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Bill Savadove

Shanghai plans to mobilise an army of volunteers to help ensure nothing goes wrong
Now more than ever, Shanghai is looking to the Beijing Olympics as the model for hosting a successful World Expo in 2010. But staying with that style of management could earn the city the same praise and criticism that China received for the Games.
'From every aspect, no matter whether promotion, marketing, operations, management or security, the Shanghai World Expo can learn from the Olympics,' said Shanghai World Expo Bureau head Hong Hao .
'The World Expo is the cultural, scientific and economic Olympics.'
Like the Olympics, the expo will be laden with political significance for China. Like the Olympics, Shanghai will mobilise an army of volunteers and muster all the powers of the state to ensure nothing goes wrong.
'Hosting a successful, splendid and unforgettable World Expo is crucial for China in its drive to fully build a well-off society and speed up socialist modernisation,' reads a poster at an expo exhibit.
Among the differences, the expo will last for six months (from May 1 to October 31) instead of two weeks, and 70 million visitors are expected.
Countries will participate in the expo, and companies will sponsor it to acknowledge China's growing power and seek inroads into its market. A record 222 countries and international organisations have already signed up, and top sponsors include Germany's Siemens and Coca-Cola.
Organisers make no secret that several countries that have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan will participate, a political win for China. Nations classified as 'developing countries' are receiving subsidies as encouragement. 'It doesn't matter if they don't have diplomatic relations with us. We welcome them all to come,' Mr Hong said.
Amid improving relations, Taiwan itself might even participate, which would be its first official involvement in a World Expo since the island was ousted from the United Nations in 1971.
Taiwan's capital, Taipei, signed an agreement in June to attend. Planners have already set aside land next to the China pavilion for Taiwan, alongside Hong Kong and Macau.
'We are getting in contact with some Taiwanese organisations, institutions and industry groups. We think the Taiwan pavilion can definitely be done well,' Mr Hong said without offering further details.
China has already stated that the perceived political and economic benefits from the expo outweigh the likelihood the event will lose money. Based strictly on operating expenditure and revenue, the event will lose about 1 billion yuan (HK$1.12 billion), according to official estimates.
'There is a big difference between the World Expo and other exhibitions; the expo is a non-profit activity,' Mr Hong said.
The estimated 28.6 billion yuan budget doesn't include the 18 billion yuan for construction. Shanghai has already started construction on major structures for the expo and plans to have them finished by the end of next year.
On a recent visit, workers swarmed over the China pavilion, which will incorporate elements of traditional architecture in red. The main structure of the building is nearly finished, despite the tight schedule and complicated design.
One way organisers will limit costs is to rely on 150,000 volunteers as 'vital cogs' for the event. Olympic volunteers received high marks for their enthusiasm, but showed a lack of expertise in specialised areas such as handling the media.
Some expo volunteers are already on the job, like Tongji University student Sun Chenyi , who works at an exhibition promoting the expo. 'It's fun and we can meet a lot of people,' he said.
Mr Hong said it was too early to say whether Shanghai would implement measures such as limiting cars on the road and shutting down factories to improve air quality as the Olympics did. However, some traffic controls were likely and security was paramount, he said.
'If there is a problem with security, then the event will fail,' he said. 'The principle is to guarantee security and at the same time make it convenient for visitors.'
Shanghai's hotel industry is already speculating whether China will restrict visas for foreign nationals at that time to limit potential security threats, as it did during the Olympics.
Regardless, organisers of the expo said the main target would be the domestic audience with overseas visitors expected to account for about only 5 per cent of the total.



Olympics to be used as model for World Expo