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4th May, 2010
FIREWORKS USHER IN GUESTS TO CHINA EXPO
If the Ghanaian saying that a good market day can be forecast from the transactions of the early hours and if it is true that coming events cast their shadows, it should not take a prophet to predict that the world is set to be mesmerized in 184 days (six months – up to October 31) by culture, futuristic hi-tech and business in this glittering financial hub of China.
The Friday night grand fireworks and outdoor multimedia show along the ancient Huangpu river in China’s financial capital on took everybody’s breath away; everybody, not excluding visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy,Russian, President Dmitry Medvedev, Africa Union chairman, Malawi’s Bingu wa Mutharika, former Namibia president Sam Nujoma, and heads of international organizations.
The outdoor fireworks had been preceded by an indoor event of sights, sounds and lights as dancers, gymnasts, singers, youths and children numbering in excess of 2,500, wearing traditional Chinese-style Tang blouses refitted into ballet dresses, conveyed messages of welcome in songs, dances, lights.
China, pursuing a policy of internationalization, had brought the artists together: they represented perhaps every race on earth, a symbolism that was not lost on the serious-minded in the crowd and across the world who had an eye on the theme.
Welcome to the 2010 edition of the World Expo, the first to be held in a developing country since the first in the UK in 1900. At a brief stand-up event on Saturday morning, top Chinese, International Exhibition Bureau officials the Shanghai Expo, raised and unfurled flags of China, the IEB and the host-city to formally open the gates to the world.
Costing in multiple tens of billions of dollars, the National Planning Committee expects to attract 70 million visitors under the theme, ‘Better City, Better Life’
On Friday night, President Hu Jintao had in a voice that belied his deepest emotions, literally lifted the veil on arguably the most mesmerizing pre- event spectacular of all time, with the words, “
As the fireworks crackled and boomed overhead, lazer projected lights threw designs across the night sky, creating an atmosphere that was simultaneously as merry as Christmas and as frightening and foreboding as the Armageddon.
Earlier in the UFO-shaped centerpiece facility at the Expo Park Cultural Centre of the Expo Park, hundreds of dancers and singers, some of them world famous, used sound and motion to recreate the theme of Better City, Better Life’ on a LED screen.
There were China’s famous pianist Lang Lang, whose fingers ran over the black-and-white keys in an unforgettable performance of the event's theme music, led by Siedah Garrett and Jonathan Buck, two American singers belting out "Better city, better life".
From Chinese ballerina, through tight funk-influenced western ……. Music, sights and sounds from Africa, the Aborigines of Australia and American-Indian, the choreographers and music composers and directors sought to share the blame equally between the bush-burning practices of developing countries and the carbon emissions belched out of industrial …… .
It was the nostalgia of a sky that was once upon a time so blue and so clean, a forest so virgin, so untamed and so green; a sea totally unspoilt and so pristine.
It recalled the pyramids of Egypt, a desert where the oases were a green island of trees surrounding cool waters for parching thoughts; and Italy with its ancient ruins and cascading waterfalls.
A huge globe carved in five parts like watermelon, representing the various continents in equal measure emerged to claim its place. In it was a future – green and pure - that was only a hope.
Along with President Hu Jintao’s a statement was presented by the International Exhibitions Bureau chief, Jean-Pierre Lafon who spoke in all three languages of the Bureau, Chinese, his owned French and English. He hoped the 2010 Expo would contribute to a "social awakening" so that cities may become more sustainable, fairer, safer and more harmonious.
He said ‘Better City, Better Life’, the chosen theme of the exhibition, must drive people to improve the quality of life for all people of the world, the rich and the poor, particularly as the majority of the world's population now lived in cities.
Jean-Pierre Lafon was happy to see an interpretation of "truly planetary" world projected through the broadcasting of images and forums.
He said World Expos, more alive than ever before, were "answering a need of progress, of meetings, of conviviality and dialogue."
The Shanghai World Expo, the first world exposition hosted by a developing country since the inaugural fair in London in 1851,is expected to attract more than 70 million visitors during its six-month run ending Oct. 31.
Some 189 countries and 57 international organizations are here to participate in the
Artists of different colors sing and dance on the same stage.
The Shanghai World Expo opened Friday night with artistic performances, fireworks and high technologies that epitomized 159 years of Expo history.
Thousands of people watched the gala live at the futuristic, while thousands more enjoyed fireworks, lights and fountains on the waterfront promenade, the Bund.
Across China, millions shared Shanghai's celebration in front of their TVs.
The first World Expo ever in a developing country, the Shanghai event would lead new lifestyles, promote harmony between people and nature as well as the overall development of humanity, Vice Premier Wang Qishan said in his address at the opening ceremony.
The 184-day event, running until Oct. 31, has drawn participation by an unprecedented 189 countries and 57 international organizations and is expected to host an estimated 70 million visitors.
SHANGHAI GREETS WORLD
China's largest city, at the mouth of the Yangtze, began to evolve into the metropolis it is today in the 19th Century, when the British established a concession there after the first Opium War in 1842.
The city was known as the "Paris of the East" in the 1920s and 1930s for its beautiful buildings and prevalence of Western vogue and lifestyles.
After New China was founded in 1949, Shanghai was for decades the country's top manufacturing base, with "made in Shanghai" snacks, clothing and light industrial products coveted by most Chinese people.
It was also among the first to benefit from China's economic reforms that began in the late 1970s. The country's first stock exchange opened there in 1990.
Today, the city of 18 million people is China's financial hub with towering skyscrapers, a meeting point of migrant laborers, bankers, artists and businesspeople from around the globe, with more transnational marriages than elsewhere in China.
"We've been looking forward to this," said Zhang Wei, a volunteer at the Expo's media center. He is among 72,000 volunteers at the Expo Park, a 5.28-square-km area straddling the Huangpu River.
About 2 million others are offering voluntary services across the city.
A HARMONIOUS GATHERING
The opening ceremony, produced by a team of Chinese and foreign directors, was designed to be simple, but with highlights, and warm, but not extravagant.
"China is taking the World Expo stage in a concise and modest manner," said Teng Junjie, chief director for the production of indoor performances.While earlier expos showcased great inventions, recent events are also tackling the challenges brought by progress, including pollution, traffic congestion and energy deficiency.
As president of the International Exhibitions Bureau Jean-Pierre Lafon put it, the Shanghai event is expected to "contribute to a social awakening so that our cities may become more sustainable, fairer, safer and harmonious."
Amid global concerns over pollution and climate change, and in an effort to live up to its theme of "Better city, Better life", Shanghai organizers have made 2,000 VIP seats in the Expo Cultural Center out of deserted milk packages.
Handbags and tissues were made of recycled paper, while low-energy consuming LED screens and acoustic devices were used at the opening ceremony.
"Chinese elements are found throughout the ceremony," said Liu Wenguo, an official with the Bureau of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination, citing fireworks, drums and the Butterfly Lovers, a Romeo and Juliet-style romance.
"These have brought the essence of Chinese culture to the global audience, and achieved the combination of Chinese and Western value systems."
David Atkins, who headed the production team for the outdoor ceremony, said the opening was a "harmonious gathering" and celebration of the city, its future and history.
SHANGHAI, April 29 (Xinhua) -- With the clock ticks near the opening of the Shanghai World Expo, China is gearing up in an effort to present a successful and impressive World Expo, running from May 1 to Oct. 31.
It was the first time for the 159-year-old World Expo to be held in a developing country since the inaugural fair in London in 1851. Following are China's connection with the event:
Xu Rongcun, a businessmen in the Qing Dynasty, was the first Chinese to join a World Expo. The silk produced by Xu's company won the prize for China in the first World Expo in London in 1851.
In 1894, Zheng Guanying, a well-known Chinese thinker, proposed the idea of hosting the World Expo in Shanghai in his masterpiece Sheng Shi Wei Yan, or words of warning in times of prosperity.
The People's Republic of China made its first debut at the World Expo 1982 in Knoxvile, the United States. The China Pavilion, with a display of ten old bricks from the Great Wall, terracotta warriors and bronze chariots of Emperor Qinshihuang's tomb, amazed the visitors.
In May 1993, China was accepted as the 46th member country of the Bureau of International Exhibitions (BIE), enabling the country to bid to host the World Expo.
A grand show of lighting and fireworks were presented Friday evening for the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.
The show was staged alongside the city's Huangpu River, attracting thousands of residents and tourists.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and other senior officials as well as foreign leaders attended the ceremony.
The Expo is scheduled to last for six months from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2010.
A grand show of lighting and fireworks were presented Friday evening for the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.
The show was staged alongside the city's Huangpu River, attracting thousands of residents and tourists.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and other senior officials as well as foreign leaders attended the ceremony.
The Expo is scheduled to last for six months from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2010.
The Friday night grand fireworks and outdoor multimedia show along the ancient Huangpu river in China’s financial capital on took everybody’s breath away; everybody, not excluding visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy,Russian, President Dmitry Medvedev, Africa Union chairman, Malawi’s Bingu wa Mutharika, former Namibia president Sam Nujoma, and heads of international organizations.
The outdoor fireworks had been preceded by an indoor event of sights, sounds and lights as dancers, gymnasts, singers, youths and children numbering in excess of 2,500, wearing traditional Chinese-style Tang blouses refitted into ballet dresses, conveyed messages of welcome in songs, dances, lights.
China, pursuing a policy of internationalization, had brought the artists together: they represented perhaps every race on earth, a symbolism that was not lost on the serious-minded in the crowd and across the world who had an eye on the theme.
Welcome to the 2010 edition of the World Expo, the first to be held in a developing country since the first in the UK in 1900. At a brief stand-up event on Saturday morning, top Chinese, International Exhibition Bureau officials the Shanghai Expo, raised and unfurled flags of China, the IEB and the host-city to formally open the gates to the world.
Costing in multiple tens of billions of dollars, the National Planning Committee expects to attract 70 million visitors under the theme, ‘Better City, Better Life’
On Friday night, President Hu Jintao had in a voice that belied his deepest emotions, literally lifted the veil on arguably the most mesmerizing pre- event spectacular of all time, with the words, “
As the fireworks crackled and boomed overhead, lazer projected lights threw designs across the night sky, creating an atmosphere that was simultaneously as merry as Christmas and as frightening and foreboding as the Armageddon.
Earlier in the UFO-shaped centerpiece facility at the Expo Park Cultural Centre of the Expo Park, hundreds of dancers and singers, some of them world famous, used sound and motion to recreate the theme of Better City, Better Life’ on a LED screen.
There were China’s famous pianist Lang Lang, whose fingers ran over the black-and-white keys in an unforgettable performance of the event's theme music, led by Siedah Garrett and Jonathan Buck, two American singers belting out "Better city, better life".
From Chinese ballerina, through tight funk-influenced western ……. Music, sights and sounds from Africa, the Aborigines of Australia and American-Indian, the choreographers and music composers and directors sought to share the blame equally between the bush-burning practices of developing countries and the carbon emissions belched out of industrial …… .
It was the nostalgia of a sky that was once upon a time so blue and so clean, a forest so virgin, so untamed and so green; a sea totally unspoilt and so pristine.
It recalled the pyramids of Egypt, a desert where the oases were a green island of trees surrounding cool waters for parching thoughts; and Italy with its ancient ruins and cascading waterfalls.
A huge globe carved in five parts like watermelon, representing the various continents in equal measure emerged to claim its place. In it was a future – green and pure - that was only a hope.
Along with President Hu Jintao’s a statement was presented by the International Exhibitions Bureau chief, Jean-Pierre Lafon who spoke in all three languages of the Bureau, Chinese, his owned French and English. He hoped the 2010 Expo would contribute to a "social awakening" so that cities may become more sustainable, fairer, safer and more harmonious.
He said ‘Better City, Better Life’, the chosen theme of the exhibition, must drive people to improve the quality of life for all people of the world, the rich and the poor, particularly as the majority of the world's population now lived in cities.
Jean-Pierre Lafon was happy to see an interpretation of "truly planetary" world projected through the broadcasting of images and forums.
He said World Expos, more alive than ever before, were "answering a need of progress, of meetings, of conviviality and dialogue."
The Shanghai World Expo, the first world exposition hosted by a developing country since the inaugural fair in London in 1851,is expected to attract more than 70 million visitors during its six-month run ending Oct. 31.
Some 189 countries and 57 international organizations are here to participate in the
Artists of different colors sing and dance on the same stage.
The Shanghai World Expo opened Friday night with artistic performances, fireworks and high technologies that epitomized 159 years of Expo history.
Thousands of people watched the gala live at the futuristic, while thousands more enjoyed fireworks, lights and fountains on the waterfront promenade, the Bund.
Across China, millions shared Shanghai's celebration in front of their TVs.
The first World Expo ever in a developing country, the Shanghai event would lead new lifestyles, promote harmony between people and nature as well as the overall development of humanity, Vice Premier Wang Qishan said in his address at the opening ceremony.
The 184-day event, running until Oct. 31, has drawn participation by an unprecedented 189 countries and 57 international organizations and is expected to host an estimated 70 million visitors.
SHANGHAI GREETS WORLD
China's largest city, at the mouth of the Yangtze, began to evolve into the metropolis it is today in the 19th Century, when the British established a concession there after the first Opium War in 1842.
The city was known as the "Paris of the East" in the 1920s and 1930s for its beautiful buildings and prevalence of Western vogue and lifestyles.
After New China was founded in 1949, Shanghai was for decades the country's top manufacturing base, with "made in Shanghai" snacks, clothing and light industrial products coveted by most Chinese people.
It was also among the first to benefit from China's economic reforms that began in the late 1970s. The country's first stock exchange opened there in 1990.
Today, the city of 18 million people is China's financial hub with towering skyscrapers, a meeting point of migrant laborers, bankers, artists and businesspeople from around the globe, with more transnational marriages than elsewhere in China.
"We've been looking forward to this," said Zhang Wei, a volunteer at the Expo's media center. He is among 72,000 volunteers at the Expo Park, a 5.28-square-km area straddling the Huangpu River.
About 2 million others are offering voluntary services across the city.
A HARMONIOUS GATHERING
The opening ceremony, produced by a team of Chinese and foreign directors, was designed to be simple, but with highlights, and warm, but not extravagant.
"China is taking the World Expo stage in a concise and modest manner," said Teng Junjie, chief director for the production of indoor performances.While earlier expos showcased great inventions, recent events are also tackling the challenges brought by progress, including pollution, traffic congestion and energy deficiency.
As president of the International Exhibitions Bureau Jean-Pierre Lafon put it, the Shanghai event is expected to "contribute to a social awakening so that our cities may become more sustainable, fairer, safer and harmonious."
Amid global concerns over pollution and climate change, and in an effort to live up to its theme of "Better city, Better life", Shanghai organizers have made 2,000 VIP seats in the Expo Cultural Center out of deserted milk packages.
Handbags and tissues were made of recycled paper, while low-energy consuming LED screens and acoustic devices were used at the opening ceremony.
"Chinese elements are found throughout the ceremony," said Liu Wenguo, an official with the Bureau of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination, citing fireworks, drums and the Butterfly Lovers, a Romeo and Juliet-style romance.
"These have brought the essence of Chinese culture to the global audience, and achieved the combination of Chinese and Western value systems."
David Atkins, who headed the production team for the outdoor ceremony, said the opening was a "harmonious gathering" and celebration of the city, its future and history.
SHANGHAI, April 29 (Xinhua) -- With the clock ticks near the opening of the Shanghai World Expo, China is gearing up in an effort to present a successful and impressive World Expo, running from May 1 to Oct. 31.
It was the first time for the 159-year-old World Expo to be held in a developing country since the inaugural fair in London in 1851. Following are China's connection with the event:
Xu Rongcun, a businessmen in the Qing Dynasty, was the first Chinese to join a World Expo. The silk produced by Xu's company won the prize for China in the first World Expo in London in 1851.
In 1894, Zheng Guanying, a well-known Chinese thinker, proposed the idea of hosting the World Expo in Shanghai in his masterpiece Sheng Shi Wei Yan, or words of warning in times of prosperity.
The People's Republic of China made its first debut at the World Expo 1982 in Knoxvile, the United States. The China Pavilion, with a display of ten old bricks from the Great Wall, terracotta warriors and bronze chariots of Emperor Qinshihuang's tomb, amazed the visitors.
In May 1993, China was accepted as the 46th member country of the Bureau of International Exhibitions (BIE), enabling the country to bid to host the World Expo.
A grand show of lighting and fireworks were presented Friday evening for the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.
The show was staged alongside the city's Huangpu River, attracting thousands of residents and tourists.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and other senior officials as well as foreign leaders attended the ceremony.
The Expo is scheduled to last for six months from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2010.
A grand show of lighting and fireworks were presented Friday evening for the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.
The show was staged alongside the city's Huangpu River, attracting thousands of residents and tourists.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and other senior officials as well as foreign leaders attended the ceremony.
The Expo is scheduled to last for six months from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2010.
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