Op-Ed: France Pavilion at Shanghai Expo - Living up to its name Special

SHANGHAI - France, with its distinctive traditions, is among the most talked about nations on the well-cultured European soil. In the land of Shanghai, its fame extends.

With more than 2 million visitors having come to the pavilion, France's Sensual City has ranked among the hottest pavilions at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The Sensual City has been captivating spectators with a simple look in the facade and an exotic roof garden inside. Oftentimes, simplicity is the sign of beauty. This notion is elegantly manifested in the well-crafted France Pavilion. With an exterior perspective, the pavilion appears to be floating in the graceful rhyme with water. The outside of the square-shaped structure is covered in plants and the whole thing looks like a white floating palace. Entering the palace, visitors can soak up the glamour of France and enjoy the fragrance of flowers amid the aquatic environment. Surrounded by the atmosphere that is permeated with French ambience, visitors may well think they are truly in the nation of art and romance. Another stunning feature of the pavilion that caught the eyes of this journalist is the romantic French-style roof garden where you can sit beside a pool of countless red roses with a dramatic white wedding dress hovering above. It has certainly impressed the majority of female visitors, who typically utter an astonished "wow!" when they catch sight of it. The Sensual City allows France an opportunity to reinforce its graceful image in the world's most populous nation. "With a simple facade and the rich French ambience inside, the France Pavilion indeed live up to its name," a Chinese visitor remarked while exiting. * * * The author is the 2010 Shanghai Expo registered journalist.