【中文标题】上海世博会 - 狂热伴随着失望
【原文标题】Expo Fever Mixed with Disillusion in Shanghai
【登载媒体】时代周刊
【原文作者】Justin Bergman
【原文链接】http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1994187,00.html
2010年5月20日,上海世博会西班牙展馆外,一名武警在站岗,旁边是观众在排队等待进入展馆。
全世界都在为即将召开的重量级体育盛会而蓄势待发,但是上海似乎对此不怎么关心:世博会开幕5周之后,这座城市依然沉浸在狂热的世博气氛中。世博会展区的一个晚上,一群群嬉笑、身背相机的参观者,不论男女老幼,从一个场馆冲到另一个场馆,兴奋的神情就像是在坐翻滚过山车,但他们并不是在展示土库曼斯坦式的工业成就。在一些最受欢迎的场馆的外边,比如韩国、西班牙、美国,数千人在耐心地排队,等两到三个小时才能进入场馆。孩子们在和“海宝”拍照时都会亮出V字手势,这个洋洋得意的吉祥物和Gumby极为相似,有些人或许会说这是“刻意的”相似。
上海人把世博会视为向世界展示他们飞速发展城市的一个机会。但是与世博会所激发的狂热和骄傲同时产生的,还有一定程度的醒悟和失望。在网上聊天室和博客中,有些人在抱怨世博会所投入的580亿美元夸张的费用,并且质问这些钱是否应当花在更有意义的地方。具有挑衅意味的中国博客作家韩寒严厉批评全球化时代世博会的意义:“这就像在国内非常火的品牌,经过宣传,穿在身上觉得牛逼的不行;出国一打听,原来是二线的!”
针对这届人们众口一词推崇的盛会,以及哪些被无数展示吹捧上天的外国科技成就,艺术家们也给予了严厉的抨击。中国最有名的艺术家之一蔡国强,在上海外滩美术馆主办了一个反世博展览,歌颂穷人的生活以及他们对社会的贡献。这个展览有一个厚颜无耻的主题“农民让城市和生活更美好”,这是在和世博会官方口号“城市让生活更美好”唱反调。蔡把一些从全国各地穷人手中收集来的粗制滥造的发明堆放在一起,比如废金属制作的飞机和潜水艇,还有一屋子的机器人,发明者是北京的业余爱好者吴玉禄,其中有几个机器人的色彩造型类似于Jackson Pollock(译者注:一位有影响力的美国艺术家,以及抽象派表现主义运动的主要力量)和Damien Hirst(译者注:新一代英国艺术家的主要代表人物之一。他主导了90年代的英国艺术发展并享有很高的国际声誉。赫斯特对于生物有机体的有限性十分感兴趣。他把动物的尸体浸泡在甲醛溶液里的系列作品Natural History有着极高的知名度。他的标志性作品就是《生者对死者无动于衷》一条用甲醛保存在玻璃柜里面的18英尺长的虎鲨。这件作品在2004年进行销售,其价格之高让赫斯特在作品价格最高的在世艺术家中排名第二。)的作品。蔡5月份在纽约接受NPR的采访时说:“这些农民的作品与世博会那种国家性的、综合实力的展示有所不同。到现在为止,你们听到的都是中国集体的声音,但这是个体的声音。”
然而,单就世博会本身而言,人们关注的问题主要集中在无尽的排队等待和展馆中令人失望的内容上。尽管世博会在5月份开幕以来,主办者的情绪高昂与出席者的无精打采形成鲜明的对比,但参观人数一直跟随着气温升高,仅上周日一天就有50万人进入园区。官方大胆预测世博会在11月1日之前会吸引7000万参观者,但是伴随巨大人群而来的还有麻烦:加塞、推搡和火爆的脾气。上海的一为房地产中介Caffy Qin排了两个小时的队,只参观了几个小展馆。她离开了展区,说:“我实在讨厌排这么长的队,干脆走好了。”上个月,德国日报记者Suddeutsche Zeitung报道,一群参观者在等待进入德国展馆时变得情绪激动,他们开始大喊“纳粹,纳粹!”展馆负责人赶紧让组织者加派保安人员。
尽管如此,大部分人还是有足够的耐心,也可能是被展览内容征服了。英国花费了3600万美元修建的“种子大教堂”展馆是一个球体建筑物,上面贯穿着6万根细长、透明的条状物,每一根都装着一个不同的种子,这个展馆遭到了最多的批评。Qin对其嗤之以鼻:“无聊!里面什么都没有。”有互动内容的展馆明显受到了欢迎。尽管当地媒体批评美国馆是在最后一分钟东拼西凑起来的(布什政府为这个项目勉强凑足了资金,国务卿希拉里花了11个小时说服企业赞助商掏出了600万美元),但是观众对展馆中专题广告类型的电影发出了由衷的赞叹。一位老人惊叹地说:“他们在讲中文。”奥巴马和一些企业CEO在影片中伸出手说“你好”。世博会的遗弃者朝鲜和伊朗无法赢得观众的青睐,他们的展馆囿于自身的经济和基础设施条件而毫无新意,(朝鲜展馆中有一群快乐的儿童雕像,围在喷泉四周,上面的条幅写着“人类天堂”。)位置被安排在展区中孤零零的角落里。这也许是中国在转移它的效忠对象?
把一些怨言放在一边,世博会对很多中国人来说,还是产生了巨大的自豪感。28岁的Jenny Zhu是上海本地人,她说这个盛会对于众多农村地区的人来说,算是最接近出国旅游的一个机会了。世博会向参观者发放特制的护照,人们可以在参观过的展馆中加盖签证章,盖章队伍的长度往往和等待进入展馆队伍的长度一样。她说:“好的一点是这的确把不同的文化带进人们的生活中。当然,他们看到的仅仅是一个国家的掠影,但也算是普通中国人接触外面世界的机会了。”Zhu的85岁的奶奶从未离开过中国,她就是一个世博拥趸。她已经收集了10张门票,还买了一个新相机和一支拐杖,她打算每月至少进来参观一次。Zhu说,早先她也犹豫是否要来参观世博会,但现在精神百倍。她滔滔不绝地说:“这就像欣赏了一场摇滚音乐会。”舞台上的明星似乎是在展示土库曼斯坦天然气资源的剥削成就。(译者注:暗讽中国在土库曼斯坦架设天然气管道行为损害的西方利益。)
原文:
A Chinese paramilitary policeman stands watch while visitors line up to enter Spain's pavilion at the World Expo site in Shanghai on May 20, 2010
The rest of the world is gearing up for a certain heavily anticipated sporting event, but Shanghai could care less: Five weeks after the World Expo opened, the city is still in the midst of full-blown world expo fever. On a recent balmy evening at the expo grounds, groups of giggling, camera-toting visitors, young and old, dashed from pavilion to pavilion with an excitement usually reserved for roller coasters, not exhibitions of Turkmenistan's industrial prowess. Outside the most popular venues — those of Japan, South Korea, Spain and the U.S. — thousands lined up patiently, waiting for up to two or three hours for a chance to get in. Children flashing "V signs" with their fingers posed for photographs with Haibao, the jaunty blue expo mascot that bears an uncanny — some might say deliberate — resemblance to Gumby.
But for all the enthusiasm and pride the expo is generating in most Shanghainese, who see it as a chance to show off their remarkably fast-changing city to the world, a certain level of disillusionment has also begun to set in. In blogs and chat rooms, some have complained about the extravagant price tag of some $58 billion, and questioned whether the money couldn't have been better spent elsewhere. The provocative Chinese blogger Han Han lambasted the relevance of a world expo in an era of globalization: "It's sort of like when a domestic clothing brand is very hot and heavily advertised. You wear the clothes and feel badass and extravagant, but when you go abroad and ask around, you discover it's actually a second-rate brand."
Artists, too, have taken a swipe at the distinctly corporate feel of the event and the countless exhibitions boasting of different countries' technological achievements. Cai Guo-Qiang, one of China's best-known artists, has curated a counter-expo exhibition at Shanghai's Rockbund Art Museum that celebrates the lives of the poor and their contributions to society. Under the cheeky theme "Peasants: Making a Better City, Better Life" — a riff on the official expo logo "Better City, Better Life" — Cai has jumbled together a collection of rough-hewn inventions of poor people from all over China, such as airplanes and submarines made from scrap metal and a roomful of robots created by an amateur Beijing inventor named Wu Yulu, a couple of which have been programmed to paint like the artists Jackson Pollock and Damien Hirst. "These peasants' objects are different from the type of national, corporate power connected with the expo," the New York-based Cai told NPR in May. "Until now, you only hear the collective voice of China but this is about individuals' voices."
At the expo itself, however, the concerns are more centered on the interminable waits in line and the sometimes disappointing exhibitions awaiting visitors inside the pavilions. Despite some hand-wringing by organizers over sluggish attendance after the expo opened in early May, the crowds have surged with the warmer weather, with a half million people passing through the gates last Saturday alone. Officials have boldly predicted the expo will attract some 70 million visitors before it closes on Nov. 1. But with the hordes have come problems: line-jumping, pushing and flared tempers. "I hate waiting in long queues. I just gave up," says Caffy Qin, a Shanghai property agent who left after two hours having only seen a few minor pavilions. Last month, the German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung reported that a group of visitors grew so frustrated waiting to get into the German pavilion, they started chanting, "Na cui, na cui" — or "Nazi, Nazi" — prompting the head of the pavilion to demand extra security from expo organizers.
Still, for the most part the crowds have been patient, if not always impressed. Britain's $36 million "Seed Cathedral" pavilion, a striking orb pierced by 60,000 slender transparent rods that each contain a different seed, has come under particular fire. "Boring," sniffed Qin. "Inside there is nothing to see!" Interactive pavilions have proved more popular. Despite the fact the U.S. venue was panned by the local media for being slapped together at the last minute (the Bush administration botched the financing for the project, leaving it to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to plead for an eleventh-hour $60 million from corporate sponsors) visitors have been wowed by the infomercial-like film series inside. "They're speaking Chinese," one older man whispered in awe, watching the likes of Barack Obama and various corporate CEOs try their hand at saying "Ni hao." Bereft of visitors are expo outcasts North Korea and Iran, whose pavilions are dull tributes to their economic and infrastructural developments. (North Korea also has statues of happy children in a fountain beneath a sign reading, 'Paradise for People.') The venues stand beside each other in a desolate corner of the grounds. A sign of China's shifting loyalties, perhaps?
Grumbling aside, the expo is still a source of immense pride for many Chinese. Shanghai native Jenny Zhu, a 28-year-old Mandarin instructor, says the event is the closest that legions of people from the countryside will get to foreign travel. The expo even hands out special passports that visitors can get stamped at every pavilion they visit; the lines for the stamps are sometimes as long as for the venues themselves. "What's great is it does bring different cultures into people's lives," she says. "Of course, what they see is just a snapshot of a country, but it's still a great opportunity for ordinary Chinese to come into contact with the world." Zhu's 85-year-old grandmother, who has never left China, is one such expo fan. She's secured 10 tickets and purchased a new camera and walking stick, and plans to visit the park at least once a month, Zhu says. Initially ambivalent about the event herself, Zhu has also gotten into the spirit. "It was like seeing a rock concert," she gushed. One in which the stars are seeds and displays on Turkmen natural gas exploits. |