THE EXPO! (Part 2), and How Have We Not Talked About Haibo Yet?

Did you read Part 1 about the Expo? No? Go read that first!

Ok, for those of you who are doing this correctly, you may proceed with reading.

The big question of the post is, what were the National TreasureS that were waiting for us at the end of a long line in the China Pavilion? Well...



















It was not so much National TreasureS as it was a national treasure. Only one. Sure, it was a chariot/horses thing from THE terracotta army of terracotta fame, and since we did not go to see the terracotta army (they are about as far from Shanghai as Seattle is from Los Angeles), it was nice to see something from that set.

But really, China?! National TreasureS implies, you know, many treasures. Treasures is plural. And so I was expecting to be dazzled by the quantity of treasure found in that tiny exhibit, not to have to make excuses like, well maybe they counted each horse individually.

This was the one downer of the Expo, folks, so please let me have my moment. I promise that the rest of the China pavilion was ten thousand kinds of fantastic.

National TreasureS!!

Okay, the moment has passed. Fortunately the disappointing treasure exhibit was surrounded by the amazing River of Wisdom. Did I fully explain this yesterday? So the screen that the animation was projected on was over twenty feet high, and 420 feet long. Yes. 420 feet. WOW. It wrapped around the inside of the building a bit, so don't worry too much about how it fit in there. But still.

Is the China pavilion fully sinking in yet, guys? First we had an epic movie, then a giant animated river. WHAT WILL BE NEXT?

This is exactly what I began asking myself. Well, to finish "Highlight 1: The Footprints," we had to walk through a few electric forests like the Land of Hope



















(I am not sure about the intended educational value of the Land of Hope)

And then this blue area



















I think it was supposed to look like a bamboo forest? Maybe?

Right. So that was it for the first area, now on to area 2, known as The Dialogue. What is The Dialogue, you may ask? As a sign so nicely pointed out to me, The Dialogue is a dialogue "between past and present" that focuses on four areas: paradigm, access, tectonics, and poetics.

???

I didn't get it, either. Paradigm, access, tectonics, poetics? Hmm. Maybe The Dialogue would explain it all.

Funny thing is, The Dialogue had no words at all. Funny thing is, The Dialogue turned out to be a RIDE, much like It's a Small World After All at Disneyland. Except without any words, of course.

It was a quarter to five when Tara, Julie, and I got in line for "The Dialogue" (the ride), so I was slightly worried that we wouldn't get to go.



















Then, right when we got to the very front of the line and were about to go on, the car that pulled up was out of order. Wouldn't you know. It was actually pretty funny.



















But then, look at that, the next car was not out of order, and we were whisked away onto the ride. I took a short video at the beginning of the ride -- it shows the cartoon-ish splendor that was The Dialogue. Oh, and at the end of the video you can hear a bit of the rousing song that was played all. throughout. the. Expo. That song was stuck in my head for the rest of the day, and you should consider yourselves lucky that you only have to hear this much of it!



Now tell me, did you get tectonics out of that? Because I was beginning to feel poetics, maybe even paradigm, but tectonics still escapes me. And don't get me started on access...

Right, on to section 3. This section was all about THE FUTURE and ideas for THE FUTURE. It featured cars of THE FUTURE



















and a waterfall of THE FUTURE, because the waterfall was spelling Chinese characters using the absence of water to spell them! Okay, maybe the picture will explain it better:



















Do you see them, the characters spelled by the empty spaces? 'Twas fantastic. Area 3 was all together pretty cool, but sort of futuristic/educational.

After that we descended down a very looooooong escalator and ended up underneath the center of the pavilion, where it was freezing cold.



















But I couldn't tell that it was cold; I needed this sign to tell me. What a helpful little sign!




















The next order of business was, of course, to leave the pavilion, and let's talk about that for a second. So you can buy Expo memorabilia in the gift shop for more expensive prices, or you can buy the cheaper, less durable version from people on the street outside the Expo. These people are very insistent that you buy their cheap products. When we got off the metro to go to the Expo, several vendor boys were walking DOWN the UP escalator to try sell us discounted tickets. So yeah, pretty insistent. Anyway, back to leaving the Expo. There is only one exit from the pavilion, and it involves going through a tiny gate. Guess who all were waiting on the other side of the gate?













Replace the paparazzi in that photo with vendors, and the cameras with Expo merchandise, and you have a pretty good idea what leaving the gate was like. Celebrities, I feel your pain. Being crushed by mobs is difficult. Most of us made it out of the swarm unharmed, but one person in our group stopped to buy something. Guess who it was?

No, not me. It was Prof. Shen. She was suckered into buying a bunch of Haibo keychains, which she distributed randomly among our group, and I was lucky enough to get one. Speaking of Haibo...

How Have We Not Talked About Haibo Yet?

Let me introduce you. Meet Haibo, World Expo Mascot Extraordinaire



















Haibo is everywhere in Shanghai--no, make that China. Haibo is everywhere in China. Here is Haibo in a child's painting at the exhibition:



















Here is Becca with Haibo in a completely different city, Jiaxing:



















And here is a store on Nanjing Road full of Haibo merchandise. Do you see alllllll the plush Haibos lined up along the top shelves? Wisely bought at least two of varying sizes. People also purchased t-shirts, mugs, passport cases, and who knows what else. I got a pencil case!






















Not only was Haibo everywhere, Haibo was good for everything. Examples:
-When toasting, replace the traditional "cheers" with "Haibo"
-When playing the game B.S., replace calling someone's b.s. with calling out "Haibo"
-When taking pictures, instead of "cheese," say "Haibo"

And many more! As you can see, Haibo has many uses, both functionally and inspirationally. You could argue that Haibo was the best part of the Expo.

Oh, Haibo.














And THAT was our small taste of the Expo, my friends. It was futuristic, it was educational. It was full of traditional and modern Chinese architecture. It had movies, rides, and cartoon characters.

Does anyone else get the feeling that we were at Epcot in Orlando???

Ah well. Similarities aside, it was still an amazing place. If I had known how amazing, I would have wanted to go to the complete Expo last year! After a little research, I've decided that there's only one thing to do: Who wants to go with me to Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy?!

I knew you would.