World Expo to reconcile Nature, Technology

cctv.com 03-22-2005 17:43

The world will converge on Japan later this week as the first world exposition of the 21st century gets underway on Friday. Journalists and officials have had a preview of the six-month long 2005 World Expo,in a town on the outskirts of Nagoya in central Japan's Aichi Prefecture. And the China Pavilion is ready for the upcoming exposition.

Technology should not simply be for show, but something that helps people in their everyday lives. The theme of this year's expo is Nature's wisdom. With a focus on global environmental problems, the expo aims to show how technology can be used in an environmentally-friendly way.

It's the second time Japan has hosted a world expo, with the previous one held in 1970 in Osaka.

China is among 121 countries and regions taking part in the six-month event, which organizers hope will attract 15 million visitors, including 1.5 million foreign tourists and dignitaries.

The China Pavilion is one of the biggest in the expo and has a distinctly traditional look. The twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac and folk music all remind visitors of the 5000-year history of Chinese civilization.

Gao Yan, vice president of China Council for Promotion of Int'l Trade, said, "The expo is a stage to show people around the world China's achievements of development in the new century, and Chinese people's views towards life. It's also a good opportunity for us to gather experience which we can use for reference for the Shanghai Expo in five years."

About 100 million visitors are expected to attend the 2010 world expo in Shanghai. The World expo, regarded as the Olympic Games of economics, science and technology, is a large-scale, global, non-commercial event to promote the exchange of ideas and world development. It was first held in 1851 in London, and has never been held in a developing country.

Editor:Chen Jie  Source:CCTV.com