No city has ever spent so much money, or expended so much energy, on a World Expo.
Shanghai’s has cost an estimated $55bn, twice as much as the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Now, Expo-weary citizens are asking whether it was all worth it.
Coming on the heels of the Olympics, Expo was meant to be Act Two in the lavish rebranding of China – transforming the middle kingdom in the eyes not just of the world but also of its own citizens. Some view it as a kind of victory lap, after the country emerged virtually unscathed from the global financial crisis. Expo 2010 could have an impact, on both Shanghai and China (not to mention on the future of the Expo model), for decades to come.
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