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World Expo in Shanghai heralds new era
Source: Xinhua |
April 27, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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THE World Expo, with a history of 159 years, has developed into the "Olympic Games" in the fields of the world economy, technology and culture.
The Expo stepped from Europe to North America, and went on to Asia, reaching every rising country. To host a World Expo not only demonstrates a country's development achievements, but also may indicate the beginning of a new period for the global economic structure.
On May 1, 1851, the first World Expo was held in London. Queen Victoria was so astonished at the spectacle when she was escorted to Hyde Park for the opening ceremony that she wrote of her surprise in her diary.
Some historians believe that it was the World Expo in London that raised the curtain on the British Victorian Era, and the Expo itself was an example of the prosperity of the times.
A series of remarkable changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, such as the universal application of machines and railways and steamboats, became a driving power behind British industries in the mid 19th century
More than 80 years later, the 1933 World Expo in Chicago attested to the United States' and the world's transition from recession to recovery. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's election that year gave hope to US citizens and the economy.
At that Expo, the collection of enterprises and their innovative products played an active role in giving confidence to the US people. In a message of congratulations, Roosevelt stressed the good timing of the Expo as it was held when mankind was in desperate need of better mutual understanding.
The United States displayed its leading technologies at the Expo. Oil refineries and food product assembly lines were demonstrated.
At the Chicago Expo, the majority of pavilions were temporary buildings, and this concept boosted the development of new materials and new building styles. These futuristic ideas contributed to changing US lifestyles and the next round of US economic prosperity.
In 1970, the World Expo in the Japanese city of Osaka announced Japan's economic success in the 1950s and 1960s and its emergence as a rising power from the ruins of World War II.
Japan was the first Asian country to host a World Expo. Historians said the event helped the Japanese people's psychological recovery and pushed forward the country's return to the international community.
The Osaka Expo was held at the time when Japan was creating an economic miracle and had just become the world's No. 2 economic power. It enhanced citizens' understanding of the outside world and accelerated the country's integration into the global economy.
The Expo not only stimulated infrastructure construction in Osaka, but also created opportunity to take telecommunication systems and electronic technologies into Japanese people's daily lives. In the following 10 years, the Osaka-centered Kansai economic strip made great contributions to Japan's overall economic growth.
The World Expo is coming to Shanghai on May 1, Saturday, to take China's pulse 60 years after the founding of the People's Republic of China and 30 years after China's adoption of the reform and opening up strategy.
But more important, the Shanghai World Expo is platform for countries to exchange ideas on creating better cities based on smaller carbon footprints.
The Expo stepped from Europe to North America, and went on to Asia, reaching every rising country. To host a World Expo not only demonstrates a country's development achievements, but also may indicate the beginning of a new period for the global economic structure.
On May 1, 1851, the first World Expo was held in London. Queen Victoria was so astonished at the spectacle when she was escorted to Hyde Park for the opening ceremony that she wrote of her surprise in her diary.
Some historians believe that it was the World Expo in London that raised the curtain on the British Victorian Era, and the Expo itself was an example of the prosperity of the times.
A series of remarkable changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, such as the universal application of machines and railways and steamboats, became a driving power behind British industries in the mid 19th century
More than 80 years later, the 1933 World Expo in Chicago attested to the United States' and the world's transition from recession to recovery. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's election that year gave hope to US citizens and the economy.
At that Expo, the collection of enterprises and their innovative products played an active role in giving confidence to the US people. In a message of congratulations, Roosevelt stressed the good timing of the Expo as it was held when mankind was in desperate need of better mutual understanding.
The United States displayed its leading technologies at the Expo. Oil refineries and food product assembly lines were demonstrated.
At the Chicago Expo, the majority of pavilions were temporary buildings, and this concept boosted the development of new materials and new building styles. These futuristic ideas contributed to changing US lifestyles and the next round of US economic prosperity.
In 1970, the World Expo in the Japanese city of Osaka announced Japan's economic success in the 1950s and 1960s and its emergence as a rising power from the ruins of World War II.
Japan was the first Asian country to host a World Expo. Historians said the event helped the Japanese people's psychological recovery and pushed forward the country's return to the international community.
The Osaka Expo was held at the time when Japan was creating an economic miracle and had just become the world's No. 2 economic power. It enhanced citizens' understanding of the outside world and accelerated the country's integration into the global economy.
The Expo not only stimulated infrastructure construction in Osaka, but also created opportunity to take telecommunication systems and electronic technologies into Japanese people's daily lives. In the following 10 years, the Osaka-centered Kansai economic strip made great contributions to Japan's overall economic growth.
The World Expo is coming to Shanghai on May 1, Saturday, to take China's pulse 60 years after the founding of the People's Republic of China and 30 years after China's adoption of the reform and opening up strategy.
But more important, the Shanghai World Expo is platform for countries to exchange ideas on creating better cities based on smaller carbon footprints.
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