A Tour of Europe

I finally had some time to visit other pavilions on the Pudong side, which I hadn’t done for a good while because of work and other stuff keeping me busy. I did a partial tour of some European pavilions until my legs decided they did not want to walk any longer. It was an enjoyable and insightful experience. Working in the same routine day after day, you obviously become used to the way things are run at your own pavilion. I was curious about how other pavilions run logistics at their venues and how it compared. I also tried to put myself in tourist shoes and compare the experiences of other pavilions with what goes on at the good ol’ US of A. Here is a brief recap of my impressions of the pavilions I visited today.

Russia Pavilion

Very Alice in Wonderland. Giant flowers, vegetables, and mushroom-like houses. It would be trippy if you were on something. On the first floor there were also displays of Russia’s nuclear fuel capabilities and current state-led developments in this issue area. Interesting but no coherent theme.

The Netherlands Pavilion

Otherwise known as Happy Street. The pavilion is outdoors and made to resemble a giant apartment with different living units—kitchen, living room, etc with scattered exhibits of random stuff, like a 3D image of a crystal dress and a floating rock. You had to peer through eye-sized holes for many of these exhibits. No coherent theme either.

The UK Pavilion



It looks exactly like the design concept image. Hands down my favorite pavilion tonight and in my opinion probably the most interesting one in the entire Expo, just because it completely fits in with the theme of sustainability and better environmental practices. It’s like the Doomsday seed vault, with each individual rod containing a different seed. But the reason I thought it was cool was because I didn’t have to wait in line. If I was a regular tourist and had to wait 3 hours to walk into a single room with no content inside except for the rods holding all the seeds I think I’d be pretty upset. There was nothing introducing the UK as a country. Sustainability and public diplomacy aren’t mutually exclusive.

France Pavilion

Beautiful and tastefully done, like the impression I have of the country. It made me want to visit even more. At the end there was a strange abstract performance with a Chinese lady prancing around with a Louis Vuitton bag with the company’s signature print in the background pouring imaginary diamonds into a trunk. The Chinese tourists ate it up. Way to fuel their frenzy to consume outrageously priced luxury goods.
*Insert shameless self-promotion here. An article I wrote for USC US-China Today a while back about luxury goods consumption in China.
http://www.uschina.usc.edu/article@usct?luxury_brands_focus_on_china_14057.aspx
I was also going to buy my friend some French tea until I realized each box was over 40 US dollars each. Then I put that shit down.

Germany Pavilion

Impressive. Large space, interactive features, and a good balance of national promotion and environmental sustainability. Pretty neat and dramatic “energy source” show at the end as well.

Spain Pavilion


Ok, sorry, but all I can remember about this pavilion is their GIANT CREEPY BABY. At the beginning there are bones hanging from the ceiling, you walk through giant screens introducing Spanish culture and lifestyle and then you come to a part where babies are saying “hola.” I thought that was cute until I ran into the baby. Its foot was bigger than me. It repetitively blinks and smiles painfully in slow motion while bubbles float and pop around it.

Not to sound cheesy but after visiting these pavilions I realized that the one thing the USA Pavilion has that the ones I visited don’t is human interaction. What we lack in technological sophistication we make up for with friendly bantering, offbeat joke-telling, and in some cases, amateur dancing. As a student ambassador it had been repeated to us that we were the “not-so-secret” weapon of the USA Pavilion but I dismissed it as something said to make us feel more important than we really are. I realized it’s pretty true…visitors may remember Spain for its giant creepy baby and Germany for its mesmerizing “energy source” performance, but for some who visited the USA Pavilion, they might just remember an entertaining conversation they had with an American in broken Chinese while waiting at the turnstiles...

Update post on JA China event to come soon!