World Expo Shanghai 2010

World Expo Shanghai 2010 will be the "largest ever gathering of humanity in the history of mankind" with over 70 million people expected to attend over the 184 days from May 1 to October 31. Cisco is a senior IT sponsor and host to a corporate pavilion, themed "Smart+Connected Life."

I'm fortunate to be in Shanghai to help prepare the Cisco Pavilion for our customers. Here are some videos and photos from the preparation and stress test of the Expo site prior to the opening.

See the Picasa web album for some photos of Expo Pavilions. The slideshow starts with Puxi side Zone D (Corporate) and Zone E (Corporate, Urban Best Practices Area), then Pudong side Zone A (China, Asia, Middle East), Zone B (South Asia), and Zone C (Europe, Americas, Africa).


April 20

Day 1 of public stress tests. Over the next week, the Expo Bureau will open the Expo grounds to 50,000 to 200,000 people to "test" the site -- everything from safety and security to whether the plumbing will hold. Note that the "test" sample is the size of a small American city...



World Expo 2010 Shanghai - Zone D

Cisco Pavilion is in Zone D closest to Entrance No. 1. You'll see the security lines (96 security machines!), the vastness of the grounds, and the Cisco Pavilion. The public show at Cisco Pavilion introduces the challenges of urbanization and the concept of Smart+Connected Life, then demonstrates the experience through three generations of a Shanghai family in 2020. We are co-located with the other corporate pavilions also on the Puxi side.



Expo 2010 Urban Best Practices Area

The Urban Best Practices Area is in Zone E on the Puxi side, and consists of "Case Pavilions" which host exhibits for multiple cities in one building as well as city pavilions, like Madrid or Shanghai, who have their own structure.

The Madrid Pavilion was well done and had the meatiest content around how they have built and managed their city. Exterior is cool too, its modelled on the Casa De Bambu in Madrid. Would recommend for anyone interested in city planning, urban design, etc.

The joint case pavilions are easy to get in but a little less compelling. Several cities share each building, and their showcases range from the fun, interactive activities (Seoul, Bologna) to museum-like exhibits with some video and signage (most others) with plays on the space to localize. Shenzen was an arty fun-house with rooms filled with paintings and modern art installments, Porto (Brazil) had cool video walls and game on touch screen table.



Shanghai Expo Pavilion of Future

The Pavilion of Future, while I made fun of the 19th century factory-like exterior design, is a fantastic exhibition about how mankind views the future with a perspective to cultural and urban planning. Great video and other content that shows real-life best practices in areas of urban design, sustainbility, city management, and the like. The Pavilion suggests a 'fast' and 'slow' line for a 20-minute or 40-minute visit, but I think I spent a good hour in there, and this was without crowds. Loved it.

April 21

Only 50,000 people were expected for the second day of stress tests, and I could really feel the difference. Much less people, no lines for security, ferries, or buses, though queueing for Pavilions may have been worse since very few were open today.



Expo 2010 Zone A Pavilions

I took the free Expo ferry from L3 on Puxi side about 3 minutes from Cisco Pavilion, to L2 on Pudong side on East end near the Japan Pavilion and Gate 4. Also shown are Vietnam, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and India country pavilions, all in Zone A (note: video title is mistaken!)

Expo has multiple modes of free transport within the grounds. Ferry was good, subway seems straight forward. The bus will be a disaster... they run the length of the Pudong side. With almost no people on site on a moderately warm day, the electric buses were overflowing and smelly with barely standing room and a lot of shoving.



Expo 2010 Europe Pavilions

The European pavilions are in Zone C closest to the river. They have some of the most interesting architecture out of the country pavilions. Of course the Scandinavian countries are all fabulous with clean lines and well designed space.

The UK pavilion is the most fascinating -- surreal porcupine like structure that is actually 60,000 fiber optics rods that let light in turing the day and in turn lights up the exterior at night.



Expo 2010 Americas and Asia Pavilions

The Americas pavilions and some of the Asia pavilions are in Zone B and C. The USA, Canada and Australia pavilions are enormous and impressive from the outside. The Asia square has the Aussies, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Philippines in one place, and Vietnam is over by Korea and Japan

Walking further West towards the China Pavilion, I came across the behemoth Theme Pavilions. I jumped into the Pavilion of Urban Being right as they closed the line -- it shows city infrastructure, rail, utility, urban life, and the highlight is a very well done film with vignettes from urban life around the world (teared at the Sichuan segment themed "resilience")



Expo 2010 - Pudong side

I have many photos of the China Pavilion but I didn't attempt to get in line, as I hear they're running 2 hour waits with reservation during testing

I went to the Expo Culture Center, which has performance hall, movie theaters, and shopping -- 360 view of the Expo site from their 6th floor observation decks for aerials of Pudong and some of Puxi side. No exhibits, likely not for a customer visit.

April 23

200,000 people were expected for today, though there were no lines at Gate 1 by 2pm when I entered.



Expo 2010 Japan Business Pavilion

There happened to be a short line at the Japan Business Pavilion two doors down from Cisco Pavilion. They have a main movie, the series of 3 min shows by the sponsoring companies, and a live show outside. Interesting video including a 3D show, a globe-shaped theater where it "snows" at the end, and choreographed windows. I am going back for the "world's best toilet" which was not on display today...



Expo 2010 at night

Expo at night is a fantastic experience. The awe of Vegas, and certainly the energy costs, but more beautiful. I can be mesmerized by the lighted buildings all night! Expo is open until midnight, definitely worth waiting until nightfall.

We had dinner at LaoFengGe PinZhenXuan next to the Coca-Cola Pavilion on the 2nd floor, Zone D. Good selection of Shanghainese food and appropriate for customer meetings. They take reservations with minimum one day advance notice (33300078 and 33300079)