Results tagged “shanghaiworldexpo”

News on the USA pavilion has been somewhat scarce - at least on this site - since it quit being a joke and turned into something real. But now, as we count down the last 250 days to the Expo, it's somehow made its way back on our radar.

Haibao, everybody's favorite blue thingamajiggy that somehow represents the Expo, has gained a back story and guess what? He's ~*magic*~!

We think the pictures speaks for itself, but in case you have trouble recognizing this triple threat of Chinese celebrity, that's Lang Lang playing air piano, Jackie Chan giving you the thumbs up and Yao Ming towering above them with a slightly deflated looking Haibao perched on his shoulder. Oh wait, maybe that makes this a fearsome foursome?

This irks us almost as much as that really terrible opinion piece on Xinhua that poked fun at Facebook's "gloomy" status in China without ever mentioning that the service has been blocked. Guess who's on Facebook (and fellow blocked social networking tool Twitter)? The World Expo.

Remember that Kookaburra naming contest we told you about that the Australian Pavilion was holding? Someone won it. Haibao's new BFF from Down Under is now called Peng Peng (鹏鹏).

• Does this mean all the Haibaos we bought were illegal? The first licensed product store for the Shanghai Expo has opened in Beijing. [BJreview]
• Well, at least everyone at the Expo is bound to be smelling nice - Beauty company Shiseido and France (the country) are both producing two unique perfumes based on the scent of white magnolia. [Creative Match]
• Okay, one last bit about the expo: a survey showed that Chinese women love France, which had the second most popular pavilion, and Chinese men love America, the first most popular pavilion despite not even being confirmed a month ago. [Thomas Crampton]

As much as we'll sometimes snark on the World Expo, it's sure to present anyone who displays anything there a crapton of foot traffic. So if you're a photographer, the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion's offer is probably worth considering.

The folks at ChinaTravel.net noticed a little (or perhaps not so little) something about a recent image of Haibao:

So despite the U.S. promising to be at Expo 2010 and Hillary Clinton allegedly confirming its participation, Shanghai World Expo organizers still haven't actually received the letter of confirmation, according to Xinhua. It's only when this letter gets into the Shanghai World Expo's very eager hands that a country's pavilion is truly confirmed, apparently a completely different matter than whether someone has been appointed as Commission General of the pavilion. So why did the U.S. Secretary of State publicly appoint Jose Villarreal to his Commission General position if nobody had yet to actually apply with the Shanghai organizers? It's all too confusing for us so we'll just direct you to the much more capable hands of Shanghai Scrap.

Tickets for the World Expo officially went on sale at 9am yesterday and already, peak-day tickets (tickets for the first three days and for the National Day holidays) had completely sold out.

Jia's film, tentatively titled Shanghai Legend (上海傳奇), is scheduled to be finished towards the end of this year/beginning of next, and will be premiered around April 2010.

Australia seems to be taking the early bird proverb pretty seriously these days. It became the first foreign pavilion to finish its outer structure last week, and then revealed its own official mascot for the World Expo - a kookaburra! And now it's looking for the Chinese to give the Ozzie representative a name.

So the Shanghai World Expo organizers have set another date for when they will finally say “No way, no how, you're too late to build your pavilion now”: June 30.

We knew you were curious about what song Jackie Chan sang this morning to welcome in the Expo year-long countdown, so we went and looked for it on Youku. Turns out there's already a video featuring Jackie, Lang Lang and Yao Ming!

We thought we'd have another two years before the smoking laws came into effect, but it now looks like Shanghai's ready to ban cigarettes from public places - indoor venues, public transport and work areas - by January 2010. They're even discussing a penalty this time around! Officials say the law will help make the Expo smoke-free when it starts five months after... and since it's attached to the Expo, you can bet people will be enforcing this with maybe slightly more gusto than previous attempts to wipe out the cancer sticks. Still... it IS China. What will officials use as the go to way of establishing guanxi after? Lollipops? Source: Shanghai Daily

Whilst not everyone loves the regular toothpastey Haibao, it would take a cold, cold heart not to love him in his new outfit.

Definitely welcome news to our ears, eyes and headspaces - the televisions streaming constant looping advertisements in the back of Shanghai's taxis are thankfully on the out.

The battle to bring the U.S. pavilion to the World Expo in Shanghai seems to just get more complicated as the days count down. According to China Daily, a Chinese-American oil industry executive called James I.C. Chiang is now planning his own vision of what the pavilion should look like:

Political border disputes will be played out in miniature at Shanghai's World Expo next year, after rumors that World Expo organizers are planning a Taiwan pavilion within the Chinese section of the fair stirred up old tensions about Taiwan's political status.

• Advisor: Financial crisis not to affect success of 2010 Shanghai Expo [Xinhua] "The global financial crisis will have only limited impacts on the Shanghai World Expo 2010, an official with the organizers said here Sunday. Wan Jifei, vice director of the Shanghai World Expo Executive Committee, pledged that the financial crisis would not affect the overall success of the Expo at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of China's political advisory body."
• The curious case of the disappearing TV drama [Danwei] "Looking at the headline numbers, 2008 was not a good year for TV drama producers in China. While TV drama production has grown by around 1,000 episodes annually every year since 2003, it actually dropped for the first time in five years in 2008."
• China's key sci-tech projects criticized for "retarded progress" [Xinhua] "China's major projects in its 15-year scientific and technological development program initiated in 2006 is progressing very slowly, a political advisor said here Sunday. The State Council, or Cabinet, approved the last major scientific and technological project late last year, he said. "It means we have spent one fifth of the time to start up the program." "

Can't wait to get your tickets for the World Expo? Neither can we! Luckily for all of us, we now have a couple of dates to look forward to: group tickets will go on sale on March 27 and the public can start lining up on July 1. Basic price will be 160 yuan, three-day passes will be 400 yuan and seven-day passes will be 900. Discounts will be offered to the disabled, seniors, students, Chinese service-people and early birds. Source: Shanghai Daily

So why is it that the United States might risk “global humiliation for the American people” by not showing up at the Shanghai World Expo? Well, partially because they don't really know what a World Expo is... and partially because it's awfully hard to raise $61 million without any government help.

We’re hunting for a Project Champion, an American corporate executive most likely, to get us started (i.e., $250,000 to organize, plan, and create enough documentation to pursue serious funding). Although an old law prohibits government funding, we have good connections in the new one and that could change. Unfortunately, they aren’t in charge until February, two months into the one year left for us to do anything of quality.

God forbid you should ever come across two or more of the Shanghai World Expo mascots in the street, at least now, thanks to Shanghai Daily, you know the proper collective noun to use when describing the furry blue monsters to the 119 operator: Brace. "I am being attacked by a brace of Haibao!" Should there be six Haibao, you would say "three brace of Haibao!" Seven? Good luck. No one has ever escaped from such an encounter alive. Please note that, like "fish" and "zucchini", the plural form of Haibao is also Haibao, making them even creepier. [Via apgalbraith on Twitter]

Look what we received in the mail today! It seems that Shanghai authorities are taking a creative step forward in helping residents to consume less salt with this nifty package. Encased is a small plastic spoon that holds 2 grams of salt (as seen inverted at the top of the handle) and on the package, it advises residents to consume only 3 spoonfuls of salt a day to prevent high blood pressure. On the flip side, it details suggestions on how to lessen salt consumption when cooking and for residents over 35 years old to test their blood pressure.

You may have walked past the Holy Trinity Cathedral before and not even known it. The church has been under construction for a couple of years now and protected from public view by the ever-cunning big cement construction wall. But it's still there, awaiting its impending resurrection amid a chorus of jackhammers.

We want some of whatever this guy is smoking:

We just received news that North Korea has expressed its intention to attend the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. How exciting is that, people!

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.

It seems the world's obsession with the Western world's "it" language, Chinese Mandarin, extends to our world leaders. And like a lot of politicians faced with a tough assignment, they like to throw a lot of money to solve the problem.