Southern Exposure – Part 2: Dress Code
I talked a little bit in my last post about how the Shanghai Expo is definitely not about cultural sensitivity. But if I left any doubt, on day two of my expo adventure, my cousin told me the following story: I was walking through the entrance line like we did yesterday and approached the security check. [...]
Southern Exposure
I knew going into the Shanghai Expo that I would probably hate it. No one—neither the critics who stayed at home nor the people who had actually went—said anything remotely positive to me about it. They complained about the lines, the heat, and, most of all, the sheer number of people. Now having been there, I can safely say that they were telling the truth.
But I don’t want to spend these lines complaining—far from it. For me, the Shanghai Expo raises many questions about the face of modern China and its citizens. My posts in the following days will investigate the conundrums that arise when half a million people a day from 200 countries, but mostly China, decide to congregate in an area just over five square kilometers.
—
The first day was bad. Not unbearable, but not nearly enticing enough to make me want to go back. Throughout the day, one question kept running through my mind: what is the purpose of this Expo?
I came home and looked for a mission statement but was unable to find any coherent statement of purpose from the official site. I was left to wonder.
Recent Comments