Ai ya, robot: Emperor Xuanzong returns

Twenty four provinces and municipalities of China unveiled their plans for the Expo at a meeting yesterday. Now we're sure that each province is going to try and outdo each other, but Shaanxi seems to have already taken the cake: they're building imperial robots!

The Expo will feature a joint-provincial pavilion, which give each province and municipality space to highlight their specialties and history. Shaanxi had decided to build a Tang-styled structure which will allow visitors to explore the history and culture of the old capital, Chang'an. And to crown their pavilion, they're making a robotic Emperor Xuanzong AND Yang Yuhuan, his consort, to greet guests. So we guess party officials can't be consorting with consorts anymore, but robots are just fine!

Luckily, Shaanxi province isn't the only one with awkward robotics: Shanghai Daily has a writeup on other potentially hilarious pavilion escapades, cleverly named with an impossible to avoid Isaac Asimov reference: Aye robot, indeed. Check out some of our favorite pavilions:

A spicy Sichuan hot pot will be constantly on the boil from southwest Sichuan's pavilion.

The northeastern Heilongjiang Province will offer visitors a chance to explore a dream-like icy city to show how it is possible to live well amid ice and snow and in harmony with nature. Its theme will be "Ice and Snow Make Us Extraordinary."

An artificial elephant will turn up its nose and say "hello" in Yunan [sic] dialect to every visitor to the pavilion of the southwestern Yunan [sic] Province.

Of course, Shanghai has expressed its commitment to sharing the "opportunities and economic growth" brought from the expo with the other provinces and municipalities, which is nice of them. Hopefully, the cultural and historic pavilions will be cooler than the Oil pavilion.