上海世博会展示中国的软实力 Shanghai World Expo 2010 Showcases China's Soft Power

中国的2101上海世博会于五月一日开放。这是一个继承了1851年大不列颠的‘大展览’的传统，结合了爱国宣言与环球抱负。它希望在六个月内会接待七千万的访客。

可是为什么中国要举办这样一个世界展览，它要发出怎样的讯号？

中国名作家韩寒显然对中国政府的促销方式不以为然。他说：‘我觉得不是世博会会给中国带来什么，而是中国会给世博会带来什么。因为本来世博会并不是一个规模如此大的展会，随着信息的流通越来越便捷，世博会正在渐渐式微，是中国将世博会升格了。如果一定要比喻的话，有点像某些在国内非常火的品牌，经过了宣传，你穿在身上觉得牛逼的不行，奢华的不行，出国一打听，原来是二线的。’

但西方的一些人明显有其它看法。

美国加州大学欧文分校历史系教授杰弗里．瓦萨斯特罗姆在赫芬顿邮报评论这个世博的规模，尝试解释为什么中国在2008年北京奥运会不久后就举办这次的世博：‘把2008年奥运与2010世博当作联合事件来看，一种想法是中国希望发出这样信号，中国在这百年内走了多远，与它已经把‘亚洲病夫’这个称号抛弃得多远。它的意图是要坚定地让世人知道，中国不只有一个城市，而是有二个城市有能力举办世界级的项目。’

美联社显然认为这是中国为了展示其软实力而做出的努力之一。它在四月二十五日的报道中指出：

‘正如在2008年北京奥运的几个星期中显示了中国与日俱增的经济与地区政治的影响力，这个世界上前所未有的大型世界游乐场让中国共产党领袖在六个月内展示它的设计、旅游、文化外交。

中国并不是第一个大国或潜在大国以博览会来宣告它们进入世界舞台。

1851年伦敦的‘大展览’标志着工业革命的到来。1964年东京奥运会接下来的1970年的大阪世博会显示日本提升成为工业大国。’

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China's Expo 2010 Shanghai opened on 1 May, is a world fair in the tradition of Britain's Great Exhibition of 1851, combining statements of patriotism and global ambition. It is expected to attract 70 million visitors in six months.

But why is China producing a world fair, and what messages is it trying to send?

Han Han, a famous writer in China obviously is not impressed with the way the Chinese government promote it. He says, ‘I think it is not how World Expo can bring benefits to China, rather, it is how China brings benefits to World Expo. With easy communication brought about by the information technology, the interest in World Expo is actually waning, and it is actually not necessary to hold the event in such a large scale. But China upgrades the World Expo. If you want me to give you an analogy, then it is like some of the brand names in China, they become red hot after good marketing. But when you use them on your body, you do not feel they are as good and as luxurious as they should be. Then, only when you are overseas, you discover that they are actually all second-rate brands.’

But some westerners obviously have other views.

University of California, Irvine history professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom, writing at The Huffington Post, comments on the sheer size of the event, and tries to explain why China is hosting it so soon after the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing: ‘One way to think of the 2008 Games and 2010 Expo is as a combination of events that China hopes will signal how far it has come in the course of a century or so, and how far behind it has left its former reputation as the "sick man of Asia." Its intention is to leave no doubt that it is now a place with not just one but two cities where great global events can be held.’

The Associated Press obviously think that it is part of China’s effort to showcase it soft power. It reported on 25 April:

‘Just as the Beijing Olympics showed China's growing economic and geopolitical influence for a few weeks in 2008, the biggest World's Fair ever will let China's communist leaders showcase design, tourism and cultural diplomacy over six months…

China is far from the first power or would-be power to use an Expo to announce its global arrival.

The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London marked the coming of the Industrial Revolution. The 1970 Expo in Osaka, following the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, showed Japan's rise as an industrial power.’