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Monday, May 27, 2019, 14:45
Shanghai proves itself a consummate host
By Xing Yi in Shanghai
Monday, May 27, 2019, 14:45 By Xing Yi in Shanghai

The city has come a long way since 1949

People are seen in front of a billboard of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, April 22, 2010. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Lin Xiaoying first fell in love with Kenya in the 1980s when the movie Out of Africa left her with a deep impression of the East African nation.

However, the first personal connection between Lin and the country came decades later when she accompanied the then deputy prime minister of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, to the opening of the Shanghai Expo in 2010.

Lin, a researcher at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, had another Kenyan encounter at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last year, the world's first import-themed national-level expo. During the event, which attracted more than 3,600 exhibitors from 172 countries and regions, the city received 168 groups at the deputy ministerial level in a week.

To cater to thousands of foreign guests, Shanghai recruited specialists and more than 5,000 volunteers from higher education institutes. Lin worked as a communications officer responsible for coordination with the Kenyan delegation.

"It was a challenge in view of the number of events being held within a very short period of time," she said.

The 2010 world expo is a fond memory for me. I was also lucky to serve a Kenyan delegation again at the 2018 expo. Those were three tough and unforgettable days for me. But I felt happy to make a group of Kenyan friends. They were passionate, sincere, optimistic and always smiling

Lin Xiaoying, a communications officer at the import expo

But the city made the expo a success by calling on its decades of experience in hosting major international events and receiving important foreign guests, Lin added.

With a variety of events being held to commemorate the city's liberation, when the People's Liberation Army entered the city on May 27, 1949, many people have been recalling Shanghai's contribution to China's internationalization.

The city has been at the forefront of this. Over the past seven decades, it has witnessed numerous historic moments in the nation's international relationships - from Sino-Soviet friendship in the 1950s to establishing diplomatic ties with France in 1964, the first major Western country with which it formed such a relationship.

Shanghai also witnessed the signing of the Joint Communique of the United States of America and the People's Republic of China in 1972. Known as the Shanghai Communique, it is regarded as the key diplomatic document that led to the normalization of relations between the two countries.

Since China adopted the reform and opening-up policy in 1978, Shanghai - the showcase for the country's economic success - has continued to experience an increasing number of visits by foreign leaders. It has become a major city for the country to host international events, such as the 2001 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting, the 2010 World Expo and the China International Import Expo last year.

Those who have experienced hosting the events, including seasoned diplomats, specialists and university student volunteers, share one thing in common to ensure the reception of foreign guests is a success - attention to detail.

Many of them cite former premier Zhou Enlai, known for his diplomatic charisma and achievements, as saying, "There is no petite (small) matter when it comes to foreign affairs."

Le Jin'gen, a retired official with the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office, took part in the reception for then US President Richard Nixon during his trip to Shanghai on Feb 27 and 28, 1972.

A special working group comprising more than 12 teams was formed to prepare for Nixon's visit, Le said. The work took three months.

Even after 47 years, Le, now 89, can still recall the event vividly because the group spent so much time considering every detail for the reception. These ranged from restoring the city's "appearance" by removing various slogans as the country was in the middle of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) to educating the public to understand the meaning of the visit, and deciding on the choice of dishes.

"It was two days before the Lantern Festival when the American delegation arrived, so we treated them to the traditional Chinese snack tangyuan (glutinous rice balls)," Le said. "Nixon had one bowl of tangyuan with meat stuffing, and another one stuffed with sweet red beans."

Le also supervised printing of the Shanghai Communique. He recalled that he and another official from Ministry of Foreign Affairs brought the original copy to the printing house on Kangping Road and proofread it 10 times before printing 100 copies. "We couldn't risk there being a single typographical error, not even a punctuation mark," he said.

The Shanghai World Expo, which attracted more than 73 million visitors from May 1 through Oct 31, 2010, was the biggest international event the city had hosted before last year's China International Import Expo. A record 189 countries and regions took part in the 2010 event along with 60 cities, a range of corporations and groups.

For the occasion, the city called on its population of more than 20 million to take part in various volunteer work to ensure the expo was a success.

Shanghai's rich resources in higher education and cross-cultural talent gave it an advantage, experts said.

The city, which is considered one of the country's most cosmopolitan municipalities, is home to more than 50,000 multinational companies. More than 210,000 expatriates from 167 countries and regions live and work in Shanghai, the largest number among Chinese cities and accounting for nearly 25 percent of the national total.

Their experience served as a good reference point for the city to host the 2018 expo, according to Shang Yuying, the then director of the Shanghai Municipal Commerce Commission who led the city's preparations for hosting the event.

Tang Xinning, a postgraduate from Fudan University in Shanghai and a volunteer for the Indonesian delegation during the import expo, said she and many of her classmates took part in the training and organizational work nearly two months before the event opened.

The preparatory group set clear goals for its work: to ensure the foreign guests arrived and departed smoothly; had convenient transportation arrangements during the expo; comfortable accommodations; and reliable catering. Each volunteer was given a guideline for their duties during the expo, including how they should greet foreign guests and how to act in cases of emergency.

"In the few days before the delegates arrived, messages started pouring in by phone, email, fax and WeChat, and we did a lot of work in collecting various information and summarizing it to submit to volunteer teams," Tang said.

"It required great attention to detail and created a lot of pressure. Because the delegations came from different countries and had different cultures and considerations, to respect, understand and communicate with them was not a simple matter of ethics, but required down-to-earth work."

Xu Tingfang, a doctoral student at Shanghai International Studies University who also worked at last year's import expo as a volunteer, liaised with journalists from Croatia during the event.

Because the journalists had many special interview requests and a tight schedule, Xu said she was always pushing them from one place to another, which won her the nickname of "nervous Chinese woman" among the journalists.

"I told them that it was not only me, but the whole city that was devoting every effort to the event and we wanted to take good care of them," Xu said. "Then the journalists stopped joking about me and expressed their gratitude, and in the following days, they became more cooperative."

Lin, a seasoned official in receiving foreign guests, said each experience is memorable.

"The 2010 world expo is a fond memory for me," Lin said. "I was also lucky to serve a Kenyan delegation again at the 2018 expo."

During the delegation's three-day stay, Lin acted as a bridge between delegates and workers at the hotel, drivers, security guards and expo organizers.

"Those were three tough and unforgettable days for me," she said. "But I felt happy to make a group of Kenyan friends. They were passionate, sincere, optimistic and always smiling."

xingyi@chinadaily.com.cn


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