Even the spectacular fireworks display at the opening ceremony of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai were environmentally friendly, in perfect compliance with the exhibition's theme Better City, Better Life.
Essentially, the Chinese must have reinvented the firework technology, as the products they used produced no smoke and left no reddish paper scraps scattered around the place as ordinary fireworks do.
Considering that pyrotechnics was initially invented in China, this new invention means the Chinese civilization should be credited with a double achievement.
The "clean fireworks" story is one of the finer points that have in fact created a certain image of this year's event in people's minds. Although the exhibition still has until the end of October to run, the opening ceremony on May 1 coupled with first international media responses have already made it clear what the event is about, whom it targets and what benefits it will have.
There are two different attitudes though, the local and foreign. Quite predictably, the foreign public decided, without giving it much thought and still impressed by the Beijing Olympics, that China was showing off again, showcasing its booming economy and resurgent national pride for the world.
However, if one pays attention to the local public's assessment, it turns out that the motive is dramatically different. True, the Olympics was needed to impress the world. But that is over and done with now. World Expo is intended to impress the Chinese and help them cross into a different era.
The current Chinese government has introduced an idea of "renewable" economic development which would spare the country's natural resources. The idea became widely popular; China is extremely concerned about the environment, and with good reason: weather services in Beijing keep reporting "dust." No other country hears the word "dusty" in weather reports. Dust became China's problem after the country destroyed its forests and made several other grave mistakes.
World Expo was perfectly timed and its theme well selected to draw the country's attention to new technologies that will keep urban environments clean and green.
The exhibition expects 300,000-400,000 visitors a day, mostly Chinese with perhaps about 5% foreigners. The Chinese have also become a very mobile nation lately, in addition to their obsession with the Internet and other IT innovations. According to statistics, up to 200 million Chinese plan to travel during the May holidays: to visit relatives, travel around the country (including Shanghai) or go abroad.
This is what they can see in Shanghai these days: a 4.7 MW solar panel supplying the exhibition with power; benches and seats made of recycled packets of milk; and napkins made of waste paper. These are Chinese products. The Britain pavilion contains a restaurant where plates are edible and cups are made of ice, and oxygen for air conditioning is supplied by plants cultivated on its roof. But the Spain pavilion, designed to be a hand-weaved wicker basket, is probably one of the most popular sites.
The Iceland pavilion enjoys unexpected popularity. Although designed as an ice cube while replicating Icelandic summer with temperatures never rising above 20-21 degrees Celsius, the pavilion is popular for a different reason. It is the simulations of volcano eruptions that attract the Chinese who have no volcanoes in their country, only earthquakes.
Still, the China national pavilion has the highest numbers of visitors. The Expo hosts arranged a multimedia installation replicating the famous 13th century picture of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, which is perfectly in tune with the event's environmental focus.
Naturally, China also displays its carmaking innovations such as vehicles with reduced emissions and electric cars. This shows where the country's automotive industry will be heading in the near future. There are 192 million vehicles in China, including 4.13 million in Beijing. People desperately trying to hail a taxi several kilometers from the entrance seem to be an integral part of the Expo; the horrible and eloquent picture certainly accounts for part of the general impression. Just imagine, China used to be a country of bicycles.
Apart from its honorable role as the event's host and organizer, China often finds itself a potential buyer courted by foreign suppliers of green technologies. Greece, which is going through a severe economic downturn, probably the worst in its modern history, has openly admitted it was one of the reasons the country was so keen to participate in the Shanghai Expo.
In any case, China has not got its dream of seeing the whole world in Shanghai fulfilled. Three nations dropped out of the Expo: Kuwait, Bhutan and poverty-stricken Burkina Faso. The latter is briefly mentioned in the united Africa pavilion, though.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev)
