Last weekend, on a sunny clean afternoon, I went back to the derelict World Expo site in Shanghai with Gui and Steph. It had been a while since my first visit and I wanted to see what had changed. Well, on this side of the Huangpu river, the former World Expo site did not change much. However, the construction of a road and of a pathway for pedestrians along the river started right after the Spring Festival break so it should bring a lot of change in the next few months.

« Sustainability in decay »: ironic remains of the World Expo Museum

I have a great memory of my first visit to the World Expo site, of when I found where the remains of the World Expo Museum on the theme of sustainable city planning were. This vision of « sustainability in decay » is so ironic that it seems all the things were put there on purpose. On my second visit, everything was still there, quite surprisingly… Among the mess, I found a new sculpture, pretty beautiful!

The derelict Coca-Cola Pavilion

Last time, I did not visit the Coca-Cola Pavilion, so this time, I went closer and it was… really a mess.

Inside the pavilion, there were kitsch fake trees and completely stupid evocations of an ecological civilisations of Coca-Cola, with plastic decorations like a Coca-Cola bottle hanging from a green-energy baloon… Really, you see how far these multinational firms can go as sponsors of an event on « sustainability »… How ridiculous!

The derelict Shanghai Corporate Pavilion

Then, there was still the derelict Shanghai Corporate Pavilion, which used to be so ambitious before the Expo, now offering a very interesting perspective on urban decay.

The derelict pathway

The half re-used Shanghai shipping company

On the other end of the pathway, the CSSC Pavilion was half re-used by small creative companies. But most of the exhibition areas were closed while some objects were waiting to be thrown to the trash.

The derelict fake city of Abilia, a real-life simulation for kids

Finally, there was something hidden in this area that we did not notice the last time because it is located underground: the fake miniature neoliberal city for kids to have fun learning how to behave in daily life for their future as « good citizens »… Wow, this area was really something…

I hope I will go back to the World Expo site again, and find more funny projects in decay!

If you liked this report, you can click on the first report I wrote about this place with more details.

You can also read about some of the crazy projects (a crazy tall Ferris Wheel or a crazy mall shaped like the New York Twin Towers) that were planned in Beijing around the period of the 2008 Olympics.