Top 5 most expensive pavilions at Shanghai Expo 2010
1. China pavilion ($220 million U.S. dollars)
2. Saudi pavilion ($164 million)
3. Japan pavilion ($140 million)
4. Australia pavilion ($75 million)
5. France pavilion ($74.4 million)
The most expensive pavilions are interesting because they must have spent the money on something and deserve closer scrutiny.
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China
The Chinese national pavilion is the largest of its kind at the Expo[28] and most expensive, costing an estimated US$220 million.[27] The 63-meter high pavilion, the tallest structure at the Expo, is called "
The Crown of the East," as it is meant to resemble an ancient Chinese crown.[27] The chief architect of the pavilion is He Jingtang.[35]
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Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia spent $164 million on its pavilion, the highest of all visiting countries.[27][68] The pavilion is designed to resemble a giant oil tanker.[27]
The centerpiece of the Saudi Arabia pavilion features a huge hanging boat shaped like a half moon. The "
moon boat" is loaded with dreams and friendship. Date palms have been planted on the top deck of the boat, creating a hanging garden, and thus epitomizing the oases in the desert. Visitors will be welcomed to the pavilion in both modern, as well as traditional, Bedouin tents set among date palm trees. The Saudi government imported the date palms and a full mosque for the expo.[27] A large screen, estimated to be the size of a soccer field,[27] projects images of King Abdullah meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao.[27]
China is Saudi Arabia's fastest growing trading partner.[27] A large stage within the pavilion will be used to unveil joint Saudi-Chinese business deals, including a new railway between the cities of Mecca and Medina, which will be constructed by a Chinese firm.[27]
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Japan
Japan's hi-tech pavilion resembles a living, breathing organism. It has been nicknamed the "
Purple Silkworm Island" It features violin playing robots, 3D cameras, and many new technologies.
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Australia
Australia's ochre red pavilion attests to its critically important relationship with China,[29] its largest trading partner. The three story pavilion was constructed on a 4,800 square meter site.[29] The facade of the structure is composed of weathered steel, which has oxidized in the months preceding the expo's opening.[29] The red ochre color is meant to represent the "red center" desert regions of central Australia. [29]
The pavilion cost AU$83 million,[30][29] the most Australia has ever allocated for a pavilion in history.[29] AU$6 million of the total cost was contributed by the state of Victoria, whose largest foreign trading partner is China.[30]
The
mascot of the Australia pavilion is Peng Peng, a kookaburra.[29]
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France
France's pavilion features
six paintings and one sculpture on loan from the
Musée d'Orsay.[27] [41] The paintings include works by
Paul Cezanne,
Jean-Francois Millet,
Edouard Manet,
Vincent van Gogh and
Paul Gauguin, while the
sculpture is Auguste Rodin's The Age of Bronze.[41]
The Age of Bronze had previously been displayed at the Exposition Universelle in 1889 and the 1900 Paris Expo.[41] The Angélus, by Jean-Francois Millet, was also shown at the 1867 Expo in Paris.[41]"
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What is a kookaburra? Look, two Peng Pengs!
[Note: See post #70 on page 5 for videos of "Shanghai Expo WIDESCREEN and HD!"]
