Two weeks ago, I went with my family on a 10 day vacation to China and Japan. Our first stop was in Shanghai to visit relatives as well as to check out the World Expo. A lot of people, including myself, were very curious about what the World Expo would be about. As with all things happening in China, a main feature of the expo was scale. I mean, about half a million people visit everyday!

I had heard mixed reviews from friends who are abroad and various online sources about it being somewhat lackluster. I have to admit that I was a tad bit disappointed with what I saw, or maybe it was the lack of what I saw. Because so many people visit on the daily (especially when we were there since the weather was relatively mild, rainy), some pavilions have wait times as long as 4 hours! That means extremely long waits to see exhibits that literally take only about 20 mins to walk through. I think our family quickly realized something that really put the expo and it’s purpose in perspective…

The Chinese government had issued tickets and spending money for every Chinese citizen in the country. Something like 95% of the visitors are native Chinese people. It seemed as if the expo was really more about introducing its population to the world rather than demonstrating things that perhaps Westerners would appreciate or find fascinating. A lot of things- to put it plainly- were very rudimentary to us. Big projected screens and LEDs that flash when you clap your hands just don’t excite me anymore. Seen another way, maybe we here in the States take “modern technology” for granted.

So it’s hard to say that the World Expo wasn’t any good. I originally had thought of it as something else. I knew it’d be busy and overpopulated, but I thought that it’d at least have more content and spectacle. Either way, I’m glad I was able to witness just the pure size it of it- not matter how frustrating it was.

Stay tuned and I’ll post some pics of my favorite pavilions…