Asia’s World City on Show

The Hong Kong Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai showcases the great potential of Asia’s World City. Words: Zoe Chan Research: Jonathan Auguste

Hong Kong is packed full of interesting sights and activities for visitors. But you don’t have to visit the city to discover all that it has to offer. This year, The Hong Kong Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai is an opportunity for both visitors and residents alike to glimpse into Hong Kong’s comprehensive city life. Along with Hong Kong, an unprecedented 192 countries and 50 organisations are registered participants at the Expo, with 70-100 million expected visitors. In 1910 Chinese Scholar Lu Shi-e first envisioned China would host a World Expo in Shanghai, and exactly 100 years later the Shanghai World Expo is the largest exposition yet. The entire Expo is massive, covering 5.28 square kilometers and priced at US$58 billion in preparations alone.

The theme of the Shanghai World Expo is “Better City - Better Life” to represent Shanghai’s role in the 21st century as the next great world city. Known as the business hub of Mainland China, Shanghai is a city growing at a rapid rate. Even in the 19th century, scholars deemed the city as a special place of East and West. With the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing and the World Expo in Shanghai this year, Mainland China’s two major cities are having their time in the spotlight. With such attention, it should come as no surprise that China’s “Crown of the East” Pavilion is the tallest and most expensive. It contains exhibits on all of China’s provinces, excluding Hong Kong and Macau, which both have their own pavilions.

Located close to China’s Pavilion, the Hong Kong Pavilion is based around the theme “Hong Kong - Potential Unlimited”, which promotes the city in three main areas: modernity, vibrancy and interconnectivity. Within each of these areas, quality of life, creativity and innovation are emphasised. As wordy as that sounds, the Pavilion itself is constructed to touch upon these topics in a straightforward manner.

The futuristic glass design divides the Pavilion into three levels, each representing an aspect of Hong Kong society. The ground level contains an exhibit hall on Hong Kong’s global connectivity and potential. This level connects to the middle level with a pedestrian ramp that symbolises the interconnectedness of the city. The middle level is clear and open to embody the openness and transparency of Hong Kong. It contains interactive screens and other advanced viewing technologies to engage visitors. There is also a viewing gallery between the middle level and the roof, which gives visitors an aerial view of the scenery around the Pavilion. The upper level represents Hong Kong’s connectivity to nature through an exhibition of its wetland environment. It is designed with natural landscaping to show the importance of Hong Kong’s green areas and the concept of sustainable living.

Besides the Pavilion, Hong Kong has an exhibit at the Urban Best Practices Area (UBPA) at the Expo. It was one of the fortunate 59 out of 106 applications that were approved to be represented at the UBPA. Its theme at the UBPA is “Smart Card, Smart City, Smart Life”, and it showcases how Hong Kong’s extensive use of smart card systems makes city life easier and more efficient.

Any visitor to Hong Kong has surely used an Octopus card to ride the MTR (Mass Transit Rail) system or the Airport Express, but this technology goes much further, to areas including grocery store purchases, automatic top-ups, bill payments, building entry and so on. All Hong Kong residents also have a Smart ID Card embedded with their fingerprints and resident details, making travel to and from Hong Kong markedly easier. The Hong Kong Airport even uses this information to handle passenger baggage.

The exhibition also highlights the future of smart card technology in Hong Kong, which will enhance areas such as school's communication with parents and students' learning and the rollout of elderly health care vouchers. The UBPA exhibition is important to Hong Kong because it provides a venue for the international community to see how the city’s use of smart card technology can improve quality of life around the world.

Hong Kong has always had its eyes set on being a city of the future. Now everyone can see how it has achieved its modern structure, vibrant life, and interconnectivity firsthand at the Hong Kong Pavilion and Urban Best Practices Arena. If you can’t make it to the Expo, wander around Hong Kong, visit the Hong Kong Stock Exchange where the city connects to the world, use an Octopus card to experience smart card technology, visit the Wetlands Park to see the city’s greenery, or ride the MTR to see just how efficient, interconnected and vibrant daily life in the city is.

Connecting to the Hong Kong Pavilion

Find everything you need to know on the Pavilion’s website: www.hkexpo2010.gov.hk
The Shanghai Expo runs until October 31. Tickets and information: http://en.expo2010.cn

Hong Kong Pavilion Events This Month

May 15-Oct 31

“Hong Kong: Creative Ecologies —Business, Living, Creativity” Design Exhibition

Aug 16-Sep 30

Passion for Hong Kong: Exhibition of Works by Professor Jao Tsung-i

Sep 2-18

Hong Kong Comics and Animation Carnival

Sep 3-5

Hong Kong Arts Festival and Fredric Mao Theatre Project “The Liaisons”

Sep 4

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in Beethoven 9

Sep 24-25

Theatre du Pif “The Will to Build”