The Shanghai Expo as a Site for Nation Branding

Abstract

As a form of organized public display of objects in a confined space, exhibitions have been around for centuries and throughout the globe. They can be traced back to market fairs and religious festivals in ancient and medieval times.’ And starting in the late-eighteenth century, local and national exhibitions of trade and industry were staged in France and Britain.2 But the largest, most significant of them all— in scale, scope, and sheer grandeur—has been the World Exposition. The World Expo, as what we now know it, is a global mega-show organized and facilitated by state governments to promote technological innovations and the world’s cultures. It began with the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in London in 1851. It was the first such large-scale international gathering, with 34 countries participating to showcase their industrial wares and cultural artifacts. With the Crystal Palace as its landmark structure, the event went on for almost six months and attracted six mil-lion visitors on a 26-acre site. Queen Victoria described the inauguration ofthe exhibition as “the greatest day in our history, the most beautiful and imposing and touching spectacle ever seen.”3