Xinjiang Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo

Home » Headline, Life April 28, 2010 6 Comments

If you don’t live in China and haven’t kept up with daily news here, there’s a slight chance you haven’t heard much about the 2010 Shanghai Expo.  If you do  live in China and have no clue about the Expo, then…that’s a pretty big rock you’re living under.

The Expo, better known to some people as a “World’s Fair”, is going to be China’s second biggest international event after the Beijing Olympics of 2008.  Close to 100 million visitors are expected to walk the park which includes about 190 international pavilions as well as pavilions for each of China’s provincial regions.
Xinjiang is, of course, included in this list and thanks to Adam Minter of ShanghaiScrap we are able to get our first views of the pavilion, both inside and out.

Design concept of Xinjiang's Shanghai Expo pavilion

The Xinjiang Pavilion Concept Art

The actual Xinjiang pavilion at the Shanghai Expo

The Actual Xinjiang Pavilion by Adam Minter

The design isn’t terrible and even Adam, who visited the pavilion, says that it is “…some of the best on offer beneath the China Pavilion”.  The theme, however, sounds much better in Mandarin than it does in English:

“Xinjiang is a nice place”

Things you’ll see in the Xinjiang Pavilion:

  • Inside the Xinjiang pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai ExpoThe customary picture of Xinjiang’s minorities in full costume, smiling
  • A room with three large screens displaying Xinjiang landscape and urban development
  • A stage where minority artists will perform
  • Tons of over sized fruit both hanging and on the floor
  • The chance to see what you’d look like as a Xinjiang minority*

Special features at the Xinjiang pavilionThings you WON’T see in the Xinjiang Pavilion:

  • Any reference to the Muslim religion that influences over 50% of the region’s population
  • Any mention of the riots in July 2009 (obviously)

*One feature of the pavilion is a set-up wherein a picture is taken of the visitor’s head and superimposed onto the body of a minority wearing traditional costumes, allowing them to see what they would look like were they fortunate enough to be a Xinjiang minority.

So what do you think? Would you make a special trip to this pavilion if you were making your way to the Shanghai Expo?  Does this pavilion make you mad or does it just make you shrug your shoulders and say “Yea, that’s about par”?

6 Comments

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  • James said:
    April 28th, 2010 at 10:38 am

    “Yea, that’s about par”

    [Reply]

  • Mike said:
    April 28th, 2010 at 11:33 pm

    So the Chinese name is “新疆是个好地方.” Isn’t that said of just about every location in China? :-)

    I would LOVE to be able to go see it myself, mainly to see if the performers inside included any musicians, and to see if they were performing the sinicized version of Uyghur songs, or if they were authentic. But either way, it would be great just to be able to see the pavilion.

    [Reply]

    Josh says: April 29th, 2010 at 3:29 am

    Yea, I’m worried that I might not get a chance to see it either. Like you, I’d be interested to see what kind of performances are included. My guess is that it will be very much like what you would see on the Spring Gala.

    [Reply]

  • Rustem Shir said:
    April 29th, 2010 at 8:36 pm

    Par for course.

    At least we know the pavilion design was original: http://www.cameraitacina.com/download.php?fid=5929

    [Reply]

  • Socrates said:
    April 30th, 2010 at 11:34 am

    Good bolg!

    I have read the news about your blog on BBC News, I’m confused that I can’t access in Northeast of China, I have to use some software to break the firewall. How can you keep on this blog? use the software too?

    [Reply]

    Josh says: April 30th, 2010 at 12:06 pm

    Hey Socrates…thanks for coming by the blog!

    When I was in China I paid for a program to allow me to get over the firewall, but last month I returned to America for a little while where I don’t have to worry about such things! If you’re in China the best thing you can do is sign up for the email updates which will send the articles to your email.

    Otherwise you can also use RSS:
    FarWestChina RSS Feed

    [Reply]

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