financial excesses

INTERNATIONAL
China’s economic metropolis
In April IT&CM China took place for the fourth time in Shanghai. 230 exhibitors
went on show to 300 buyers. Chinese association and corporate planners travelled
out from 13 cities. And on May 1 the starting signal was given for a record Expo.
From April 7 to 9, Shanghai-
Mart Expo played host for
the fourth time to IT&CM (Incentive
Travel & Conventions,
Meetings) China 2010,
a spin-off from the region’s
most important meetings
and incentive fair, IT&CM
Asia, now in its 17th year. Exhibitors
such as the Japan National
Tourism Office, the Korea
Tourism Organization, the
Macau Government Tourist
Office and Meetings & Exhibitions
Hong Kong had booked
considerably more exhibition
space this year in Shanghai
than in 2009. The altogether
230 exhibitors showcased
themselves to 300
buyers from 39 countries
ranging from Brazil through
Qatar to Ukraine. Chinese association
planners from the
China Condiment Industry
Association and the National
Architecture Institute of China,
for example, and corporate
planners from the Bayer
HealthCare Company Ltd and
Symantec Software (Beijing)
Co. Ltd travelled to the show
from 13 Chinese cities.
“We are confident of having
gathered together an extremely
attractive mixture of
international and local buyers
and suppliers at the ShanghaiMart
Expo again this
year,” Darren Ng, Managing
Director of organisers TTG
Asia Media, said during the
show. Key to the success of
this fair is the quality of the
buyers and not so much their
number, Ng added.
Shanghai, as host city to the
fair, is a metropolis in which
tradition and modernity contrast
more starkly than anywhere
else: China’s biggest
city is growing at breathtaking
speed, transforming itself
with unparalleled drive.
Four million migrant workers
are working round the clock
Shanghai is growing at
breathtaking speed.
Photo: Dirk Mewis
IT&CM China
on the project for the future in
the megacity – more than the
population of Berlin. And on
May 1 the starting signal was
given for a record Expo with
the opening ceremony along
Huangpu River, which runs
through China’s economic
metropolis. No fewer than
600,000 visitors are expected
on the first day of the exhibition
alone. Most Expo visitors
will come from the Peo-
ple’s Republic, but the organisers
are also reckoning on
around 3.5 million foreign
guests. A total of 192 countries
– more than ever before
– will display themselves to
an Expo 2010 audience that is
expected to add up to a
hundred million people. Mottoed
“Better City, Better
Life”, the Expo is dedicated
to life in the growing metropolises
of the world.
The motto of the World Expo
has been carefully chosen.
Throughout China there are
175 cities with more than a
million inhabitants. Over 20
million people live in Shanghai,
which in the past months
has resembled a gigantic
building site.
China is also looking to use
the World Expo, which runs
until the end of October, as a
platform to promote its country
abroad. Special celebrations
are expected on October
1, the National Day of the
People’s Republic. The state
media report that the city of
Shanghai has ploughed the
equivalent of EUR 43.5 billion
into the World Expo, including
indirect investment.
Some of this has gone on
hundreds of kilometres of
new underground railway
lines, new airport terminals
and extensive redevelopment
of the Bund, the famous
promenade on the
Huangpu. DM
94 2/2010