Attending the Shanghai World Expo 2010, Nader Habib makes sure he does not miss the Egyptian pavilion It is the most expensive expo in the history of world's fairs. Expo 2010, held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010, is a world expo in the great tradition of international fairs and exhibitions, with some 70-100 million visitors being expected to visit the expo, the largest in history. I was among the millions who were able to see what the countries of the world have to offer. The Shanghai World Expo site is the largest ever at 5.28 square km, and the Chinese government has constructed a new metro line that takes visitors to the heart of the exhibitions. However, to get there, you need to take another metro line, and, as you enter, a policewoman checks luggage through an X-ray machine in a precaution against terrorist attacks. Taxis proved to be very expensive, so a three-yuan return metro ticket should take care of the round trip. The streets are decked with exhibition paraphernalia, with banners all exhibiting a cartoon character called Haibao, a name that means "treasures of the sea" in Chinese. Haibao is the character used to promote the Shanghai World Expo, and with its big eyes and blue, puffed-up costume, it greeted us on every corner. As we looked for the next metro station, we realised that the Chinese don't really speak much English, but they were able to figure out what we wanted, pointing us in the right direction. Another round of X-rays and two stations later, and we emerged in the middle of the exhibition grounds. Although the Egyptian pavilion was difficult to find even with a map, the Chinese managed to provide visitors with directions, thanks to volunteers dressed in green outfits deployed all over the place. Heading towards the Egyptian pavilion, you go past dozens of others, including those of Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Turkey and Ireland. Each pavilion had a theme related to the country. Thus, the Irish pavilion suggested green rolling hills, while the Danish pavilion used a circular design referring to their adeptness in communications. Libya's was painted the usual green. The Swedes had designed their pavilion in the shape of their flag. To keep the crowds entertained, some pavilions were entertaining the queues lined up at their gates. The Netherlands offered pop culture shows, while the Swedish pavilion kept an acrobat entertainer in the air to keep all eyes on their pavilion. The Egyptian pavilion took me by surprise. Painted black and white, it looked like a vision from a science fiction movie, something like a spacecraft that had just landed. At the pavilion's door, a line of visitors waited for entry. Walking to the pavilion had taken nearly half an hour, so when a man encouraged us to skip the line and come inside, we didn't hesitate. The man who saved us from the line was Hossameddin Hassan, who normally works at the Nasr City International Conference Centre in Cairo. Was it ok for us to skip the line, we asked. He said that his orders were to let in journalists, senior citizens and VIPs immediately. Hassan spoke a few words of Chinese, learned over the few days he had spent in the country. There was also a Chinese woman in attendance at Egypt's pavilion, who had decided to call herself Sandy "to make it easier for people to pronounce." She worked as a security guard for three of the Egyptian exhibits. Mohamed Gomaa explained the design of the pavilion. "Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi architect, designed this architectural gem for us," he said. "In fact, this pavilion took three months to build. It is contemporary in design, but as soon as you enter you find yourself in a museum. The ribbons that hang in the interior symbolise the link between the old and the new. The old is the eight museum pieces on display, and the new is the screen that offers images of modern Egypt." The popularity of the Egyptian pavilion was also a nuisance for its neighbours, with the line of visitors going to the Egyptian pavilion blocking the exit door of the neighbouring Tunisian pavilion. Egypt, Gomaa said, also had two other displays running parallel to the main exhibition, one about Cairo and the other about Alexandria, but it was the main show that was attracting the biggest numbers. "The police want us to let in as many visitors as possible, but we cannot do that. The pieces on display are originals. If we allowed too many people to enter, they could start touching the pieces," Gomaa said, adding that nearly 14,000 people were visiting the show per day. "The Chinese love the old pieces so much that given the chance I am sure they would hug them and take pictures of themselves next to them," he said. On the first day of the exhibition, a Chinese woman had made a traditional bow to the statues and then started kissing them, he added. Gomaa also had booklets and CDs about Egypt to give to visitors, though these were scarcely enough for all those who wanted them. "I could shift tons of this material, but where would I store it in the meantime," he asked. Among the materials offered to visitors was a book in Chinese by Ahmed Sallam, Egyptian media advisor at the Egyptian embassy in Beijing, containing information about Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Sharm El-Sheikh. Performers from Luxor and Ismailia were also scheduled to arrive on 23 July to celebrate Egypt's national day. "I am not sure which artists are supposed to be coming, but I know it will be a big do," Gomaa noted. The Alexandria pavilion was smaller, offering promotional material and presenting images of Alexandria. The Cairo pavilion had more materials, including carpets, mother of pearl products, copperware, arabesque pieces, and stained glass. All of this was for display only and none of it was for sale. Gomaa had hired a Chinese company to keep the place clean, and he was being especially careful not to allow food or drink near the exhibits. A Chinese translator was also at hand. Calling herself Soad for our convenience, she obliged us by approaching Chinese visitors on our behalf. One visitor, Zhang Jian Mei, said she had had to wait half an hour to come into the pavilion. "I came to the Egyptian pavilion because I love the Sphinx, and I am infatuated by Egyptian history and civilisation. However, I was hoping to see more than the eight pieces you have on display here." What Zhang Jian Mei didn't know was that these eight pieces had already been quite a task for their handlers. "We had to wait for the archaeologists and restorer and open the boxes in their presence. After the opening, the restorer went back to Cairo and he will be back at the end of the exhibition to repack the pieces," Gomaa said. Karima Attiya, who works for the Higher Institute for Antiquities, said that moving antique pieces was careful work. "When we came to China and opened the boxes, we discovered that some of the pieces didn't have the right display arrangements, so we put them back into boxes until the right arrangements could be made." Commenting on her first experience of China, Attiya said that despite the beauty of the city she did not really know how to enjoy it. "I don't know any Chinese, and my English is not good. On the first day, when my colleague and I got lost, we could not reach the expo or find the hotel. In the end, we got help from some locals who figured out our dilemma. The problem is that we don't have a guide to help us," she added. As for the security of the antiquities, Gomaa explained that they needed extra security personnel, in addition to the existing surveillance cameras. He said that Chinese visitors were eager to have an Egyptian stamp on their exhibition "passports". To enhance the experience of touring the exhibition, the organisers were selling souvenir passports so that visitors could collect stamps from every pavilion they visited. The idea started in Spain, Gomaa commented, and it was intended to "boost the income of the exhibition. Imagine: one million visitors means 30 million yuan, just like that." In a room inside the Egyptian pavilion, Ahmed Eid, a young man from Luxor, was selling handicraft products to the public. A recent graduate from the College of Fine Arts, Eid specialises in portraits. "The idea was for me to do portraits, but then we discovered that there were too many visitors and there was not enough time. So we settled for writing names in hieroglyphics on papyrus instead." A Chinese man interrupts us to ask about a scarab in a nearby basket. He apparently wants to buy it, but the language barrier gets in the way and the sale fails to materialise. "Language is a big problem. So we asked for a translator to join our group," Eid said. The Chinese staff working in the pavilion advised us that all prices be changed from 250 yuan. Puzzled, the Egyptians asked for the reason. "250 is considered an unlucky number in China," Sandy said. Doaa, who works for the Luxor governorate, told Al-Ahram Weekly that her team had brought along some products made in Luxor, including products made by the Nubian House and handmade products from the Women's Civilisation Centre, where women are trained to make handicraft items for sale. Rehab Sayed, also from Luxor governorate, is a henna painter. "As soon as I started painting on the first day, people lined up to have the eye of Horus or the key of life painted on their skin. I am charging 20 yuan for one painting, and there is so much demand that I am doing 70 paintings per day," she said. After visiting the expo, a Haiboa souvenir is a suitable piece to take home. It is blue, and it can be plugged into an MP3 player. Then, you have a singing Haiboa as a reminder of how the Chinese have done their best to promote the World Expo. Expo 2010, Shanghai, China THE THEME of the expo is "Better City -- Better Life," which signifies Shanghai's status as the next great world city. More than 190 countries and 50 international organisations are taking part in the Shanghai World Expo, the largest ever. China expects to receive almost 100 foreign leaders and millions of people from across the world to visit the World Expo. The expo's logo, which features the Chinese character for world ( shi in Chinese), represents three people, together with the date of 2010.
