visitors running from different directions to the gate of the rust-red pavilion after the Expo entrances open at 9 o'clock.

"When the first people come to the queue, they know they are going to come into the pavilion to see the show early and not to have to queue long. It' s fantastic to see the huge smile on everybody's face,"  Sams said.

Different kinds of cultural performances, contemporary aboriginal art, sculptures that speak about Australian history and audio-visual presentations have attracted 3.26 million visitors to the Australian pavilion, around 50,000 people every day, with about 93 percent of them are from China.

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"That is great, because the reason we are here is to talk to the Chinese public about Australia. The pavilion and exhibition are designed for Chinese visitors,"  he said.

"Everybody knows Australia. Australians are friendly. Australia has a beautiful environment. But what we would like to show is that we are smart people. We are thinking about the solutions for building a 'better city, better life' . We are not lucky to simply have a good environment. We work hard to keep a good environment. We work hard to keep a balance in life,"  Sams said.

The Australian pavilion's exterior is clad in weathering steel that oxidizes in response to the climatic conditions in Shanghai. Over the course of the Expo, the steel will self-seal in response to the moisture in the air, developing a rust-like appearance.

"Chosen specially for these qualities, it is a purposeful reminder that the man-made environment is subject to the forces of nature and that we should construct our cities accordingly,"  Sams said.

Beyond the exhibitions, Sams attributed visitors' enthusiasm to the 450 staff working at the Australian pavilion. Half of them are from Australia, and most of them are bilingual.

According to him, Australia's participation in the Shanghai Expo represents the largest-ever investment by Australia in a World Expo and provides a unique opportunity to further strengthen bilateral ties with China.

Australia has been involved in six Expos since 1985: Tsukuba, Japan (1985); Vancouver, Canada (1986); Brisbane, Australia (1988); Seville, Spain (1992); Hanover, Germany (2000) and Aichi, Japan (2005).

The country hosted Expo in Brisbane in 1988 with the theme Leisure in the Age of Technology. Expo in Brisbane featured 36 countries, 80 pavilions and attracted 18 million visitors, which was more than Australia' s population at the time.

Sams was also Australian pavilion director at the Aichi Expo in 2005.

"At that time I thought it was the largest project I would be involved in. But later I found Shanghai Expo is hugely larger in terms of visitor size, Australian involvement, and the importance of the Expo to Australia. In every respect, it's the biggest Expo, "  Sams said.

"The queue outside the Australian pavilion has become much longer than at the beginning of the Expo. We make improvements every day to make our show better. My hope is that we are still making improvements on the last day,"  Sams added.