Minority ethnic girls dance with Haibao, the mascot of Shanghai World Expo 2010, when the World Expo tour made its stop in Kunming,
captial of Yunnan Province.—Shanghai Daily 

Shanghai Daily news

Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, was the first stop on the World Expo Shanghai's national promotional tour this year. The city held a Horticultural Exposition in 1999, a specialized World Expo, and it still retains much of the Expo flavor.

"Everyone in Kunming has a deep affection towards the World Expo," said Guo Fangming, former head of the Bureau of Yunnan Horticultural Expo. "It's amazing that we finally made it, and the Expo 1999 turned out to be such a success."

The Expo 1999, with a total area of 218 hectares, about 40 percent of the Shanghai Expo site, attracted exhibits from 96 countries and international organizations and was attended by some 9.42 million visitors.

Following the Expo, Kunming maintained the Expo site in its original look.

While eight and a half years have passed, the Kunming Expo site still welcomes thousands of tourists every day and the Expo company is now a listed corporation on China's stock market.

"Kunming explored a brand-new model for post-Expo management," said Hua Zefei, general manager of Yunnan Expo Group Co Ltd.

The Expo cost more than 1.3 billion yuan (US$179 million) in 1999, according to Guo. A large proportion of that was contributed by local tobacco tycoons, such as Hongta and Yunyan. After the Expo, it was time to earn the money back, Guo added.

Hua said that the Kunming government is planning to create an "eco-community" beside the Expo site, where air quality and scenery will be of utmost importance and the best in the city.

The 27-square-kilometer community will have a golf course, a sports club, a shopping mall as well as apartment buildings.

"We are going to make it Kunming's international exhibition and trading center," Guo said.

Housing prices in the development have already hit 8,000 yuan per square meter, nearly triple the average price in the city.

Besides, the group now has about four to five billion yuan of capital and owns a leading tourism company in Yunnan, an international convention center, a taxi company and a four-star hotel among others, making the group a giant in the local exhibition and tourism industry.

The Expo garden is a four-A (the second highest ranking in China) tourism destination, and it receives about 2,000 visitors per day. The ticket price is 100 yuan, the same as it was in 1999.

The beautiful scenery attracts about 80 percent of Kunming's newly-weds to shoot their wedding photos at the Expo site, said Guo.

Kunming Expo 1999 also promoted Lijiang, a famous tourist destination, said Guo.

Lijiang, near Shangri-la, received 5.31 million visitors last year with a revenue of 5.7 billion yuan. In 1999, The top three tourism destinations in Yunnan were the Kunming Expo site, Dali and Xishuangbanna. In recent years, however, the positions have been altered, now it's Lijiang, Dali and Shangri-la.

"If we hadn't held the Expo 1999, Lijiang wouldn't have been that famous," Guo added.

Shanghai's plan

Unlike Kunming, Shanghai will tear down most of the pavilions after the event.

Hua suggests that Shanghai consider the post-Expo usage of the site during the planning stage.

At the Expo site, only five structures will be permanent - the China Pavilion, the Theme Pavilion, the Performance Center, the Expo Center and the Expo Axis.

The five, which are very close to each other, will form an international exhibition center.

The Expo Center, a venue for conferences and media services during the 184-day Expo period, will become the new venue for the city's top legislative body and top advisory body's annual meeting after the Expo.

The China Pavilion will become another landmark in Shanghai and host exhibitions featuring Chinese culture and history.

Some of the outstanding pavilions will also be kept. These constructions will be moved to a special zone after the Expo.

Much of the greenery in the Expo site will also be kept.