World Expo 2010 Shanghai will be a grand and festive occasion in the long and glorious tradition of the World Exposition, though we here in Shanghai will of course do our best to push the envelope, as Beijingers recently did with the Olympic Games. This section of Shanghai Expo is to discuss the theme of building a better city for mankind, which reflects Shanghai's own journey over the course of the past 15 years, where the city one sees today, which provides a comprehensive framework for creativity in both work and play, has surpassed the wildest dreams of the past of only 15 years ago. The expo is expected attract the largest number of official participants and visitors in the history of the World Exposition.
Theme
The theme for this section of Shanghai Expo is to dicuss how to build a better city for mankind, which represents the wish of the whole world for better standards of living in future urban environments. There is a deep concern for the improvement of urban environments lying behind this theme. The number of city inhabitants has risen constantly since 1800, and by 2010, as estimated by the United Nations, urban dwellers will account for 55% of the world population.
The pursuit of better living environments has accompanied the history of urban development. Shanghai World Expo, through its many sub-themes, depicts a vision of future urban life.
Sub-Theme
- Blending of diverse cultures in the city
- Economic prosperity in the city
- Innovations of science and technology in the city
- Remodeling of communities in the city
- Interactions between urban and rural areas
Emblem
The Shanghai 2010 Expo's emblem, depicting the image of three people holding hands together symbolizes that the world population is one big family. The design, inspired by the shape of the Chinese character ‘世’， which means 'the world', represents the theme of the expo: pursuing a better life for the world's people.
Mascot
Haibao means treasure of the seas, and looks very watery with its light blue coloring and splashes. Created from the Chinese character ‘人’ which means people (or person), the mascot embodies the characteristics of Chinese culture and echoes the concept of the emblem of the Shanghai World Expo: worldwide human togetherness. It is an innovation to adopt a Chinese language character as the mascot of an international event. This is the first time it has been done.
Haibao, with its meaning of people, embodies the ideal of happy coexistence among the various urban cultures, and its watery aspect, clean water being a primary resource, embodies sustainable and environmentally sensitive urban development. Haibao speaks of the wish of humanity to enjoy colorful and wonderful life together and sends warm invitations to friends from all over the world to come to Shanghai.
