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INTERNATIONAL
This April, IT&CM China
takes place for the fourth
time. It is a spin-off from the
most important continental
meetings and incentive fair,
IT&CM Asia, which has been
going for 17 years. “This year
too we are confident of gathering
together an extremely
attractive mixture of international
and local buyers and
suppliers at the ShanghaiMart
Expo venue,” says Darren Ng,
Managing Director of organisers
TTG Asia Media. The educational
programme is also very
interesting again this year,
he adds.
Shanghai, the fair’s host, is a
city in which tradition and
modernity meet head on with
unrivalled intensity. China’s
biggest metropolis is growing
at a breathtaking pace. Four
million migrant workers are
A city at top speed
IT&CM (Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings) China 2010 takes place April 7 to 9 at the exhibition
centre ShanghaiMart Expo. This year, exhibitors such as the Japan National Tourism Office, the Korea
Tourism Organization, the Macau Government Tourist Office and Meetings & Exhibitions Hong Kong have
booked considerably more exhibition space than last time round.
toiling round the clock to
shape the city for the future –
that is more than the population
of Berlin. Shanghai is able
to expand and build so fast
because there are no lengthy
proceedings, hearings and
discussions. Demolition dates
are simply painted in black on
Spin-off from
IT&CM Asia
the walls of the houses. Way
over a million people were resettled
that way during the
1990s.
Shanghai is out to emulate
New York. Already, Nanjing Lu
glitters to rival Madison Avenue,
and in a bevy of emporiums
of conspicuous consumption
Boss, Calvin Klein
and Armani contend for cus-
IT&CM
tom. Foreign firms have invested
more than USD 30 billion
alone in Pudong, the special
economic zone east of the
Huangpu River.
Worlds meet and mix in
Shanghai: the colonial houses
on the legendary Bund promenade
and teenagers in Western
jeans, drinking Coke at
Kentucky Fried Chicken out of
cans featuring a photo of David
Beckham. Although many
roads in the centre of town
have been closed to bicycles –
Shanghai is destined to become
China’s automotive city
– several million bikes are still
out, a sluggish mass squeezing
their way between the
cars, past pedestrians who
jump out of their way and then
stoically carry on. Horns honking,
cycle bells ringing, shouting,
chaos – the real miracle is
that the traffic flows at all. 19
million inhabitants are on the
move there. The city’s pace is
dizzying – the Shanghaians
survive in this vortex of energy
by taking advantage of every
spare minute. Crowded into
buses full to overflowing, they
lay their heads back or sleep
against the wall while waiting
at a cookshop. And they draw
strength from tai chi. At six in
the morning on the Bund or
after work in Fuxing Park they
lay their briefcases in the
grass, practise the sword
form, touch trees, go backwards
on the paths of the
park, entirely immersed in
their light, flowing movements,
undisturbed by the
people watching them. Just
looking at them, you begin to
feel calmer and start to unwind.
DM
100 1/2010