China Pavilion: reflecting Chinese wisdom and culture Special

The China Pavilion, beyond any doubt, has been the hottest pavilion at the ongoing Shanghai Expo. Organizers have decided to extend the exhibition after the Expo ends.

Visitors waiting in long lines at the entrance gate of the pavilion are huge. To avoid these queues, organizers have decided to extend the exhibition after the Expo ends. Even so, the waiting space has still been jam-packed with thousands of people each day. As a selected registered Expo journalist, I have the privilege to enter each pavilion by its VIP entrance, no matter if it is the fanciful Spain Pavilion, the romantic France Pavilion or the shiny Swiss Pavilion. Yet, when it comes to the China Pavilion, it was totally a different story. I was required to make a ticket reservation in advance and waited in a two-hour long queue before getting into the hottest pavilion at the Expo Park. The charm of this red giant pavilion, based on my personal experience and on-the-ground interviews, originates from its contour design and many distinctive features inside. The facade of the China Pavilion is among the most impressive. There are some 200 national pavilions at the Expo Park and The Crown of the East stands out as both the largest and the highest one. Its exterior design reflects the spirit and disposition of Chinese culture well. "Our pavilion is presented in the traditional Dougong style, which features wooden brackets fixed layer upon layer between the top of a column and a crossbeam," said chief designer Gongkai Pan. "This unique structural component of interlocking wooden brackets is one of the most important elements in traditional Chinese architecture." Dougong has a history of more than 2,000 years and was widely used in the ancient Chinese during the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BC). Entering into the pavilion, you may experience the original Chinese culture through the three themed exhibitions - Footprint of the East, Journey of Wisdom and Blossoming City, which respectively represents the development of China's urbanization, the country's traditional architecture, and its energy thrift and environmentally friendly future construction. The pavilion's core exhibition area is on the top story where an eight-minute film – The Journey produced by internationally famed young director Chuan Lu is shown. The theme film of the China Pavilion portraits, in an imposing fashion, a flow of beautiful sceneries, sentimental moments and historical occasions, profiling China's vast urbanization process over the past 30 years of reform and opening-up, people's enthusiasm for building a better city at present and pursuing a better life in the future. "I was hoping to make a change and affect the outside world with my works," said Lu. "The Expo provides us with a big stage for doing so. If we quit, we'll lose such a good chance to utter our own voice to the globe." Another stunning feature inside of the China Pavilion is the 100-meter version of the panoramic painting - Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival. The painting, known as a national treasure in China, displays a scene in the prosperous ancient city of Bianjing, presently known as Kaifeng in central China's Henan Province. Modern technologies allow the panoramic "painting" to be alive, with more than 1500 of its characters walking and moving. The China Pavilion enables Expo-goers to see, experience and feel the essence of Chinese wisdom and culture. * * * The author is the 2010 Shanghai Expo registered journalist.