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Week Around the Ists
A China Eastern Airlines jetliner emblazoned with flashy colors and the not-so-flashy "Better City, Better Life" slogan of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai made its maiden voyage yesterday. Here are some photos of it arriving in Tokyo.
We have a confession to make: Before moving to Shanghai, we had no idea that World Expos (also known as World Fairs) still took place[1]. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that we are American and, thus, generally unaware of what goes on in the world beyond the tri-state area. If you are looking to brush up on your World Expo knowledge, there's quite a bit of info here. You may also enjoy this list of world's fairs since the 1750s. And then there is this list of world expositions (the big ones sanctioned by the Bureau of International Expositions — Shanghai falls into this category). Here's the official site of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
The most recent World Expo was in Aichi, Japan in 2005. Hanover, Germany, played host to the 2000 Expo.
[1] Perhaps this explains our World Expo ignorance: The United States hasn't held one since 1984, when New Orleans was home to the third-consecutive US-based World Expo (Spokane, Washington in 1974 and Knoxville, Tennessee in 1982). Actually, from 1962 to 1982, cities in the United States played host to six of eight World Expos. And we have the Seattle Space Needle to show for it.
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cheezy slogan, cheezy expo?
perhaps it explains your ignorance that you haven't heard of it because there haven't been any recent ones in the USA?
My God, Americans really are just plain IGNORANT (which would explain your ignorance)
Shanghai is hardly a "cheezy expo." It may be the most important World Expo since the NY World Fair in 1964. But your ignorance is understandable. The US dropped out of the Bureau of International Expositions in the mid-90s, about the same time that the 1994 Congress eliminated all federal funding for US participation in future Expos. The US hasn't been at a Universal (World) Class Expo since the 1984 Louisiana Expo. We missed Seville and later, in 2000, Hanover -- Europe's largest Expo.
The US almost didn't make Shanghai, either, nor is our participation a done deal. The State Dept. issued an RFP for proposals only in November 2006, after a year of deliberation. Whether the US will participate in this, possibly the most important modern Expo, is still an open question. (Disclaimer: I'm a member of a team that responded to the RFP, in February 2006, as required. We're waiting to hear back from State. If we didn't participate, we'd be about one of a dozen nations, all Third World countries, who may not make Shanghai. The rest of the world will be there.
The best website for Expo lore is Expo Museum (.com). Sorry I can't link it, but the cheezy TypePad service won't let me even though I'm registered. Next time, try WordPress.
Yup, we're ignorant . . . lucky we run the world.
Funny, I seem to remember a US pavilion at the Seville expo (in the country where I lived at the time). It had an "Environmentally Friendly House of the Future", a movie about the USA, and an original copy of the Constitution (or Dec of Ind, can't remember everything!).
Player haters.
Rumour has it that the US wilil just invade another pavillion a week before the gates open.