In the past 3 years, the average age of first-time house buyers in the United Kingdom rose from 33 to 37 years of age. In Japan and Germany, it is 42 years old; while it is 30 years old in the United States. However in a report released by the China Everbright Bank and a real estate research firm, those applying for housing loans in Beijing have an average age of 27 years old which is younger as compared to developed countries.

So that they could own a house, many Chinese do not mind working almost half of their lives just to pay off the bank loans. Owning a house in China is not just for residential purposes. It is now considered a marriage prerequisite and shows one’s financial capability. Other than that, it reflects on the unrealistic urgency of young people agonized by material desire and the shaky housing system in China.

As Li Daokui, professor at Tsinghua University and a member of the Chinese central bank’s monetary policy committee, says, “It is more than [just] a bubble problem,” Li says. “When prices go up, many people, especially young people, become very anxious. It is a social problem.”

Here are the reasons why the Chinese young people rush to buy houses–

Because of marriage? Kids? To take advantage of early housing prices? To feel more secure?

If you cannot buy at the age of 27, then the more you cannot afford by the age of 40.

If the young Beijinger at 27 years old is not able to afford a house, then the more he can not afford one once he reaches the age of 40; because our income will never catch up with the rising house prices. The reason people living in developed countries are only able to buy houses by the time they turned 40 is because their housing prices are very stable. Da Bing, netizen

If you do not have a house, how can your kids get a hukou?

Is there sense to always compare with foreign countries? People from other countries can move locations freely without need of a hukou. In Beijing, if you do not have a house, you do not have a hukou. How can your kids study then? Mama79, netizen

One of the marriage requirements of women is a house.

Even if it says that the average age of people who buy houses is 27, it does mean that those 30 years and above do not need to buy a house. It just shows that the demand is greatest for those 27 years of age. Do you know why? It is because of the pressure of marriage. The women will demand a house to live in. In the United States and Europe, there is no such marriage prerequisite. sun-yuepingso, netizen

If you do not buy a house early on, even renting at a later time might not be affordable anymore.

In China, housing prices double a year. So at 27 if you do not pool your and your parents’ money to buy a house, by the time you reach 72, even with your grandparents’ money you cannot form the down payment. wxy690so, netizen

People abroad have sufficient low-cost housing.

In China, there is none. Moreover, what kind of house can the 27-year-old Chinese buy? One-bedroom-one-living-room can only be considered as an apartment, not a house. 42-year-old Americans who buy villas–that is a house. Majority of Chinese can not afford to buy a house in their lifetime. zhangfengyu, netizen

If you have a house, you would not feel so anxious.

The saying before is “as long as you have food, you would not feel so anxious”. This time, “as long as you have a house, you would not feel so anxious.” Coming from someone like me who is from another province, even having a small house gives me peace of mind. Sisi, netizen

What does this attitude of young people reflect in the society?

An abnormality in the community? Something wrong with their thinking? Flaws in the housing system?

If the husband does not have a house, it is very embarrassing for the wife.

Nowadays, marriage in China has turned into a circus of materialism. This is a huge change in Chinese society. No matter how confident a woman is, if her boyfriend or husband does not have a house, it will cause her to lose face. Shanghai University of Political Science Women’s Studies Center Director Chen Xiaomin

Buying a house for marriage purposes is an abnormal social phenomenon.

Even in high-income communities, most will only consider buying a house after the age of 35. Young people now are impulsive decision-makers. China-ECapital CEO Wang Ran

What is the cost of prematurely buying a house?

Buying a house too early could affect one’s personal development.

Most young people have planned out their careers. But once they buy a house, their plans could change. I have seen many young people turn down a lot of opportunities, because they have tackled the first steps into acquiring a house of their own. Finance commentator Wu Qilun

Getting a housing loan affects not just one generation.

Says the Chief Economist of the National Bureau of Statistics of China–

House prices in Beijing are absolutely ridiculous. When a young couple purchases a house, parents and grandparents from both sides need to help out. The collective effort of four families is required to support a young family’s decision to buy a house. Three generations of savings are thus exhausted in buying a single house.

How can we prevent young people not to worry too much about this?

The government should pay attention to this issue.

By controlling the housing prices, young people would not feel the pressure of buying early on and thus engage in panic-buying. Thus, this would also lead to a healthy development in the Beijing real estate market. Homelink Vice President Lin Qian

Germany provides a good model.

In Germany, 42% of people own their houses; while 58% rent them. 77% of the young Germans live in rented places. The German government also encourage their people to build their own houses so as to break the monopoly engaged by housing developers.  The housing prices in Germany has not changed in 10 years. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Industrial Economics researcher Cao Jianhai

Double, double toil and trouble;
fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Yes, once again Denise Chong, that best-selling author and fellow Canuck, stirs the ol’ hot pot again with her latest snipe at Zhongnanhai’s corrupt geriatric set over their handling of the whole so-called “6-4 Incident.” Enter her latest smashing volley, Egg on Mao: The Story of an Ordinary Man Who Defaced an Icon and Unmasked a Dictatorship.

Recounted through the heartfelt memories of Lu Decheng, the intellectually dullest of the trio of wayward Liuyangers who one-timed oil paint-filled egg shells from a local jian bing stand at the Forbidden City’s omnipresent portrait of the Great Helmsman, Chong spins a vivid tour-de-force tale depicting the aftermath of their arrest and subsequent incarceration in the dying days of the late-’80s student democracy movement.

During the spring of what would become that fateful ’89 year, Lu along with his friends Yu Zhijian and Yu Dongyue were caught up in the fervor of ousting the Party leadership once and for all. They became drunk on the idea of setting the People’s Republic’s sails firmly on a course for integration with the West along with the abolition of China’s corrupt glad-handing society.

Heeding the poetic words of student leader, Uighur activist Wu’er Kaixi, the “sun shining off of Mao’s portrait was so bright that the people couldn’t open their eyes to what was going on around them.” Hopping on the overnight choo-choo via Changsha, the three impressionable young cats — caught up in the inexorable flow of thousands from all across the nation descending on Beijing (or Peking as it was still then known in the West, still stuck in Wade-Giles mode) — somehow found themselves in the thick of it at the center of T-Bone Square, rocking it on ’til the break of dawn against the Big Bad Red Machine.

Chong employs a nifty literary technique shifting back and forth between what was and what is, flashbacking to our impressionable ones’ preparations as they eagerly anticipate traveling north to the capital, matched against their deep-seated doubts about what they were monumentally about to do. The portrait vandalizing incident was only an afterthought, can you believe it?

I found the most harrowing portions of this book — quite expectedly — to transpire inside the jail where the three were sentenced to life imprisonment for defacing the People’s Property. A couple of the guards sympathized with their cause, while many others were tasked with the deplorable job of smashing their willful spirits and crushing the resistance out of them via a daily slew of humiliation, physical abuse, and in several cases, unmitigated torture. Their prison authorities somehow remained convinced that they’d succeed in luring the young men, especially the brilliant Zhijian, from of their “counter-revolutionary” paths, by inculcating in them the values of Mao‘s Homo Sineticus, the “ideal” modern Chinese super-ego.

Decheng, a bus mechanic and driver by trade, was the least educated of the bunch at the outset. His journey is magnificent because his life changes by 180-degrees by story’s end. Dongyue, youngest and most impressionable, was a mere wet-behind-the-ears type at the crime’s time, a mere teenager. Zhijian was the one with all the bright ideas and coffee house theories, the one who read all the European classics, and the one who became most disillusioned by the end thanks to the students’ perfidy in refusing to come to the three’s aid by secreting them away from the lurking plainclothes PSB goons at the time, instead offering them up like sacrificial lambs.

Given that Decheng was our narrative vessel in Egg On Mao, we came to learn of the harshness of the boys’ prison conditions through his arduous journey in his own words. As he arrived at the stark realization that the West was absolutely powerless (or unwilling?) to convince the PRC’s Party higher-ups to spring him and his mates from the cavernous clink, Decheng set out to improve his skills and brain power while living out the typical prison double life.

Compelled to undergo the routine Maoist ideological indoctrination and daily hammering of Marxist-Leninist Thought, Decheng would mechanically nod his noodle during classes, only to “raid” the prison library later in the evenings to feast his eyes on anything he could get his meat hooks on: well-thumbed, outdated tomes on all manner of Western theory and thought — all in English which the guards couldn’t read — realizing that eventually his salvation would come and he should be prepared for that eventuality. Guards would needle him for his seeming craziness; the mere sight of Decheng reading stuff that looked as if though it could maim, rather than educate, him elicited many giggles. In time, howe3ver, this strategy would prove ultimately successful, confounding the dastardly designs of the prison system.

By 1998, Decheng was a free man — first, gaining asylum in Canada, where Chong learned of his story.

There’s a lovely parallel story in this book, and that’s the love affair between Lu and his young bride Qiuping, a woman he eventually weds prior to performing the fateful deed.

Even before the first yolk is hurled at Mao’s grim, moled likeness, Decheng and Qiuping have birthed their first tot — a XX Chromosomal Child Unit. His subsequent imprisonment, despair, and eventual divorce from his wife who fears her man will never be released for the ignominy caused to the Party’s international image, is a touching counterpoint to the violence taking place within the prison compound’s walls. The brutal and repeated attempts by Decheng’s prison warders to destroy his rebellious soul do nothing to diminish his abiding passion for his wife and their oft-stated commitment to “never accept a divorce, neither in life nor in death.” When news of Qiuping’s request for a divorce trickles through to Decheng via a letter he receives from a guard, it momentarily sidelines him as he struggles to reason out the rationale for her irrational behavior. When she eventually remarries, it nearly slays him, though he soldiers on knowing that in the aftermath of Deng Xioaping’s October 1992 demise — the man responsible for approving the murderous actions by soldiers on the Square against their own citizens — changes may be soon afoot in the “peaceful” People’s Republic.

Author Chong was censured for this book in the PRC. No surprise there. While she doesn’t personally do any of the criticizing about the events which took place on T-Bone Square — nothing is couched in her own words save for her parting caustic remarks in the Epilogue and Acknowledgments — the mere fact that she’s chosen Lu Decheng as the vessel of her apparent disapproval with the septuagenarians inhabiting the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee have now branded her as a PRC persona non grata. She won’t be able to return now, though she likely made her peace with this reality the instant finger touched laptop keypad.

Given that she had a year and a half to contemplate her fate — the duration of all her interview sessions with Lu Decheng in Canada, where he now lives — this was a well-designed goal.

Why you should read this book, friends?

Egg on Mao was likely the first straightforward and direct account about the actions of the perpetrators of the portrait defacement, told in their own words. No third-party stuff here, folks, or PRC spin-meistering for our ravenous Western investigative appetites.

Also, for those of you late-arriving (and young) Western stragglers who are convinced that TAM was a student-lead and directed protest crushed by the heavy-handed Chinese state apparatus, complete organized student hierarchies and chains of command on T-Bone Square itself, you’ll be shocked to discover that chaos was more the order of the day during those fateful two months. Chong does well to highlight this through the authentic recollections of Lu himself. Good job.

At 249pp, your bottom-line cost to purchase this brand new is just a few cents shy of a short paper route (wink, wink). The copy isn’t crafted to wallop you over the noggin from its apparent brilliance, and Chong, for lack of a better term, “keeps it real.”

This is a mean-slugging account of a very unusual time in China, an era when things were still in flux and the regime was deathly afraid of losing its balls years before Hu Jintao’s policy of China’s “harmonious rise” was even promulgated. I polished the book off on the trusty exercise bike over the course of a few days, wagging my head in several spots as I made my way through in astonishment, careful not to permit sweat droplets to damage its pristine acid-free (and lovely-smelling) pages. Cautious, as well, was I to ensure that my neighbors didn’t think I was becoming a closet Maoist, what with the Chairman’s identifiable head on its cover, even if it was smeared in a cocktail of egg and paint goo.

If you’ve already read the book and digged it hard, let us know.

If you haven’t caught it yet, it’s not the sort of “China book” that will make you dizzy-busy (so busy, you’re dizzy) from its girth and heft. ;-) Try it, Mikey, you’ll like it. I promise.

And, oh yeah…my name is Adam Daniel Mezei and thanks again for tuning in.

Love,
ADM

ps I’m in search of a new “China book,” friends, so if you’ve got any suggestions for me — which I promise to subsequently review — kindly let me know.

Tweet from @ybbswc

Shanghai metro has exploded? Please confirm.

Then retweeted:

Tweet from @xiao_su

Explosion!!!

@DavidFeng

A search in Twitter reveals the micro chatter of netizens on this topic:

Twitter chatter

Even the Chinese BBS and Weibo caught on the frenzy:

Weibo chatter

More Chinese micro chatter

Shanghai metro explosion? Rumor has it that it did. Heard it resulted from gas explosion. Another source.

But later it was confirmed that it was just a false alarm:

At 1.30pm June 25, a fire occurred at a construction site for a dormitory in Lujiazui, Pudong. The fire completely destroyed the 2-floor dormitory building. But no injuries were reported.

Xinmin.cn also released a confirmation on this incident with an exclusive video on what actually happened:

Some important points from this few hours of excitement–

What do you think?

Expo Voluntary Emission Reductions (VER)

The interactive Expo VER website offers help and suggestions for both individuals and enterprises, along with relevant news, information and downloads, feedback and query forms, and intimation of events.

There’s also a guide explaining VER standards and how to live a low-carbon lifestyle. You can start by using the individual carbon emission calculator to find out how much carbon you are responsible for. Follow up on that by finding out how you can reduce it using VER action procedure.

Expo officials said that during the first one month alone, use of green technologies had saved 12,700 tons of carbon emissions at the Expo, which would otherwise not have been possible using conventional technology.

Sun Jian, vice director of Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, said that “Since the Expo opened on May 1, the solar photovoltaic power inside the zone has generated 1.2 million kilowatt-hours and water cooling technologies saved 5.64 million kilowatt-hours of power on air conditioning.”

The Expo is also on track to be a completely carbon-neutral event. Using aforementioned green technologies and by greening vast areas of land, 60 to 70 percent of carbon emissions will be offset before the event ends on October 31. The balance will be compensated for within 4-5 years.

432 new vehicles at the Expo use clean energy for fuel, and 60 percent of the road surfaces are made of construction garbage and steel slag.

Clean Energy vehicles at Expo

But it’s not just about a ‘Green Expo’ or learning about conservation, but in some areas also a necessity. For example, the daily output of tap water in Shanghai is 10 million tons but the daily water consumption has already hit 9 million tons, and is very close to the maximum limit.

New technologies and methods on display at the Expo – such as collecting and recycling rainwater on roofs – will help ease the pressure on water supply if properly applied to urban construction and setup of low-carbon industries. The use of solar walls, roof gardens and electric vehicles will conserve energy, cut costs and reduce the smog.

These are all immediate benefits which can be pushed out from the exhibits at the Expo and straight into daily life in Shanghai. To learn more, visit the VER website at www.2010expover.org.

To me, collective amnesia of the Tiananmen incident 21 years ago fascinates and scares me. Is our understanding of history durable and resilient, ever marching on closer to the Truth? Or is it easily manipulated by commercial interests and by political agenda? Is the past completely malleable to serve the interests of those who seek to control the present and thus the future?

While the online commons of Twitter rages with the #8964 and #6421wj hashtags (see also ChinaGeeks’ translation of tweets), the events of 21 years ago seem largely irrelevant to the struggles of daily life in modern China today. Life in China is so fast-paced, demanding and full of constant change. Those who are not struggling, are far too busy pursuing the seemingly unlimited opportunities available to the privileged. Perhaps some who actually know about the Tiananmen incident are engaged in what Forbes’ Gady Epstein calls “willed forgetting in service of today’s prosperity.”

Honestly (and I may regret admitting this), I personally couldn’t care less that Foursquare got blocked (see David Feng’s blog on how this went down). Yes, I should defend the online rights of my friends who want to spam their social networks check-in with their favorite Location Based Service (LBS), because next They will be coming after my own beloved social sites.  Yes, They certainly have in the past.  But for some reason, Foursquare seems so trivial in comparison to what happened 21 years ago.  See Slate for a moving collection of photos…looking through these pictures is a far better way to “check-in” to the past.

Alec Ash writes an interesting post on Danwei that provides insights into Beida university students today vs. those 21 years ago.  Danwei itself is an interesting small case study of how you can serve the Motherland with great heart and personal sacrifice, only to get punished for doing so.  In this case, via getting their site blocked.  Because of the GFW,  I’ve excerpted heavily from the post:

What parallels, then, exist between the two generations? For all the noise about the exceptionality of China’s ‘post-80s’ youth (80后), there’s quite a few. If it’s dangerous to generalize about the class of ’89 from the actions of a few, then it’s less risky to generalize about students as a whole. Beida students today, like Lee before them, are concerned with their grades first, their fun second, and politics even further down the list. Yes, there are the nationalistic ‘angry youth’ (愤青) just as there are those who vocally criticize their government. But most are simply too busy preparing for their exams or TOEFL to care.
The second big similarity, though, is that there’s discontent beneath the surface, on a range of specific issues. For one, the sheer pressure and competitiveness of the world they find themselves in: 10 hours of study a day for many, just like it was in high school, and just like it will be in the best jobs. Then there’s the inequality, corruption and nepotism, just like in Lee’s day － perennial problems. A more recent one is the escalating price of housing in the big cities. Where thirty years ago their parents could buy a property relatively easy, students today are facing ever-more terrifying digits. There’s much to be unhappy about.
…

Another is that the West doesn’t cut it as an alternative to admire, like it used to. Sure, everyone watches Gossip Girl or Prison Break (depending on gender), but the idolization of everything Western which Lee describes － and which has a strong whiff of the May Fourth movement to it － simply isn’t there. And when it comes to politics, there’s a definite mistrust that the Western model could work in China. A metaphor told me by more than one young Chinese describes the Tiananmen generation of having just come out of a dark room, dazzled by the brightness. Their generation, the implication goes, has adjusted to the light.

I’ve heard Beida students describe their predecessors as “impulsive” and self-interested (why “I don’t like Wang Dan or Wu’er Kaixi”, one friend bluntly said). But how do they describe their own generation? Last week alone, I heard three self-definitions: one of a “pragmatic” generation, thinking of their own futures. Another of a generation with “no ideals”, nothing to fight for. But my favorite was simply a generation with “more choice”. Or put otherwise, a generation with more to lose from making noise, and more to gain from silence.

Alec first wrote about the differences about Beida students today vs. the late 80s on his blog 6.  The topic of the “disillusionment with the West” is definitely one that has gotten stronger after the 2008 financial crisis and the perception that China has weather the storm much better than the rest of the world.  Perhaps there is some idea that if they demonstrators had gotten their way, Western prescriptions would have been followed to the detriment of Chinese society.  Instead, Chinese leaders followed their own path adapted to the conditions of China at the time, and deserve some credit for the economic results that have come about.

Some have commemorated this day. From a smattering of red umbrellas on the square itself, to the now traditional demonstrations in Hong Kong (which has experienced some harassment), there are some efforts to bring people together to remember what happened.  Here’s Taiwan’s Ma Ying Jeou’s speech in translation. Peking Duck shares a new report and also shares his own feelings:

For me, this remains an open wound, and as long as the CCP keeps stonewalling, the much beloved phrase “Reform and Opening Up” will ring at least partially hollow. Those who keep demanding more contrition from the Japanese for their crimes against humanity should demand the same from their own rulers.

I don’t have the same feelings as Peking Duck. I feel the cadence of life in China, the all-consuming nature of the daily struggle for Chinese at all levels of society, and the sense that understanding modern history in China requires much more effort and discomfort than Westerners may realize. Modern China is simply too busy to remember.  Perhaps Gady’s “willed forgetting in service of today’s prosperity” is more like “inadvertent forgetting as a result of today’s prosperity.”

Tiananmen is not an “open wound” to me. Instead, it creates an uncomfortable realization of how fragile our conception of history is, and how the busyness of life can allow the past to be forgotten.

Photo credit: Bendilaowai.

2. Render that pavilion benign through the display of images of the Gulf of Mexico cartoons.

3. Attach solar panels to the State Grid Pavilion (actual connection to the grid is optional).

4. Produce inflatable mascots to no shorter than 1.7 meters, using no less than 36 oz PVC per unit of production.

5. Reduce the use of raw materials on unnecessary amenities, such as seating (foreground) and shading (background).

6. Reuse waste items whenever possible (for example: nighttime bicycle lights made extraneous by China’s glorious transition to a country of personal automobiles).

7. Recycle.

8. Achieve maximum beautification and environmental harmony through an appropriate ratio of greenery : concrete.

9. Prohibit the use of Chinese trees for production of all paper products.

10. Require that every country establish an emissions-free transportation option inside their pavilion.

11. Vigorously practice resource conservation.

12. Avow commitment to the circular economy through unwavering patriotism.

(Reduce the waste heat produced by Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan’s pavilions by reducing their size and placing them in the shadow of the Chinese pavilion).

Read more about the energy and the environment through Elizabeth’s blog.

The Japanese Pavilion is known as the “Most Hi-Tech Pavilion” among netizens. Not failing to live up to its name, one of its exhibits is labeled as the “most comfortable toilet in the world”. And its price for being just that? Simply a cool RMB 60,000.

“When you approach the toilet, its lid will open automatically. When you stand up after using it, the lid will close and the toilet will flush automatically,” explained by a staff member. And oh yeah, this toilet can deodorize itself. That’s really helpful.

Here’s a testimonial from a Beijinger: “I found it comfortable the way the warm water was sprayed.” 

Also, while you’re at the Japanese Pavilion, why not check out the Murasaki restaurant? Diners can avail of the single set course for RMB 3,000. And that’s excluding drinks.

So what is the menu description exactly?  

One type of multi-course menu is offered (dishes selected by the chef). Summer menu is served May to July; Autumn menu from August to October.

Lovely.

Customs goods entering China over USD 900M

Since September 26, 2008, which was the first Expo-related customs entry, the Shanghai World Expo Customs has examined 1880 receipts, worth over USD 900 million.

From May 1 to 11, they have accumulated  275 receipts, worth USD 50 million, including Egypt’s gold Pharaoh mask and other museum treasures.

Stamp Groups: 42 chops in a day!

They swift past pavilions armed with a huge bag (inside with several passports aside from the handful they’re holding). They do not bother checking out the exhibits and performances. They just go straight to the most important part–the passport reception area.

To be able to collect chops in the fastest time, they come up with a variety of ways to do this. But the one thing in common among them is that they arrive at the Expo Garden armed with a strategic plan.

The battle starts 9.30pm. You will be able to recognize these overzealous stamp collectors by the determined look on their faces. By 8pm, reporters caught up with a woman walking by herself. “Today, I collected 42 stamps. Someone offered to buy them from me at a high price. I turned him down ofcourse!”

I’m not sure if EXPOnential Shanghai is the most original title there is. I first thought of Shanghai EXPOsed, because it sounds cool. But then I don’t want us to be mistaken for a photography club (though I think I do have that in my list of talents interests).

And EXPOnential Shanghai sounds more…statistical, don’t you think so?

Though if you have BETTER IDEAS, you are very welcome to comment and share below!

Enough with the background. Let’s get on to the good stuff.

RMB 8,000,000 worth of Expo-licensed products sold in one day

With Shanghai progressing into an early Sunmmer, the rising temperatures led to the sale of flip-flops, hats, sunglasses, and other summer merchandise. Among them, slippers with price tags ranging from RMB 98 to RMB 168 sold like hot cakes and soon became out-of-stock.

Expo 2010 Licensed Products Sales Management Director Xin Juehui divulged to Chinese reporters that sales have reached RMB 14 billion. Since the park opened May 1, they have sold RMB 24 million worth of goods a week. In addition to the Expo Passport and the Haibao toys, flip-flops, sunglasses, and hats are favored by the consumers.

There were women who entered the Expo Park wearing heels but then came out donning slippers instead. Of course, these were bought in the souvenir shops.

According to reports, sales of licensed Shanghai World Expo products started last year November only. Both inside and outside the Park, there are over 6,000 shops licensed to sell the products in all over 31 provinces in Mainland China and Hong Kong. There are about 12,000 kinds of consummable items being sold. And that’s not including the 18,000 licensed merchandise too.

At present, there a total of 81 licensed merchandise stores. Since the Park opened, the average daily sales is RMB 4 million with the highest being RMB 8 million. According to Xin Juehui, items priced at RMB 30 to 50 are the most popular.

Because the World Expo Passport probably is the hottest item, outside vendors have started selling it for RMB 100.

Expo “Visa Officer” stamped 2000 Expo Passports for 3 hours straight

I told you the Expo Passport is selling like hot cakes.

The World Expo Passport is one of the most popular licensed merchandises being sold. Just one day after the Park opened, the Passports, priced at RMB 30, quickly sold out.

Wang was assigned at the French pavilion to be the visa officer for the day. By 9am, he was ready to face the endless stream of visitors.

“Some of the visitors were clutching 2 to 3 passports at the same time,” Wang told the story. “The most was 13 passports in one hand!”

In fairness to them, their passports were neatly spread and ready for stamping. There was a girl who kept on reminding the visitors to open to page 14 to quicken the process.

Some did not have time to buy the offical World Expo Passport, so they used whatever stampable material they have–notebooks, bits of paper–just to get the souvenir stamp. Others wanted the stamp mark on their body.

A rough estimate of the whole incident was 5 seconds per chop making that 3 hours for 2000 passports.

When asked if he is tired already, Wang just smiled saying, “Compared to the staff stationed at the main entrance, at least I can sit in a cool place.”

The idea of the passport came from the 1967 Montreal World Expo.

2.6 million Shanghai households to receive free Expo tickets May 15

The first “Expo spree” is going to happen this 15th of May. And 2.6 million Shanghai households will get to have free Expo tickets. The 5 districts benefitting are New Pudong District, Huangpu District, Luwan District, Jinshan District, Chongming County.

The complimentary tickets are already printed out. In order to facilitate the handing out of the gift passes, they are not issued based on the Shanghai hukou restrictions but rather on the residence permit time period (at least 6 months).

If you are going abroad during the ticket distribution, don’t worry, you do not lose your chance to get a free ticket. Just notify your local township.

However, the tickets are valid for one month only. Yes. ONE MONTH ONLY. So for the first batch, they can use it for for the month of June only.

Robert Goebbels

“I would like to ask the media at present, who among you wants to retain the beautiful Luxembourg Pavilion?” This was asked by Commissioner General Robert Goebbels last Sunday, May 4 at the opening of the Luxembourg Pavilion.

Due to the high expenditures, 42 country pavilions will be demolished after the Shanghai World Expo. Goebbels revealed that there will be a “beauty pageant” for the pavilions to decide which of them will be retained. He very much hopes that Luxembourg will be chosen as one of the lucky 5 which will get to stay in China forever. Journalists also discovered that many other countries were also actively vying for the same status.

Luxembourg Pavilion: “We want to be part of the top 5.”

To embody the Shanghai World Expo theme of “Better City, Better Life”, the Luxembourg Pavilion used 4mm Corten steel manufactured by ArcelorMittal. Another name for Corten is Indaten or “weathering steel”. It was developed so that painting is not needed (for 80 years or so) and that it will finish with a stable, rust-like appearance after years of weather exposure.  The pavilion also does not use air conditioning, so it is very environment-friendly. Amazingly, when visitors entered the pavilion, it actually is cool and pleasant. The walls are a double-layer structure and are constructed using wood from Luxembourg.

Another ingenuity in the pavilion is the small vineyard inside. The plan is that in the 6 months duration of the Expo, they will harvest the grapes so that the people of Shanghai can enjoy Luxembourg wine. A reporter raised a question, “But 42 pavilions will be demolished afterwards. What will happen to the vineyard?”

“That question is very interesting.” Goebbels pointed out that the original plan of the Expo organizers was to demolish everything. But that plan has been changed. Five will be left behind. “And I am positive that Luxembourg will be selected.”

Goebbels also mentioned the Schengen Agreement signed in the Luxembourg town of Schengen. “Last year, 10 million Chinese went to Luxembourg. And we welcomed the Chinese tourists. They were holding the Schengen visa which can gain them access to 25 European countries freely.”

Another attendee of the opening ceremony was the country’s Minister of the Economy and Foreign Trade Jeannot Krecke who mentioned that in the case that is not going to happen, they will bring home the pavilion for redevelopment.

The Luxembourg Pavilion was designed by Francois Valentiny.

Saudi Arabia Pavilion: The Prince said “Stay.”

Even if the days are long and hot, not a few visitors feared the sun and continued on lining up to see the pavilions up close and personal.

Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah

A reported observed that the most popular pavilion is the Saudi Arabian Pavilion which is only second in massiveness next to the China Pavilion. As the only pavilion designed in collaboration with China, its uniqueness lies in its moon shape notwithstanding the fact that it also has the largest IMAX theater inside.

The exquisite nature of the pavilion, according to Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, is thanks to the friendship of China and Saudi Arabia and the support of their coutry to the Shanghai World Expo. And because of that, he could not help but make known of his country’s wish for their pavilion to be chosen as one of the 5 which will be retained. “The Shanghai World Expo will help the world know more about Saudi Arabia. And I hope that the Saudi Arabian Pavilion will forever stay in the land of China as a witness to our friendship.”

France Pavilion: Former Prime Minister came forward to intercede.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Another country that is actively seeking the top 5 status is France. A reprensentative of the French Pavilion spoke to the media last Sunday, May 4 too to express their wish to be selected. He mentioned that early this year, Former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin was interviewed in Shanghai and was quoted saying that the French people wants their pavilion to be retained at the Shanghai World Expo so that it will be a cultural display of their art.

The reprensentative said that the Chinese were positive to that idea, however no final word has been said yet. “We understand that China needs to finalize their urban planning plan first before they can give their answer to the French people.”

Expo Board: “We could only keep a few.”

Hong Hao

Zhu Yonglei

What is the final destiny of the beautiful and magnificent pavilions? Hong Hao, director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, made it clear that the country pavilions are all temporary and very few will be preserved. He said, “The foreign pavilions generally will be removed; but some due to the design and materials, being environment-friendly and energy-saving, will be retained.”

Deputy Director General of Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination Zhu Yonglei said regarding keeping the pavilions, “There is an intention. And there are precedents in history already. For example the Crystal Palace and the Eiffel Tower were all ‘temporary’ structures at the previous Expos. Because of the good feedback, they were preserved afterwards.”

Today, April 21, 2010, is the National Mourning Day for the Yushu Earthquake victims as ordered by a State Council notice issued yesterday.

Urgent Notice From the Office of the Ministry of Culture Concerning the State Council Decision on “National Mourning Activities”

Notice is hereby made to all Provincial, Administrative Region, and Municipality-level Culture Departments, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Culture Department, the Cultural Market Administrative Teams of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing, and all subordinate work unites:

To express the profound grief that people of all ethnic groups across the country feel for their compatriots who fell victim to the Yushu earthquake, the State Council has decided to hold a National Day of Mourning on April 21, 2010. Flags across the country and at overseas institutions will be lowered and all public entertainment activities will be suspended. To carry out the spirit of the State Council decision, notice is hereby made of the following measures:

1. According to the instructions in the State Council notice, culture administration departments at all levels across the country, general culture market administrative agencies, and culture work units that fly national flags will lower them to half-staff in mourning.

2. Departments and work units in the national culture system will suspend any entertainment activities they organize.

3. Cultural and entertainment venues across the country will suspend their entertainment activities. All cinemas and theaters, dance halls, recreation venues, and game rooms, as well as all culture centers (or cultural palaces or stations) and community activity centers will suspend all entertainment, performances, screenings, and gaming activities. Internet service providers will suspend all entertainment activities including games, music, and video. Online cultural operators will suspend all online music, online games, online animation, and online video.

4. Culture administration departments and general culture market administration agencies at all levels should carry out strict observation of how the cultural and entertainment venues and their operators implement the State Council’s decision, and shall deal with violators according to the law.

Office, Ministry of Culture

Baidu (And Select Websites Like Google, Etc.) In Mourning Clothes

Baidu published the following blog post yesterday April 20 7:46pm (translated excerpt):

The disaster is still there, but hope still exists. The Yushu Earthquake rescue is on its eighth day. Along the ruins of more than 20,000 square kilometers, the rescue team is suffering from altitude sickness and huge and dramatic temperature differences throughout the day and the night. They are racing with death and doing all they can to rescue each person fighting for their lives. Time does not allow us to slack-off as every minute is precious. At this point, we would like to hold-up the whole country.

Today, both in the North and the South, people young and old, all at the same time will observe a moment of silence. We will show our reverence all in the name of life. The mountains and the rivers will sob; the heavens and the earth will grieve. Today, the flag will be raised for those who died for the country. We will sound a mourning call for the victims.

People can still remember what Premier Wen Jiabao promised: make people’s lives happier and more dignified. In this national day of mourning, the victims can share the same promise. Our hearts pray that the deceased (in another world) will never face an unhappy situation.

Yushu will not fall.

Shanghai World Expo On Half-Mast

In its second day of test run, the Shanghai World Expo has instead stopped all activities in respect to the National Day of Mourning with all their flags on half-mast.

Other places of entertainment like movie houses and perfomance theaters were also ordered to stop or delay activities and issue refunds as needed.

Qinghai Pavilion (At the Expo China Pavilion) Offered “White Tears” For The Victims

The staff at the Qinghai Pavilion came together 10am this day too to mourn the victims of the Yushu Earthquake.

Fudan University Students Gathered Together To Mourn

Amidst the drizzle, five students from the Qinghai province sounded the bronze century bell today 7:49am. Afterwhich a three-minute moment of silence was followed.

Expo Volunteers Tied Yellow Ribbons

More than 400 Shanghai Jiaotong University students (who are also Expo volunteers) tied yellow ribbons on their arms to signify their mourning period.

“As volunteers, we not only strive to serve in the World Expo but also try to give more hope to the society through the harmonious and caring volunteer spirit,” student Tao Zhenhao said.