![]() Tanghua is Chinese-style lollipop usually in the form of animals. It is impromptu made by street vendor depending on which animal is selected by people to buy through rotary draw. The more complicated the animal is painted, the less possible would it be pinpointed. Things needed: marble slab (drawing board) scoop (drip the sugar to draw) cooked brown sugar and maltose flat shovel (cut, or lift the drawing) stick (hold the drawing) bunch of straw or foam block (pierced by sticks to display and sell)
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A city is much the same as a living organism. When overlooking the city from high above, one finds that it is closely linked by crisscrossed roads like numerous blood vessels. Those roads are variously addressed in different times and areas. In Shanghai they are called "Longtang".
It is said that a good understanding of Shanghai should start from Longtang. The appreciation of the legacy of longtang is like reading the history book of the metropolis, which helps us identify her culturul essence. With the speed up of old neighborhood redevelopment projects in recent years, many Longtang have been replaced by modern office edifices and high apartments. Yet Longtang will, as a part of history and a style of culture, linger in the deep of enduring memories of Shanghainese. Notes: The old residential neighborhood in Shanghai is also called "Shikumen", stone framed gate in literal translation, which is now more often used than "Longtang" to represent this traditional style of living organism. Likewise you will find the similar relation between "Siheyuan" (quadrangle courtyard) and "Hutong" of Beijing. If Longtang or Hutong is described as the the blood vessel, then Siheyuan or Shikumen is the cell. In the prespective of the architectural genres, Longtang is more cramped hence half open to neighbors next door or opposite as the public facitilies such as bathroom, sink and kitchen are shared by every a couple of adjacent households, while Hutong is composed by individual compound in which houses of one family are enclosed. So in old times of Shanghai, it is quite usual to pass something to a neighbor without going out of the door. People call this hands-shaking houses, as it were. Which are 10 best pavilions in the Shanghai Expo? Here we go to find out. - Harris edition ! ![]() 1. Taiwan Pavilion – It’s a diamond-in-the-fine pavilion in diamond shape, up to diamond level in any detail, such as the architecture, contents and hospitality. Theme: Mountain, Water, Heart and Lantern Location: Zone A Highlights l In a pleasing house made of 160 thousand pieces of Hangzhou’s moso bamboo, visitors are invited to taste the local Gaoshan oolong tea and enjoy the live music performed by traditionally appareled artists. The house takes only 60 days to be built up in a concerted effort by 30 craftsmen across the strait. l Flying the sky lantern is a custom in China to invoke good fortune on the New Year’s Day. In Taiwan pavilion, wishes are made through a super-huge 16-meter-in-diameter LED sphere that weighs 130 tons. As long as your wish is selected from the screen in front of you, then you’ll see your wish rise up high right overhead. l Rose-tinted rock from the Yu Shan Mountain - Below the “Sky Lantern” is a big rock from the Yu Shan Mountain, the highest level in Taiwan. The rock is surrounded by a ring pool, which insinuates the Ali Mountain and Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan’s representing landscape. ![]() 2. Saudi Arabia Pavilion – With astonishing 1 billion RMB investment, the Saudi Arabia Pavilion is the most attractive pavilion among many other mosts. The “Moon Boat”, as it is called, is a magnificent structure heading in the direction of Makkah, taking people to a fabulous journey to Saudi Arabia, an oasis-like land in the desert. Theme: Vitality of Life Location: Zone A Highlights The Treasure Cinema is equipped with an extra huge screen of 1,600 square meters, the size of two basketball courts. It is the largest and most advanced screen of its kind in the world. Visitors in this cinema will go on a virtual, but breath-taking journey over thousands of kilometers, traversing the various regions of the Kingdom. ![]() 3. Private Enterprises Joint Pavilion –The pavilion is inspired by the structure of a cell, which found its way into the designs of the facade and the exhibition philosophy. As the smallest unit of life with its inborn vigor and vitality, a cell can split consecutively in the process of being integrated into a dynamic organism. The growth of cells symbolizes the gradual development of private businesses that grow from small and weak ones into big and powerful conglomerates, which echoes the theme of the pavilion, that is infinite vitality. Theme: Infinite Vitality Location: Zone E Highlights l Vitality Matrix – It’s a magic played by balls. 1, 080 floating balls that are hung by strings from the ceiling go up and down in preset computer programs to create varying patterns and arrays with splendid effects of lighting, music and Taichi performance. The show is so enthralling that each ball looks like dancing, which suggests the tremendous vitality of private Chinese businesses, a group of big contributors to this nation’s prosperity. l Crystal Wall - Another main attraction is the glistening wall consisting of 1,200 grains of crystal inlaid. Each grain of crystal values at 2,888 RMB. In a sum, the wall is worth some 3,465,600 RMB! ![]() 4. Japanese Industry Pavilion - The pavilion is a mesh architecture reconstructed upon a historically well-known shipyard in the city. Adopting recycled paper and cloth in building’s interior walls and uniforms of personnel respectively, the pavilion spearheads in action what a really better life is about. Besides, the stage and snack street on the skirt of the pavilion form a wonderful area to experience true Japan from vaiegated aspects. Theme: Wonderful Life From Japan Location: Zone D Highlights The pavilion houses eight sponsoring corporations’ exhibition halls that each could stand out in its own right. Among these, the most recommended one is the exhibition of Unicharm that delivers the concept of “All things in the universe are interconnected” by a screen of Washi paper and a projected light line or “Handwritten Line Art Animation” in brevity. Within the gentle light released by Washi paper born in China and fostered in Japan, a story of life depicting the birth of mankind, its evolution, many plants and animals together with the message that all members of nature are connected to one another is told through the line drawings created by a single line. The show is a crystallization of nature and mankind’s wisdom in both traditional and innovative techniques. ![]() 5, China Pavilion –The main structure of the China Pavilion, "The Crown of the East," has a distinctive roof in the style of traditional dougong or bracket, a structural component fixed layer upon layer between the top of a column and a crossbeam. This unique component of interlocking wooden brackets is one of the most important elements in traditional Chinese architecture, dating back nearly 3,000 years in the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-467 BC). Theme: Chinese Wisdom In Urban Development Location: Zone A Highlights l The enlarged and animated movie version of the timeless scroll of “Riverside Scene at the Qingming Festival” (12th century, by Zhang Zeduan), takes visitors upstream to the climax of classical Chinese cities, whose life and culture is well illustrated by 40 refined heritage objects. The movie scroll, sized 128 meters in length and 6.5 meters in height, keeps changing the scenes between diurnal and nocturnal scenes at intervals of 2 minutes. There are 691 figures and 377 figures, all active, who appear respectively in these two scenes. l A cheerful excursion by train brings you into a trip to appreciate the great wisdom and achievements in China's urban development from ancient to modern times. ![]() 6, UAE Pavilion - The United Arab Emirates Pavilion is a huge golden sand dune inspired by the country's desert. The outer covering of the pavilion is gold-colored stainless steel. Its undulating roof, looking as if it has been shaped by the wind, makes the pavilion shimmer and change colors, reminding visitors of the Middle East country's various natural environments. Theme: Power of Dreams Location: Zone A Highlights The third movie brings people sensational touch to UAE’s present brilliance. The whole picture is composed of a main broad screen with a comparatively small one that lies inwards below, from which the introducing cartoon figures pop up to usher in a fantastic journey to seeing year-round sunlight, clean beaches, dunes, merchants on camel back, spice markets, oasis, golf courses, sand skiing, diving, water skiing, parachute jump and fishing all at the same time. Notably, the movie scene is innovatively complemented by the scattered small screens and light-receiving balls that represent pearls, the nation’s bread and butter in the past, similarly as the oil nowadays. ![]() 7. German Pavilion The pavilion is named balancity, a newly coined term combining “balance” and “city”. It is meant to provide inspiration for enhancing the quality of life in cities through a harmonious interplay of the city’s various elements. This idea is also reflected in the pavilion’s architecture, a three-dimensional walk-through sculpture. Four large exhibition structures symbolize the interplay of weight-bearing, weight-applying, leaning and supporting structures. Taken on their own, each entity exists in a state of unstable equilibrium. It is only when they interact with each other that the necessary stability comes about. Theme: Balancity Location: Zone C Highlights Interactive energy sphere – Weighing 1.2 tonnes, it has a diameter of three metres and is equipped with 400, 000 LEDs. The interactive sphere, hanging from a four metre long rod, forms the heart of the energy source. Its sensors react to the voices the audience – the more people participate, the stronger is the swing of the sphere. Meanwhile, images of a city in balance appear on the sphere itself. This is a prototype, a high-tech product built and tested in Stuttgart – for the Expo 2010 ![]() 8, SAIC-GM Pavilion –The pavilion in silver resembles a huge metal bowl along the Huangpu River in the Puxi section of the Expo site. Its external spiral design conveys a sense of modernity. The metallic design as well as the smooth and fluid lines of the pavilion's exterior is evocative of an automobile body. The pavilion exterior is cloaked in 4,000 recycled aluminum panels of slightly different sizes, tilted angles and surface cambers to give its outer shell a smooth and seamless appearance Theme: Take A Drive To 2030 Location: Zone E Highlights A four-dimensional movie - the chairs move according to the film's plot – brings the visitors to the different lives of three ordinary people living in 2030, when you will find how a city without traffic jam, accident, and air pollution but only with interactively intelligent autos change people’s lives. ![]() 9, Italy Pavilion – The design of the Italy Pavilion is inspired by the children's game "pick-up sticks," which is known as "Shanghai" in Italy. The rectangular pavilion has been laced with intersecting lines representing pick-up sticks. It comprises 20 functional modules of different shapes, bounded by the "sticks." They represent Italy's 20 regions. The modules can be assembled into smaller structures Theme: City of Man Location: Zone C Highlights This is a pavilion thoroughly immersed with artistic elements and classic icons. The facade is the half-size replica of that of Olympic Theater in Vicenza. What reveals the visit in the first place is a vintage car, Isotta Fraschini of 1923 worth 5 million USD. Inside a glass walled workshop are master craftsmen being at work: shoemaker and carpenter. Then comes the “Piazza”, surrounded by a list of creations: Fashion show put on the wall – custom-made clothes of Prada, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Zegna, Dolce & Gabbana; a scenic installation reproducing a symphony orchestra on another wall; a new hybrid Ferrari sports car, some solar-powered Fiat cars and hybrid motorbikes; and the outfit of Valentino Rossi. After taking the escalator to the second floor you’ll see a grain field hanging from the ceiling, where in the middle stands a centuries old olive tree. And on the glass wall below is an enormous display of various sorts of wine and pasta; Two large still-life paintings by 17th century painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio , "Basket of fruit" and "Boy with a basket of fruit" on display; The sculpture of Cellini’s “Perseus with the Head of Medusa”(珀尔修斯和美杜莎的首级), etc. ![]() 10, Urban Footprint Pavilion – The Pavilion is located in Zone D and includes three exhibition halls - "City's Origin," "Growing City" and "Urban Wisdom." It traces the birth and growth of cities, their philosophies and the urban wisdom centering innovation and harmony. It is a museum-like pavilion rich in tangible displays. Theme: Footprints left as a result of people's interaction with cities and the environment from the origin to the present being of civilization. Location: Zone D |
AuthorHarris Gu Archives
January 2017
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