Zhejiang Elements in 2010 Shanghai World Expo

The 5.28-km2 site of the World Expo actually spans the Huangpu River. The larger part lies in an area east of the river. The expo site in the old downtown of Shanghai west of the river measures only about one fourth of the site， but this small section is home to two important components of the event. The first part features the world’s fifty cases of Best Urban Practice Area (BUPA) whereas the latter contains 17 corporate pavilions representing leading businesses in the world.

Unlike the centralized presence in the form of the impressive Zhejiang pavilion in the Pudong section， Zhejiang elements in the downtown site west of the river are spread wide but they look equally impressive.

Zhejiang plays a conspicuous part in the Chinese Private Enterprise Pavilion as the small province is actually a powerhouse of flourishing private sectors in the country. In the 150-year history of the world exposition， Shanghai has the honor of hosting the history’s first private business pavilion. It features 15 private giants from Zhejiang， including Alibaba， the world’s largest B2B e-commerce website and other equally impressive names such as Fusun Group， and Metersbonwe.

Naturally the pavilion presents a strong element of Zhejiang. The telltale wealth of the private sectors in Zhejiang shows. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony director Zhang Yimou and his assistants are commissioned to direct and stage a gala celebration called Dynamic Matrix at the pavilion. The 8-minute gala show will be repeated many times for the six-month event and it costs 100 million， 60 of which are spent on high-tech devices and props. “We Zhejiang private enterprises have deep pockets. The construction started quite late， but we have managed to come up with one of the most spectacular pavilions，” says proudly Guo Guangchang， president of Fusun Group， which is China’s largest private enterprise.

The Pavilion of Urban Future features five cities from the world and represents the yesterday， today and tomorrow of urbanization in the world. The five representative cities chosen are Canberra of Australia， Dares Salaam of Tanzania， Freiburg im Breisgau of Germany， San Diego of USA， Tijuana of Mexico， and Xikou of China.

Xikou， home to Chiang Kai-shek， a political and military leader of China before 1949， was chosen jointly by Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination. A town with historical and cultural significance and heritage in Zhejiang Province， it plays a big part in the joint pavilion.

The Best Urban Practice Area showcases another Zhejiang presence: Tengtou Village， which is under the jurisdiction of Fenghua City. The village， chosen to represent its practice of an ecological urbanization and feature a theme of a village of modern urbanization and livable home in dream， has a two-story stand-alone pavilion in the BUPA. In the regional architectural style， the top floor showcases some ecological programs in miniature: rise， fish， pidgins. One faccedil;ade of the pavilion has a vertical plant covering.

Another conspicuous Zhejiang element in the BUPA is Hangzhou Pavilion. In contrast to the image of Hangzhou in Zhejiang Pavilion， the pavilion here emphasizes the key role that water plays in the history of the 8，000-year-old city. Hangzhou owes its prosperity and fame to Qiantang River， West Lake， West Brook， Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and Hangzhou Bay.

Zhou Gang， the chief designer of Hangzhou Pavilion， enthuses that a tour through the pavilion will enable you to wring water out of the air.

However， the pavilion does not have a drop of real water as the organizers do not permit any water pipe into any pavilion. In order to create graphic water effects， huge metal structures are installed inside and on the surface of these structures are sheets of glass and crystal tiles. Colorful lights projected to the wall create amazing water impressions.

In addition to technique approaches， art also plays a big part in Hangzhou Pavilion. One whole external wall near the gate presents a colorful painting of the West Lake. A huge glass wall at the pavilion presents famed ancient poems inscribed by modern master calligraphers. □