Shanghai throbs to Expo pavilion programs, street festivities during opening weekend

SHANGHAI - Screen siren Gong Li showed how Expo 2010 can bring the world closer to China, and vice-versa: As the France Pavilion's new "Charm Ambassador", she accepted France's prestigious Order of the Legion of Honor award during the opening weekend amid festivities and goodwill.

Gong ranks as one of China's most recognizable actresses, and is credited with helping France and much of Europe discover Chinese cinema.

After touring the France pavilion with French actor Alain Delon on Friday, she won over a congregation of VIPs on the closed-off rooftop garden the following afternoon.

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"It's been a real love story between me and France for a long time because it was the first country I visited," said Gong, the Chinese face of French cosmetics brand and Shanghai Expo sponsor L'Oreal. She rose to fame 19 years ago in Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern and now serves as a UNESCO Artist for Peace and a UN Environmental Program ambassador. Gong became a Singapore citizen in 2008.

Relations between China and France hit a trough in 2008 when protesters attempted to sabotage the Beijing Olympic torch relay in Paris, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama.

But ties began improving recently with Sarkozy meeting President Hu Jintao in Beijing last week before both attended the Expo's exuberant opening ceremony on Friday night.

Friday's fireworks display on the banks of the Huangpu River almost matched the "stamping footprints" of the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in terms of visual pyrotechnics.

Expo unleashed its cultural smorgasbord on Saturday with traditional Hakka dances outside the New Zealand Pavilion, a lion dance on the stage of Malaysia's pavilion and scores of colorful performances under clear blue skies.

Sunday's festivities included street parades, public shows by Shaolin warrior monks and a street dance by performers from next month's FIFA World Cup.

"We borrow moves from soccer and integrate it with our own movements. It's like an imaginary soccer dance," said Kena Mokoka, explaining the roots of the Diski Dance. He will perform at the Opening Ceremony of the World Cup. Diski is South African township slang for soccer.

The Joint African Pavilion proved a magnet over the weekend, with Chinese visitors transfixed by its life-size statues of giraffes and camels, a bustling market and a mountainous stage that hosted several fashion shows.

"The Chinese are so nice," said Chila Smith Lino from Mozambique, who was selling African art. "They're very curious about Africa, and interacting with Africans."

About 1 km away, outside the New Zealand Pavilion, a small crowd was captivated as tattooed dancers sang and stamped their feet in grass skirts, as it soon became apparent that the Expo is above all a visual experience and a living advertisement for hundreds of national tourism and investment boards.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende cut the ribbon at the Netherlands "Lucky Street"-themed Pavilion after lunch on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Prince Mansour bin Miteb bin Abdul-Aziz hoped Saudi Arabia's sand dune-shaped structure, at $147 million the second-most expensive national pavilion, "stays in China long after the Expo ends".

The havoc seen during last week's soft opening was just a memory, with three-hour queues outside the most popular pavilion often trimmed to between 30 minutes and 1 hour. Exceptions to this included the pavilions of the UK and Switzerland.

"It's not as hectic as I expected," said Laurent Martin, one of the people responsible for the France section of Expo Online.

More than 213,600 visitors visited the site of Expo 2010 Shanghai by 5pm on Sunday, the second day after the Expo's official opening, exceeding Saturday's total of 207,700.

The temperature in Shanghai also reached a new high of nearly 30 C on Sunday, forcing the organizers to switch on the air conditioning facilities at the Expo Garden.

The Chinese might not like queuing, but they showed they are capable of playing the waiting game as well as, if not better than, the rest of the world.

"This is an?once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Zheng Meiping, a Shanghai teacher who was taking a virtual tour of Europe with her daughter. She waited three hours to sample the Swiss Pavilion's 10-minute chairlift ride, which takes in sweeping views of the Expo Garden.

"You need much patience, but it's bearable. I doubt we'll ever be able to go to Switzerland. I was terrified on the chairlift, but despite that, I still really enjoyed the ride. It was just like the Alps."

Inside the Spain Pavilion, one of the top drawers with its wicker-basket exterior, a 7.6-meter model of a baby and projections of Picasso sketching on a 60-meter digital canvas, even Spanish guests were left goggle-eyed as flamenco dancers writhed in a Neanderthal setting under suspended bones.

"Spectacular," said pensioner Augustin Badosa. "I felt like I was there, in the streets running with the bulls. It's the best pavilion here, and it invites all Chinese to experience our culture."

Amid all the frenzied but friendly competition for China's attention, there was no denying France's ability to tug heart-strings at its "Sensual City".

"It's such a romantic country. I loved the Louis Vuitton part, and the flower garden with the bed of red roses and weddings gowns," said He Wenjing, a female student from Xi'an in Shaanxi province. "That's my dream."

China Daily