上海世博會迎來倒計時100天
昨天(2010年1月21日)是上海世博會倒計時100天的日子。2002年12月3日，上海以88%的得票率獲得2010年世界博覽會主辦權，這是走過159年曆史、無數次點燃人類文明智慧火花的世博會，首次在發展中國家舉辦。截至目前，已有192個國家、50個國際組織、18個企業館，以及國內31個省區市和港澳臺地區確認參展上海世博會，國際參展方數量已創造世博會的歷史紀錄。對整個中國來說，上海世博會將是中國在過去三十年間快速發展的一個見證，也是國家實力的標誌；而對上海來說，則是擴展經濟發展，加強地區經濟融合，促進城市發展的絕好時機。
Shanghai only has 100 days left inwhich to iron out all the kinks and make sure the city is expo-friendlyin order to achieve its goals。
By playing host to the 2010 WorldExpo, Shanghai is looking to roll back its glorious past, consolidatethe world's confidence in overcoming the economic meltdown and pushforward with an already breathtaking transformation in this city of18.6 million。
With an official budget of 28.7billion yuan ($4.2 billion)， Shanghai intends to carve a place in expohistory by topping milestones set by previous World Expos, such as the1893 Columbia Expo, which introduced the Ferris wheel。
"For China, the World Expo is atestament to the nation's rapid growth in the past 30 years. It is alsoa symbol of the nation's power," said Wang Jinzhen, vice-chairman ofthe China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT)。
It will also fuel Shanghai's economic expansion, upgrade the restructuring of local industry, strengthen itsintegration with nearby economies, and propel the city's urbandevelopment, he added。
It is estimated that the expo willhelp the city's economy grow by 2 percent this year. Revenue from theexpo economy will amount to 100 billion yuan and thousands of new jobswill be created。
Shanghai has latched onto the expo asa chance to establish a powerful global profile in the same way theBeijing Olympics put a spotlight on the nation's capital in 2008.
The city is ready for the culturalgala, and not just because of the huge amount of money the governmentis pouring into new landmark structures. Rather, it marks a shift inthe city's psyche from that of nervous upstart to one full of confidence about the future。
The six-month party is also advancinga larger government goal of bolstering the economy and turning Shanghaiinto a global financial and shipping center and a world-class city inthe same league as New York and London。
When the event kicks off in May,Shanghai will have two new airport terminals and a subway system longerthan its counterparts in New York and Tokyo。
At the 5.28-sq-km expo garden, upwards of 800,000 visitors are expected to punch their tickets at the gateevery day - equivalent to dropping a different European city into the middle of Shanghai seven days a week。
Further more, the city's officials andeconomists are waiting to see if the expo can help transform the cityfrom an economy based on manufacturing to one based on high-value-addedservices。
As outlined in government reports, oneof Shanghai's key tasks until 2012 is to quicken the pace of itseconomic development, with the service sector at its core。
By 2012, the service industry will beworth over 1.1 trillion yuan and will account for more than 80 percentof the GDP of the city's central areas。
"In addition to giving Shanghai'sinfrastructure a boost, the expo will lay the foundation for thedevelopment of new industries such as tourism and a series of servicesectors," said Zhou Hanmin, deputy director of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai Executive Committee。
Xu Wei, a strategist with Sinolink Securities, sees the upcoming expo, together with the city's planned Disneyland, as something that can help address fundamental economic challenges。
According to his research, the city'seconomy hit a bottleneck in 2000, since which time it has relied on the booming housing market for short-term expansion。
"The biggest problem facing Shanghai'seconomy is being able to find a long-term driving force, which the government has proposed to vitalize the service economy," he said。
The city's service sector will behugely lifted by the expo, which, together with the proposed new Disneyland, will create unprecedented opportunities for growth for Shanghai's service economy, Xu added。
