The Expo Preview happened on April 20, 2010, ten days before the grand opening.
However, the feedback I got so far is very disappointing, almost scary.
I almost got a ticket but it was recalled – because the security worries about terrist (I started to wonder if they worry about it that much, how to handle the 70 million visitors?)
The feedback mostly concentrates on the fact that there are too many people. It takes about 1 hour to pass the security check, 2 hours to get anything to eat, 3 hours to get some serious food like Dumplin. For the China Pavilion? Most people can only see from the outside. Most of the comments I saw from my friends and people on twitter are – completely massy. Most of the news I saw on Shanghai TV, CCTV was, the first day was smooth and successful. The contrast is so big that I am not surprised.
Here are some photos I saw on Kaixin001.com. I cannot verify the photographer of the pictures. Here are some of them.
Credit: annoymous
Credit: annoymous
Credit: annoymous
Credit: annoymous
Credit: annoymous
Credit: annoymous
This is actually not very surprising to me. I started to worry about the Expo, and hope there will be no big accident related to the huge number of people. The people they handle on April 20 is just 2/5 of the actual expected volumn. What will happen then?
So the ticket you got was cancelled?
It wasn’t quite as bad as your post. We arrived at about 10:30 and passed through security in about 15-20 minutes, maybe we were later than the worst problems.
We had been told to bring our own food and drinks as the food outlets would not be open. They were open but we were OK. There was not problem taking in food and drinks and no signs at security saying we shouldn’t.
As you said, the queues at the open pavilions were huge. Except for the China Pavilion. We walked straight into it without any delay. Sadly it was a bit of an anti-climax. The them pavilion was very good and not too busy.
Biggest problems: lack of seating (and what there was was being used as tables too). Shortage of rubbish bins. Poor drainage on the upper walkways.
It looks like a scene from the train station during the Spring holidays.
1) I’m so glad we have folks like Jianshuo who tells us the truth of how things are. You can’t reply on what the media tells you, Chinese government tends to want any published news to be positive even when things are going the other way.
2) I agree with Jim on the photos…they sure look a lot like the people flow during the Spring holiday….mobs of people…people mountain, people sea, as the cliche goes.
3) If you can’t stand queuing long lines, or are claustrophobis like I am, and still would like to visit the Expo, my suggestion is to come in the fall after the summer vacations for most school children are over. Definitely avoid coming during the first month.
4) Be extra cautious if you are bringing small kids to Expo if you don’t like to lose them in the big crowd. Also don’t bring passports with you when you go out. Take only zeroxed copy with you. The worse thing can happen to you is losing the passport. In China, it’s very cumbersome to have them reissued.
When you buy a ticket for the expo it is valid for use over the full 6 months of the expo. I can see there will be huge problems when the ticket holders all decided that they would like to go on the same day… won’t be easy to explain to the people from out of town that they can’t go in cause there are too many people :-(
well i guess it’s been rather smooth and successful except the overcrowding problem and the fact that the image song, mascot and even the architecture of the Chinese pavillion are plagiarised.
Baoru, it is not cancelled – it is recalled – basically means cancelled. Since it is free ticket anyway, there is nothing to complain.
@Fraser Smith, thanks for sharing what you saw with your own eyes. I was not there myself, and I wrote about what I heard – you provided a new perspective, and some new facts. That makes the picture more complete.
@TW, I am not sure whether I am telling the truth – the pricinple for my blog is, I never write anything I know for sure is not true, but I never have the confident that what I wrote is the truth. That is the best I know.
Here’s a link to what really happened, you may need to climb the wall to see it:
http://specials.mingpao.com/cfm/News.cfm?SpecialsID=216&Page=1&News=c19b72ca468969ec4c93d2cadc0321edc81ed5aeca5367e4841b14c84a
I think this is a problem endemic to China – lots and lots of cool stuff, but there are just so many people. For me as a foreigner living in China it can get really draining sometimes – Westerners, particularly North Americans, are just not used to such crowds.
the food are very expensive. To make thing worst, the food was short supply… not enough to cater for the crowd.
prepare to bring your own box lunch and sufficient of water to avoid hunger and dehydration.
Hello All!!
My friend an I were there and it’s not that bad…those pictures above I believe were the Spring Festival pics and not the EXPO pictures….
Not all Pavilion are open yet so most people tend to huddle in those already finished pavilion, like the Japanese one. So yeah, there are areas with a lot of people..
I do have faith and trust with the Chinese government handling visitors to the Expo and it will NOT be a disaster. and yeah the pictures above is just tooooo EXAGGERATED!!
Here is a link to the pictures taken during the “testing” day….Check this album…
http://s733.photobucket.com/albums/ww338/prEttyTravel/Shanghai%20Expo%202010/
I have a ticket to May 01 opening day..I will report back on my experience afterwards…:)
I do hope some people will just give a little faith to the Chinese government, most especially if you are a CHINESE… If you have live in India or Philippines before, you will have a lot of respect to the Chinese government…It’s good to compare China with US, Japan or Europe or any first world country out there…But always remember, China is still improving everyday… Don’t expect a US like country and laws carried out within the blink of an eye….sheesh!!!
better have a little faith before we confirm the validity
since the expro will last a couple of month,i’m prone to hide from the “rush hours”
The Shanghai Expo will raise Shanghai’s profile even higher on a world scale, and is likely to attract more visitors for tourism and business. Directly after the Olympics, Beijing saw a 20% rise in tourists, bringing 127 billion RMB in revenue, up 14.6% from before the Olympics Games.
Not even 1 month. Complaints from a Czech pavilion has arrived.
http://shanghaiist.com/2010/05/18/expo-czech-leaked-email.php