Comment

No picnic in the park

By Jenelle Whittaker (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-07 08:02

Why I am not going to the Shanghai Expo or anywhere close to it

My parents are coming to China for the first time later this month and want to climb the Yellow Mountain (Huangshan), mainly because they saw it on Avatar. My mum raves there will be spectacular views, unbelievable scenery and mystical serenity.

"Why wouldn't we go?" she asks. A little too bluntly, I reply, "No, you don't want to go. There will be too many Expo visitors."

It is estimated that 70 million visitors will visit Expo and according to a survey from the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, 80 percent of respondents going to the Expo have plans to travel and 75 percent of them will go to nearby places, such as Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

Huangshan, only a few hours from Shanghai, is listed as one of the top Expo recommended tourist sites in Anhui. During peak times in spring and summer, the mountain attracts an average of 30,000 visitors a day. Lonely Planet reports that during the busiest times, there is a three-hour queue for the cable car.

Add in the Expo visitors to the mix and you could be looking at a five-hour wait. When you're traveling with someone who doesn't cope with crowds very well, like my father, it is not going to be a picnic in the park or in our case, a picnic on a mountain.

Due to my dad's lack of patience and ability to deal with crowds, I am vetoing Shanghai and everything in its radius. Unfortunately, that means Suzhou, only 80 kilometers from Shanghai and described as China's Venice, has to go and the beautiful West Lake in Hangzhou city.

Instead we will travel to Guilin to visit the scenic Yangshuo, cruise down the Li River and then head up to Chongqing to sample the spicy hot pot. After that we'll go to Zhangjiajie before returning to Beijing where my dad may struggle with the rush of people, crowds and traffic jams!

Before my parents told me they were coming to China, I toyed with the idea of going to the Expo by myself.

I reasoned that, as it would be a once-in-a-life-time opportunity, I would experience an amazing patriotic atmosphere and feel a sense of the local pride that Shanghai is being paraded to the world.

Then the continuous stream of newspaper articles describing the expected number of visitors, the crowds, as well as soaring prices of accommodation and restaurants, made me question the logic in going to the World Expo when I lived in a city that was vital to the world's economy.

The World Expo is no longer associated with business and economics. This year, the Shanghai Expo is being portrayed by both the international and domestic media as a theme park with parades, performances, bands, musicians and of course, pandas. The target audience for the Expo is everyone - families, students, couples and elderly people, rather than businesses and investors.

While the Shanghai Expo official site declares that the "Expo aims to promote the exchange of ideas and development of the world economy, culture, science and technology, to allow exhibitors to publicize and display their achievements and improve international relationships", it seems like the fun fair has taken over.

Like in all World Expos, the main attractions are national pavilions created by countries aiming to showcase the country, sell products and entice investment and tourists. This to me is not much of a drawcard.

Why stand in long queues in the Shanghai heat to be presented with what a group of policymakers thinks represents their country? I would rather surf the net and to find out about the country and then go there in person.

The Australian pavilion official website states: "Nothing has yet matched the ability of world expos to enable people to experience a range of cultures in a dynamic environment."

There are many cultures I want to experience in the world, but not all in one day and in one city.