I've been born and raised in South Korea and had not traveled much outside of my home country.  But from the daily advertisements featured on TV and the internet about the Shanghai Expo, I can't help but feel compelled to want to learn more about different world cultures through this great opportunity offered by the World Expo event. And especially because the next World Expo event (2012) will be held not far from where I currently live, in Yeosu, I wish to try and get a first-hand experience of what it is like in Shanghai – so that I can compare the two hosts of the event in all honesty and see which one has done a better job. So for this purpose, I asked for some time off from my job and took my family to Shanghai to visit the Expo there. But I have to say that I've been very much disappointed with what I saw; I guess it is true what they said that the more one anticipates something, the bigger the disappointment when all has not lived up to expectations. I am going to try and summarize what I have seen and how I felt about my few days at the Expo in the following paragraphs.

Photo: bbs.gz.house.163.com

The pains of queuing for pavilions

Firstly, the long queues are just simply annoying. Queues are 1 -2 hours long even for the not so popular pavilions. The line for the US Pavilion took four hours; seven hours were needed for visiting the South Korean Pavilion; and to top it all off, we had to wait eight hours for visiting the Japanese and Saudi Arabian pavilions! And I haven't even gotten to the Chinese Pavilion yet!  You need to reserve tickets to visit the super popular venue, and most of the time, the reservations were all gone within minutes of the Expo park opening. Waiting in endless lines has become the norm for most pavilions at the park; and with the unbearable heat, it's just that much more annoying and exasperating. Because of the long lines, you could only expect to visit three or four more popular pavilions and maybe a few of the less popular ones even if you spent the whole day at the park.

Organizers for the event should have implemented better methods to control the number of visitors per day, so as to ensure that each person will be able to enjoy their planned trip to the Expo better. Instead, the officials are merely interested in making money and have not considered at all the quality of service for Expo visitors. Not only that, the organizers are investing more to promote the event even though it is apparent that the park is overcrowded day in and day out.  This is just like the Chinese: “Who could care less about washing the carrots when there is a rush to get them out to customers!?”

Overrated exhibits and lack of creativity

Secondly, exhibits at the pavilion don't match up to even half of the preceding hype. You've waited in line for a long time and are exasperated with the crowd and the heat; you wish to see something spectacular at the end of the tunnel. But instead, most of the pavilions are one and the same; they use everyday sound and lighting effects for exhibitions, play back some movie clips, hand out postcards, stamp on your Expo passports, and then hurriedly usher you out on your way.  For example, I had been keenly interested in the Egyptian Pavilion and had thought that there would be at least models of pyramids and mummies; instead, all I got were two head busts of pharaohs and nothing else. And with the Brazilian and Argentinean pavilions, you sort of get the feeling that there's not much else to the two countries besides soccer. The lack of thought and originality with the pavilions are seriously disappointing. I would think that nearly 200 RMB a ticket is not cheap for most Chinese citizens to spend on the event, and if you calculate in the transportation and accommodation, the price one pays to visit the park is hardly worth what you get in return. It is no wonder that I've overhead many visitors moaning and groaning about this and that at the Expo.

Confusing and thoughtless layout

Thirdly, the planning for the layout of the pavilions can hardly be considered thoughtful.  If the Expo park is supposed to be laid out according to each continent, with pavilions of those countries geographically related grouped together in different sections of the park, then I am really confused.  I mean, Section A mainly features Asian pavilions, then how come there is a Moroccan Pavilion on its south side? Morocco of Northern Africa has been moved to an area dominated by Asian pavilions? Why? Then there is Section C of the park, where you find a Slovenian Pavilion in the midst of what are dominantly African venues. Again, one can't help but be very confused about it all. If someone who is ignorant about geography should feel that this is how the correct arrangements should be, that Morocco somehow belongs with the rest of the Asian countries, then aren't the organizers doing these people a disfavor by contributing to their ignorance? And another thing I've noticed is that the Iranian and North Korean pavilions have been place right nearby each other. Have the organizers done this on purpose? Did they feel that because the two countries had been the most unbending with their conservatism and insistence on developing nuclear weapons, they somehow belonged with each other? Geographically speaking, North Korea is on the furthest east while Iran is on the furthest west, they could not have been more apart on the map. I wonder what's the deal behind the layout of the pavilions? And what do the organizers have to say about it all?

Photo: bbs.gz.house.163.com

Poor food, supporting facilities and service

Fourthly, supporting facilities at the park are just barely accommodating. Having to stand in line for long times on end is bad enough, but the less than accommodating service when it comes to dining is even worst. You'd have to again wait up for another hour or so to eat; also, many visitors have generally complained about the poor quality, lack of selection and expensive price of the food (souvenirs and drinks are also considerably more expensive than their normal prices outside of the park) offered at the Expo. Everybody has been saying that coming to visit the World Expo is not about enjoying yourself at all, but about standing sore on your feet for two hours on end and enduring the barely accommodating food and facilities. Some have retorted: “You'd regret not visiting the Expo, and you'd regret even more that you've come to visit after all”.

If considering the large number of visitors to the Expo each day (around 400,000 to 500,000 on average), you'd have to admit that it is a “successful” event rarely matched elsewhere; but if you're talking about the quality of the exhibits and the services offered, you’d feel like you didn't get your money's worth by coming to visit – you would've learned more about the world and the different cultures watching news on TV or reading them online. My wife and child were horrified at the long lines and the unbearable heat during their first day at the Expo, and they have refused to accompany me to the park ever since. I wonder if the organizers thought about the long-term effects after they've satisfied their pockets and the praise-singing number of visitors? Do they expect that people will flock to any type of events they organize again in the future?

I sincerely hope that organizers for the 2012 Yeosu World Expo will learn from these mistakes and avoid repeating the same failures, that they will plan a better event in the next two years.

Source: chn.chosun.com
 

Related links
The Artistic Side of Expo
Smokers still puffing away at Expo 2010
Pavilions put avoiding lines on the menu

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Keywords: shanghai world expo mistakes south Korean visitor Shanghai world Expo South Korean Shanghai expo views Shanghai World Expo views