Lisa: Your Local Tour Guide in SHanghai – on SHownbylocals.com

Traditional Pakistani dances will be performed and a traditional Pakistani restaurant will serve the unique tastes of Pakistani cuisine with BBQ foods, unique sauces and “Chai,” a special local milk tea.

Masood Khan, ambassador of Pakistan to China as well as the commissioner general for Pakistan for Expo 2010, said at the ceremony that the country hoped to display its strength and practice in building a harmonious city. He believed Expo 2010 will provide a stimulus package for the world economy.

A special section in the pavilion will be dedicated to the fraternal relationship and strong bonds between the people of Pakistan and China.

Its exhibition will be themed on “Cities of Harmony,” focusing on the integration between urban and rural regions through exchange of trade and services. Visitors to the pavilion will be led on a journey of Indian cities from ancient times to the present day, she said.

The dome will be used as a 360-degree screen to tell different stories about life in cities through the ages, said D. R. Naidu, vice president of JWT, the design company.

Energy efficiency will feature in the dome with the use of solar panels and wind power.

Herbs will grow on the dome and bamboo will form part of the structure. The pavilion will feature a shopping arcade where artisans from various regions of India will be demonstrating and selling a wide variety of products.

A food plaza will provide traditional Indian delicacies.

The main dome structure of the pavilion has been designed to handling an average of 450 visitors every 20 minutes, said Naidu.

The pavilion will cost about US$9 million

n Switzerland, there is a strong awareness of the importance of the interaction between urban and rural areas, due to the geographical characteristics of the country. Urban and rural areas are complementary and necessarily interdependent. For many years, Switzerland has been striving to find sustainable ways of protecting and conserving its natural heritage as well as improving living conditions in urban areas.

The design of the Swiss Pavilion is based on the concept of balance rooted in the principle of yin and yang. A vast planted roof and two load-bearing cylinders together make up the structure of the building, and are connected by a revolving chair lift system. The architecture incorporates the symbiosis between town and country, and emphasizes the perfect balance of man, nature and technology.

The urban setting of the ground floor is counterbalanced by the natural space of the roof of the Swiss Pavilion and the continuous circuit of the chair lift provides visitors with access to the rural area from the urban area, offering an interesting and inspiring experience.

The Pavilion is a hybrid image of nature and technology, which incorporates the sub-theme of the Shanghai Expo — rural-urban interaction.

The first cylinder represents the urban part.

Walking along a ramp, the exhibition area provides visitors with an overview of the building and the exhibition. Visitors will pass by 3D screens, which provide three-dimensional images of innovative and sustainable Swiss success stories. At the end of the ramp, they will enter the exhibition hall and come across Swiss men and women, projected on life-size screens, recounting their visions of the future, their expectations and their dreams. These personal statements by Swiss citizens show how important the individual is in conserving and shaping nature in a responsible way. They will also have insight into the four themes of the exhibition: water quality, air quality, public transport and sustainable construction.

The Belgian Pavilion will give away diamonds to lucky 2010 Expo visitors, Leo Delcroix, the country’s commissioner general for the Expo, said yesterday after unveiling the design of the pavilion, which will also house the European Union exhibition.

The pavilion will be a 5,250-square-meter rectangle with a huge “brain cell” as the centerpiece. Visitors will enter the pavilion via a vein of the “brain.”

Belgium will also highlight the concept of “green economy” at the 2010 Expo.

The EU will have a 1,000-square-meter exhibition space on the ground floor of the two-story pavilion. It will use multimedia to showcase European cities.

Each week of the Expo, organizers will give away a Belgian diamond to a visitor, drawn by lottery, Delcroix said.

For a chance to win, visitors will have to text the correct answers to questions about Belgium, according to Delcroix.

The UK pavilion will be a visual demonstration of the UK as a creative and innovative nation. The pavilion will be one of the largest occupying 6000 square meters of space. The centerpiece of the UK pavilion is a six storey high object formed from some 60,000 slender transparent rods, which extend from the structure and quiver in the breeze. During the day, each of the 7.5m long rods act like fibre-optic filaments, drawing on daylight to illuminate the interior, thereby creating a contemplative awe-inspiring space. At night, light sources at the interior end of each rod allow the whole structure to glow. The pavilion sits on a landscape looking like paper that once wrapped the building and that now lies unfolded on the site. The whole structure will look like an unwrapped gift, meant as a show of goodwill to the Chinese people and the Shanghai Expo. Britain will also embed more than 60,000 seeds into the structure of its pavilion to urge people to protect natural species from extinction. The seeds demonstrate the concept of sustainability, the diversity of nature and urge people to protect the environment for future generations.

Flying kites on a warm sunny day is a favorite activity for children all across the world. At the World Expo Shanghai next year, those sweet childhood memories can be recalled at the Mexico Pavilion.

People will see no building, but a 4,000-square-meter area covered in grass with hundreds of colorful Mexican kites flying in the sky.

Visitors can read a book, have a picnic or simply relax on the grass under the shade of the kites. They can also buy a traditional Mexican-style kite from the pavilion and fly it to recall the fun of their childhoods.

You can even learn how to make a unique Mexican kite as the souvenir.

The country’s pavilion will be a “Kite Forest.”

It will be a green slope with a total of 135 kites being flown over it. Seen from afar it will look there are hundreds of people flying kites together.

The kites, to be made in eco-friendly plastic, will be in red, pink, yellow, green and blue, to make the pavilion one of the most colorful Expo exhibits. The kites will be about 8 meters long and 4 meters wide, larger than normal kites, and supported by poles each 3 meters to 13 meters tall.

Construction began yesterday on the pavilion and a dozen children from Mexico and China planted colorful Mexican kites on the top of poles on the foundations of the pavilion to celebrate the ground-breaking.

Kites represent the idea of flying and are the strength that unites the Mexican and Chinese cultures, said Eduardo Seldner, commissioner general of the Mexico Pavilion.

The kite originated in China and is popular in Mexico.

The name for kite in Mexican is nahuatl, which also means butterfly.

The design envisions a future with spaces specifically planned, thought and designed for relaxation, as well as recovery of parks and green areas, where new generations may find themselves in a city that offers them a better life, said Edgar Ramirez, the pavilion’s architect.

“The square is the heart of the pavilion. It is the representation of the future vision for the kids from Mexico,” Seldner said.

However, the pavilion will be more than a square for fun. The exhibition area will be a two-story area under the square.

The pavilion will showcase Mexico’s culture, landscapes, cities and the ancient Maya civilization.

Some cultural relics of the Maya will be exhibited.

Once inside the main exhibition area, visitors will be taken on a chronological journey through the history of Mexico from the pre-Hispanic era to proposals for the future, the commissioner general said.

The Italian pavilion will be a rectangular shape, laced with intersecting lines that seen from above, resembles the start of the Chinese game pick-up-sticks, also known in Italy as the Shanghai Game, where a number of sticks are thrown in a random pile. The 3,600-square-meter structure comprises 20 functional modules of different shapes, bounded by the “sticks.” Each module represents one of Italy’s 20 regions, thereby making the entire pavilion embody a mini Italian city. The modules can be reassembled freely. After the Expo, the building will be disassembled and reconfigured. The pavilion will also make use of a cutting-edge construction material known as transparent concrete. The design also represents the harmony of different cultures and regions. When people walk in the pavilion, they will feel like walking in a city that combines Shanghai’s Shikumen-style lanes and an Italian square. Moreover, the form also highlights the topographic complexity of Italian cities, with its numerous short narrow roads and alleys which suddenly open onto a large square, a characteristic which can also be found in the traditional Chinese urban centers. A psychoanalytical effect of comfort is given by an internal garden, the presence of water and natural light which spreads throughout the area across the patios and by the walls.

The 6,000-square-meter Canada Pavilion, among the biggest at the site, will feature an exhibition themed “The Living City: Inclusive, Sustainable, Creative.” The pavilion is about the size of two-and-a-half NHL ice hockey rinks and has an open air public space as its centre piece. The square will be a performing area, where visitors can watch the performances of Cirque du Soleil before checking out the pavilion. Canada has also given environmental protection consideration into the pavilion. Part of the pavilion’s exterior walls will be covered by a special kind of greenery and rainwater will be collected by a drainage system for use inside the pavilion. This touch of green also represents Canda’s natural beauty and resources. Cirque du Soleil created the concept design for the Canada Pavilion and will also create public performances, organize cultural programs and develop strategic corporate alliances for the pavilion. The Canada Pavilion hopes to welcome more than 5.5 million visitors over its 6-month exhibition period and will be a showcase to the world for Canadian culture, advanced technology and urban development.

A DECISION by Chile President Michelle Bachelet in May to build a 2,500-square-meter Chile Pavilion for the Shanghai World Expo rather than renting a pavilion from the organizer as planned has made the Latin America country a focus among all the Expo participants.

The stand-alone pavilion will cost Chile more than US$6 million, quintupling that of the cost to rent a pavilion. The Shanghai Expo organizer rents pavilions to participants for about 4,000 yuan (US$585) per square meter.

The global financial crisis has not dampened Chile’s enthusiasm for the Expo. On the contrary, it is increasing its investment, because President Bachelet sees the 2010 event as a “long-term investment for its relationship with China,” said Hernan Somerville, Chile’s commissioner general.

The president was one of the main supporters for the country’s Expo showcase, and he will come to Shanghai at the end of November to oversee preparations.

President Bachelet has said that it is of key significance for Chile to participate in Expo because it will be the most important event in the world in 2010, Somerville said.

“The cultural and business exchanges between Chile and China will be the best gift to celebrate Chile’s Bicentennial on September 18, 2010,” he added.

Somerville said the preparations are “totally on schedule” and the pavilion will be completed by the end of the year.

The only South American country to commit to its own pavilion also pledged to make the pavilion one of the best. “The Chile Pavilion will be second only to the China Pavilion,” Somerville said.

The pavilion, which will be named “The Seed of the New City,” will be constructed of merging cylinders in silver and brown and will feature a roof garden.

The main theme of the pavilion will be “exchanges among people around the world.”

Visitors will pass through three areas in the pavilion, representing the three stages to understand the theme.

In the first area, they will watch a video about urban life around the world. Some urban problems that are shared, such as the environment and work stress, will be highlighted.

The second part will be the key of the pavilion, where visitors enter a huge seed. The solutions to urban problems will be displayed.

In the third area, Chileans from all walks of life will talk with visitors to discuss their daily lives.

The country’s mysterious Eastern Island and its ancient Inca culture will also be exhibited at the Expo.

At Expo Seville in Spain in 1992, the Chile Pavilion exhibited a piece of millenary ice in the 40 degrees Celsius weather, which amazed visitors.

At the Shanghai event next year, Chile will attract visitors with three special wells. People will be able to look into the wells in the pavilion in Shanghai to see scenes and hear the sounds of some Chilean cities on the opposite side of the earth.

Another three wells will be built in three Chile cities. Chilean people will also be able to see the scenes in the Chile Pavilion in Shanghai. People in both countries, therefore, will be able to greet each other. It will be like people can see through the earth, Somerville said.

The Chile Expo team is planning to build a duplicate of its Expo pavilion in Chile, where the landscape and scenery of China and Asia will be displayed.

“China is a long distance from Chile, and Expo will be the best opportunity to bring people of both countries together,” Somerville said.

The duplicate will be permanent and will remind Chilean people of the Shanghai Expo as a symbol of friendship between the nations, he said.

India’s exhibition will be called “Cities of Harmony,” focusing on the integration between urban and rural regions through trade and services. Visitors to the Shanghai Expo pavilion will be led on a journey of Indian cities from the past to the present day.

The dome will be used as a 360-degree screen to tell different stories about life in cities through the ages. It will also be energy efficient with the use of solar panels and wind power.

Herbs will grow on the dome and bamboo will form part of the structure. The pavilion will feature a shopping arcade where people from various regions of India will be demonstrating and selling a wide variety of products. There will also be a food plaza with provide traditional Indian delicacies at the China Expo pavilion.

The main dome structure of the pavilion has been designed to handle an average of 450 visitors every 20 minutes, said Naidu. The pavilion will cost about US$9 million.