Expo Shanghai, China Insights

Touring Exhibition - Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh throughout August

The 2010 Expo in Shanghai with the theme ‘Better City- Better Life’ anticipates over 70 million people will attend during its 6 months life. To highlight the 2010 Expo and display the many facets of Shanghai the Confucius Institute for Scotland has compiled a touring exhibition to introduce to a UK audience the story of Shanghai's evolution over the last 90 years leading up to the city hosting the 2010 Expo.

For PHOTOGRAPHS of the exhibition click here.

For a short VIDEO of the exhibition click here.

GOLDEN SHANGHAI 1920s-30s

From the early 19th century until the 1930s, Shanghai evolved from a sleepy fishing village to the commercial and cultural capital of China. After the Opium War in mid 19th century, Shanghai became one of the treaty ports in which foreigners were granted the privilege to live and trade. Only a few decades later, over half of all Chinese imports and exports went through the ports of Shanghai. Trading firms and transport companies as well as private business, stores and artisans’ workshops sprang up across the city.

Shanghai quickly developed into an thriving city nicknamed the ‘Capital of the Tycoon’ due to the high levels of foreign and internal trade, . By the 1930s, Shanghai had a population of approx 2.5million making it the fifth largest city in the world.. The skyline of Shanghai at the Bund was formed by corporate headquarter buildings of Chinese and foreign including banks, such as Jardine Matheson and HSBC. Meanwhile on the water, ocean liners, cargo ships and sampans jammed the Huangpu River, the Suzhou Creek and the seaport.

During this time Shanghai was a cosmopolitan city, known as ‘The Paradise of World Adventurers’ and was home to the ‘Shanghailanders’, Europeans who settled in Shanghai, and a place a refuge for White Russian emigres, Jewish refugees and immigrants from China’s hinterlands. In all, a community of 50,000 foreigners lived in the city in the 1930s.

With indigenous effort and foreign imports a series of public infrastructure works covering drainage, paving and sewers gas, water and electricity systems, telephones, trams and modern hospitals contributed to the creation of the largest and most modern city in China

RED SHANGHAI 1950s-70s

During the first decades of the People’s Republic of China, Shanghai became a centre of economic proliferation and political activism. Shortly after the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, the Red Army took control over China and the city, which was seen as the symbol of Imperialism and Western decadence. Shanghai was transformed from a thriving treaty-port city into an industrial base, and most of the splendid buildings on the Bund and in the centre were occupied by government departments. From this period on, Shanghai played a significant role in supporting the rest of China in the common effort for socialist industrial development, by sending out specialists and releasing large streams of tax revenue.

A Centre of Political Activism

Economics made way for politics, and Shanghai became a centre for revolutionary campaigns. During the Cultural Revolution in particular, Shanghai was the base of the so called ‘Gang of Four’, the radical political centre around Mao’s wife Jiang Qing, after Mao had lost his powerbase in Beijing. At this time, Shanghai saw mass protests in the streets, violent attacks on class enemies, and public criticism sessions in big stadiums, while buildings were covered with red flags and propaganda slogans.

Continuous political campaigns also transformed the cultural scene, resulting in an total unification of all cultural activities during the Cultural Revolution. Jiang Qing dominated cultural productions during this period. The ideas she espoused through eight revolutionary ‘Model Operas’ produced by the Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe were applied to all areas of the arts and performed throughout the nation.

The Cultural Revolution was a hugely traumatic experience for China during which many hundreds of thousands of people were killed, however radical political activists in China and abroad were captivated by the spirit of revolutionary enthusiasm.

Leaving & Returning

In the early 1950s, after the founding of the People’s Republic most foreigners left Shanghai, but new immigrants, supportive of the revolution, also arrived in the city. At the same time, during the first and second five-year plans, about 600,000 skilled workers from Shanghai were sent to help construct New China elsewhere.

In 1968, Mao called on young people to go to the countryside to unite with the peasants, and during the following decade, around 17 million city youth were sent to undeveloped regions. However, in the following years, Shanghai slowly resumed its place as an international centre, with many visits from foreign statesmen

MIGHTY SHANGHAI 1980s-present

Since the early 1980s, China has seen tremendous economic, political and social changes, yet Shanghai’s meteoric rise to a super megapolis really began a decade later with Deng Xiaoping’s famous visit in 1992. Although Shanghai started later than other areas which received special economic zone status under the Opening and Reform policy launched in the 80s, it quickly overtook those vanguards and reclaimed its role as the business centre of mainland China. With strong central Government support and a stable base in manufacturing and technology, Shanghai has also increased its role in finance and banking, and now rivals Hong Kong as the economic centre of China

Shanghai on the Move Shanghai has a population of over 16 million, not including the 4 million migrant workers called in from the countryside to build the new city. To move people around in this thriving and vibrant megapolis, Shanghai has developed a massive public transport system. Along with the world’s most extensive bus system, which consists of about 1,000 bus lines, it has developed what is possibly the world’s fastest-growing metro system. Districts on either side of the Huangpu River are connected by tunnels and major bridges, one of which, Lupu Bridge, is the longest arch bridge in the world.

'New York of the East' Today, Shanghai has firmly established itself as a world city; a multi-national hub, which headquarters many global corporations, and hosts a wide array of prestigious conferences and exhibitions. The city’s reputation will be further enhanced as host of the 2010 Expo.

Shanghai's history can be seen in its cuisine ranging from French bakeries, international chefs in high end restaurants to street vendors and local restaurants. Entertainment and culture in Shanghai are as diverse and multinational as the food.

SHANGHAI EXPO 2010

Over the last few decades, Shanghai has seen massive changes to its urban environment. The Expo theme ‘Better City. Better Life.’ aims to encourage evolution of an eco-friendly society while maintaining the sustainable development of human beings. One of the main features of the Expo will be national pavilions created by designers representing many different countries around the world. The Expo site will be a legacy as at least one third of the pavilions will be permanent. Shanghai plans to turn this area into an international communication centre- “a landmark in the downtown area of Shanghai in the 21st century and a model for metropolitan re-development”.

The mascot for the Shanghai Expo is Haibao, meaning ‘Treasureof the Sea’. Haibao’s shape is based on the Chinese character ‘人’which means ‘people’, and reflects the spirit of the “sustainable development of human beings” encompassed

Many Chinese residents were ecstatic about the successful bid for the 2010 Expo. But the event will also have a significant cost, as construction of the Expo site results in permanent displacement for many Shanghai residents

A Platform for Promoting Scotland & the UK

China and Scotland have a long history of cultural exchange. 19th Century Scots such as the missionaries Robert Morrison, William Milne and James Legge helped lay the foundations for a promising cooperation between the two countries. They forged the relationships that would see the first Chinese scholar visit Scotland, the translation of Confucian Classics into English, and translations of the Bible into Chinese.The poetry of Robert Burns famous across China was first translated in Shanghai.

Building on these traditions, partnerships in education and business continued. Today, both Chinese and Scottish governments have established programmes and scholarships that encourage educational, cultural and economic exchange. China has not only become an important market for education, but also for Scottish whisky.

The UK & China Today

Today the links between the UK and China are visible in many fields from carbon capture to collaborative arts projects. China’s position as the driver of the world’s economic engine ensures that there will be high levels of trade and promotional activity at the Shanghai 2010 Expo.