Expo Smiling to the World
Since the Great Exhibition of 1851, Expo has been with us through the ups and downs for one and half a century. From the interesting stories of the Expos through the years, we can clearly see the development of culture, technology and innovation. The development of human civilization is a process of communication and interaction among different cultures, for which the World Expo is a great event serving to accelerate the process of human civilization and to enhance the self-confidence and strength of human beings in face of the world. Expo is a smiling window to see the world, and that is what makes it so important.
Broken “Mao-Tai chiew”
To celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, the U.S. Congress held in San Francisco the Panama International Exposition in 1915. The Chinese Government decided to participate in May 1914 and Guizhou Province recommended “Maitai chiew” for the exhibition.
At that time, Maotai was held in dark brown jars, which looked simple and rustic, and by no means eye-catching among packages of cotton, hemps, soybeans, and cooking oil and so on. It was proposed that Maotai be moved and showcased in the food processing pavilion to attract more attention. But a jar was broken when they were moved, and the fragrance spread everywhere. It suddenly occurred to Chen Qi, a Chinese representative, that the wine needed not be moved to be attractive. He suggested placing Maitai in several empty bottles to let the fragrance flow and to invite professionals to taste. It then became a star at the Expo, and was directly awarded Gold Medal of Honor from the Committee.
Expo and the Olympic
Expo 1900 was held in France; a Frenchmen made great efforts in his application to hold the second modern Olympic Games while hosting the Expo, aiming to broaden the impact of the Olympic with the influence of the World Expo.However, the French government wasn’t so interested in the Olympic Games as in the Expo, and had no specific arrangement for the games, not to say the large sums of money necessary to build sports facilities. In fact, there was no one to officially announce its opening. But the organizers arranged the games in the 16 exhibition regions of the Expo for different industries, and the games thus became shows for the Expo that can attract audience. It is interesting that some players took part in the game and even got medals, but never realized they had been to the Olympics their whole life.
From then on, group events were included to be part of the Olympic, which was a great breakthrough. Influence of the Olympic Games was then enhanced and by 1908, it seemed to even surpass the Expo.
The Frenchman is the Pierre de Coubertin, “father of modern Olympics."
A new era brought by an Error
At 1873' Vienna World fair, an error of an exhibitor led to an invention.
It was the self-excited DC generator made by Qi Naboo • Gram from Belgium. While setting up for the exhibition, he mistakenly connected the wrong wire, but to his great surprise, the generator was put into swift motion---and the generator became an electromotor! All the engineers and inventors were ecstatic about it: they had been looking for this moment for many years, and it turned out to be so easy to obtain low-cost energy. It directly led to the invention of practical motors, and indicated the coming of the era of electrification in replace of the time of steam engines.
Sachs’ Sachs and smile of a mouse
Despite of the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Chicago World Fair was held as scheduled. People were curious about a yellow curved pipe, and the exhibitor said: "This is a new type of instrument that can play music more beautiful than ever before, and its inventor is me, Sachs." Sachs then played a song, which won everybody’s applauds. Till now, Sachs’ gentle romantic music continues to sooth depressed people.
A U.S. company randomly took a mouse-shaped toy it just designed for the exhibition, but it surprisingly became popular and went into the lives of millions of children all around the world---it is the Mickey Mouse.
The Chicago World Fair attracted nearly 23 million visitors, provided nearly 10 million job opportunities, and brought 400 million profits to the host city. When seeing various new products and technologies displayed at the exposition, people became optimistic again and regained their confidence in life. That Expo will was a strong stimulus to the U.S. and the world economic recovery, and is considered an Expo "that brought hope in times of crisis”.
What do we expect from the Expo? We expect a feast for all cultures, a stage for innovative technologies, an arena for creativity and wisdom, and an exploratory field for future development. Human beings are creating their unique history and civilization in this world. It is a process of communication and interaction among different cultures, for which the World Expo is a great event serving to accelerate the process of human civilization and to enhance the self-confidence and strength of human beings in face of the world. Expo is a smiling window to see the world, and that is what makes it so important.
In the 15th century, the world was discovered; in the 16th century, humanity was discovered; and in the 17th century, science was discovered. Let us enjoy and share with each other the happiness Expo brings to people, nature, and technology.
