At the World Expo in Shanghai more than 170 pavilions from more than 200 countries, cities and corporations are competing for attention with inventive architecture or unique displays, but confusing rules about visiting different pavilions has challenged organizers’ ability to address complaints.
As the host nation, China’s pavilion — a giant red roof in the form of an upside-down pyramid — has been one of the most popular halls since the expo began and long lines form in front of it every day.
A visit to the pavilion requires visitors to acquire a reservation ticket from volunteers at one of the 13 entrances and enter the pavilion at the designated time. Although 50,000 tickets are available each day, they are often given out within 10 minutes and before the pavilion opens at 9am.
Many visitors, however, are not informed of the procedure and wait in long lines only to be stopped by volunteers at the entrance for not holding a ticket, resulting in angry exchanges.
“I came all the way from Hunan Province and the volunteer told me I couldn’t go in after I waited in line for so long under the sun. It’s very depressing. They should put a sign in front of the pavilion or broadcast information,” a visitor surnamed Li (李) said.
Addressing complaints, the expo posted a “Q&A on China pavilion tickets” on its Web site on Saturday explaining the way the pavilion issued reservation tickets. An official of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination also said that the pavilion “follows fair and transparent rules to allocate tickets,” dismissing concerns that some visitors enjoyed privileges.
Taiwan’s pavilion also required registration in advance due to its small capacity. Staff said a daily quota of 4,000 visitors has been set, and tickets are often gone by noon.
Visitors to five theme pavilions at the Pudong expo section are also required to obtain a reservation ticket, while other popular country pavilions — Japan, South Korea, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Switzerland, France, Italy and the US — do not require reserved tickets. The average wait to get into these pavilions is two to three hours.
Andrea Chang (張筱芳), a Taiwanese tourist who visited nine pavilions including the Taiwan and Taipei pavilions, said long lines kept her away from some “hot spots” such as the UK pavilion.
“There is also a lot of cutting in line and other bad manners. A lot of public facilities, such as water fountains, were either broken or covered with trash. This is not a pleasant experience,” she said.
The situation was also confusing for the media, as some pavilions asked reporters to apply for interviews three days in advance, while others have designated guided tours for reporters.
The fear of long waits and tight security checks at expo entrances seemed to discourage many from attending the event.
Up to Saturday, 1.3 million people had visited the expo, with an average of 200,000 visitors a day, the expo Web site said. This was short of expectations as organizers estimated 70 million visitors — an average of 400,000 people per day — would attend the 184-day event.
Many of the most popular pavilions attract visitors’ attention with spectacular architecture.
Saudi Arabia’s pavilion is the most expensive hall in the expo with a cost of US$146 million. Shaped like a hanging spaceship, it features date palms and an IMAX 3D theater with a 1,600m² screen.
Spain’s pavilion wowed many visitors with its majestic wicker basket structure using more than 8,000 wicker panels in brown, beige and black, while the UK’s metal-and-glass edifice — known as the “Seed Cathedral”— is also very popular.
Other pavilions display national treasures. The French pavilion, for example, features masterpieces by world-renown artists including Vincent Van Gogh, Jean-Francois Millet and Paul Gauguin while Denmark brought the country’s signature tourist attraction — the Little Mermaid statue — to its pavilion
In contrast to the most popular pavilions, some exhibitions with simpler designs or displays, such as Vietnam’s, Estonia’s and Peru’s pavilions, had far fewer visitors.
Chiu Lin-lin (邱琳琳), another Taiwanese visitor, said the quality of the pavilions varied and it took her less than 15 minutes to visit some less popular ones.
She said visitors should look at the expo Web site and do some research on the different features of each pavilion in order to save time when visiting the expo.
Expo organizers said on Sunday that wait times at popular pavilions had reduced after the opening week and the end of “Golden Week” holiday in China.
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