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'Crazed' collector amasses tickets
January 24, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
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A collector makes it his mission in life to gather every single distinctive ticket from the Shanghai World Expo. He tells Fei Lai that he's also into stamps, newspapers and pores over paper "garbage."
There are many collectors of Expo passports, stamps, various souvenirs and mascots, but one of the lesser-known Expo obsessions is the collection of tickets.
One man stands out from other ticket collectors: Yangpu District resident Zhou Guoqiang, 54, has collected 538 distinctive Expo tickets.
Basic tickets for the 184-day Expo varied and there were special preview tickets and tickets for sponsored enterprises, says Zhou.
Tickets were divided into two categories - individual tickets and group tickets. And among those, there are more than 10 types, such as peak single day, three-day admission, seven-day admission, evening admission, student group admission and others.
The biggest challenge for Zhou was collecting those Expo tickets stamped with the names of enterprises, such as Baosteel, and tickets for preview sessions.
"For those six months, wherever I went, my only concern was collecting tickets in every possible way," he says.
So far Zhou has spent a few dozen thousand yuan for new or used tickets. Since he collects only as a hobby - not for profit - his colleagues, neighbors and friends send him their old tickets, free of charge.
Some people have suggested he publish his fascinating story on the Internet to let more people know about his mission.
"Using the Internet saves me time searching for tickets and expands my areas of search," Zhou says. He is registered at Ganji.com, a lifestyle information website, where he has posted a notice about tickets wanted.
To his surprise, many netizens replied and sent him their tickets; one sent him a complete set of Expo-themed Metro tickets.
Zhou has placed all the tickets in a customized album in various categories.
He has found what he considers very unusual tickets, collectors' finds. Usually tickets for the same day should be of the same color, but on October 21, tickets were in both blue and purple, and Zhou collected both.
But there are always elusive tickets. For Zhou, it's the ticket for April 21, his birthday, but also the date for an Expo trial operation. Only officials could enter on that day, making the ticket difficult to find.
"What a pity I have not found it," he says.
In addition, Zhou collects Expo maps, souvenir envelops, lottery tickets and passports. He collects newspaper clippings about the Expo.
Childhood collector
Zhou has been collecting all kinds of things since he was a child. He gained attention in the 1980s for his collections of stamps and newspapers.
Because he has worked in the transport industry for decades, Zhou has been very interested in stamps about traffic safety.
In the past 30 years, he has collected more than 500 traffic-safety stamps from 70 countries and regions.
One French stamp illustrates a choice between drinking and driving.
For each series of stamps, Zhou has written an article of explanation. More than 20 articles have been published in newspapers.
"I'd like to call my craze for stamps my destiny," says Zhou. "I collect because these items represent invaluable memories of the past."
Zhou has collected more than 10,000 newspapers, from pilot issues to first issues, supplements to final editions.
Once he was walking along the Bund and met a tourist sitting on a newspaper. He realized it was a rare edition of a battlefield journal.
When the fellow moved, Zhou took out a handkerchief and picked up the newsprint with great care.
The best place for Zhou to collect newspapers is the recycling depot. He says he never gets tired of poring through "garbage."
There are many collectors of Expo passports, stamps, various souvenirs and mascots, but one of the lesser-known Expo obsessions is the collection of tickets.
One man stands out from other ticket collectors: Yangpu District resident Zhou Guoqiang, 54, has collected 538 distinctive Expo tickets.
Basic tickets for the 184-day Expo varied and there were special preview tickets and tickets for sponsored enterprises, says Zhou.
Tickets were divided into two categories - individual tickets and group tickets. And among those, there are more than 10 types, such as peak single day, three-day admission, seven-day admission, evening admission, student group admission and others.
The biggest challenge for Zhou was collecting those Expo tickets stamped with the names of enterprises, such as Baosteel, and tickets for preview sessions.
"For those six months, wherever I went, my only concern was collecting tickets in every possible way," he says.
So far Zhou has spent a few dozen thousand yuan for new or used tickets. Since he collects only as a hobby - not for profit - his colleagues, neighbors and friends send him their old tickets, free of charge.
Some people have suggested he publish his fascinating story on the Internet to let more people know about his mission.
"Using the Internet saves me time searching for tickets and expands my areas of search," Zhou says. He is registered at Ganji.com, a lifestyle information website, where he has posted a notice about tickets wanted.
To his surprise, many netizens replied and sent him their tickets; one sent him a complete set of Expo-themed Metro tickets.
Zhou has placed all the tickets in a customized album in various categories.
He has found what he considers very unusual tickets, collectors' finds. Usually tickets for the same day should be of the same color, but on October 21, tickets were in both blue and purple, and Zhou collected both.
But there are always elusive tickets. For Zhou, it's the ticket for April 21, his birthday, but also the date for an Expo trial operation. Only officials could enter on that day, making the ticket difficult to find.
"What a pity I have not found it," he says.
In addition, Zhou collects Expo maps, souvenir envelops, lottery tickets and passports. He collects newspaper clippings about the Expo.
Childhood collector
Zhou has been collecting all kinds of things since he was a child. He gained attention in the 1980s for his collections of stamps and newspapers.
Because he has worked in the transport industry for decades, Zhou has been very interested in stamps about traffic safety.
In the past 30 years, he has collected more than 500 traffic-safety stamps from 70 countries and regions.
One French stamp illustrates a choice between drinking and driving.
For each series of stamps, Zhou has written an article of explanation. More than 20 articles have been published in newspapers.
"I'd like to call my craze for stamps my destiny," says Zhou. "I collect because these items represent invaluable memories of the past."
Zhou has collected more than 10,000 newspapers, from pilot issues to first issues, supplements to final editions.
Once he was walking along the Bund and met a tourist sitting on a newspaper. He realized it was a rare edition of a battlefield journal.
When the fellow moved, Zhou took out a handkerchief and picked up the newsprint with great care.
The best place for Zhou to collect newspapers is the recycling depot. He says he never gets tired of poring through "garbage."
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