[Book] EXPO 2005 Official Guidebook Review-2

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Name: The 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan OFFICIAL GUIDEBOOK
ISBN: 4-8356-0709-0
Published: March 31, 2005
Publisher: Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition
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Part-2 Introduction of the country...

As I said yesterday, China's article is unique. I talked about the sub-title yesterday as it is the part to attract people. So, what's today? Content...
Seems to me that there's a sample passage. In the first part of the passage, climate and location, then history and heritage, in the last part of the passage, the country's relationship with Japan.
So as a World Expo emphasizing Nature's Wisdom, most countries show people how much they did to the environment.
For example Bhutan, after introducing its climate, location etc, it mentioned that "Last december the government banned the sale of tobacco products and ordered shops, hotels, restaurant and bars selling tobacco to dispose of existing stocks ahead of the ban, becoming the first country in the world to impose such ban.
This introduction is very important, as Bhutan is leading the trend, banning tobacco in the country. This act is environmental friendly, as burning a cigarette will give out poisonous gas, etc. and it's damage one's health. When reading the introduction people know immediately how much effort does the Bhutan government do to make the environment better.

Let's look at another country, let's see how it introduce its relationship with Japan. The country I choose is Russia.
In Russia, there is now a boom in traditional Japanese culture, including kabuki, ikebana, and tea ceremoney, as well as the latest technologies from Japan. Recently, Haruki Murakami's novels have become best-sellers in Russia, and Japanese restaurants have popped up here and there.
In the economy, Russia is now the second largest crude oil producer in the world after Saudi Arabia, and the country has registered fast economic growth in recent years. In 2005, Japan and Russia mark the 150th anniversary of a bilateral commerce and friendship treaty, which led to te establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Japanese culture had successfully entered Russia, this showed that the people in Russia do not treat the Japanese things as monsters. When more people understand more about another culture, conflicts can be reduced. That's a good way to prevent war.

There is a country which is an exceptional, again, China.
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Since 1991 the Chinese economy has been growing at a dazzling pace varying from 7% to 14% a year. In 2004, China chalked up $1154.7billion in imports and exports, and increase of 35.7% from the previous year, and rose past Japan as the third largest trading nation in the world, after the United States and Germany. Foreign investments have been pouring into China, and the country is now known as "a factory of the world," thanks to the conglomeration of the great number of foreign-owned factories. In Japan, store shelves are now full of MADE IN CHINA products, from clothes and foodstuffs to electrical appliances and computer equipment.

As a result of China's "reform and open up" policies, the living standard of the average Chinese has been improving each year. In 2003, the average per capita income in China was around 9000 yuan, 24 times the 1978 figure. In urban areas, the average household is full of electrical appliances, from refrigerators, washing machines, televisions and videos to personal computers and air conditioners. It is nothing rare these days for the Chinese to own their cars and travel abroad.
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I quote the article that China used in the guide book. Among the 80 countries, China is the only country which got so many figures in the passage. Wait, man, it's the World EXPO instead of a China investment exhibition. Why show people so many statistics to tell others about the growth of economy in your country? I don't think people who visit the EXPO care about that. Who care your "Reform and Open up" policy? Is it related with the nature? Well... yes, but just destroying it instead of keeping it. What good to telling people such a shame in an EXPO concerning Nature's Wisdom?
Also see how they talked about their relationship with Japan..."In Japan, store shelves are now full of MADE IN CHINA products, from clothes and foodstuffs to electrical appliances and computer equipment," so what means by that is China is using its own resources for the goods of Japanese. They chopped their own trees to make toothpick for them, make paper for them. What good to mention such thing in the passage?

The heritage that China mentioned in the article was the Great Wall (again...) and the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. These two thing are not fresh for most foreigners again I think, China used them for more than 30 years. And how can they linked to Nature's Wisdom? Sorry, no connection. It's just show how the Chinese waste their resources in the past.
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Again if I were the one who write the article, what would I write? I may write the use of herbal medicine in China. As many people knows that the use of chemical to treat illness is near its end. Even the westerner are now looking for alternatives, they go back to square one and learn from their ancestors about the use of herb. The ancestors of Chinese did a lot of work in researching the use of herb and they are still using it. Why didn't they write about that in the article? Use of herbal medicine is related with Nature's Wisdom, it's also an art of life. Why? Because when using the herbal medicine, it's important to find a balance between the Yin and Yang. Balancing that is an art of life according to the China own born religion, Taoism.
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Actually you can dig out a lot of things from the Guidebook, and also you can learn a lot of things about different countries and cultures. Such Expo can link people everywhere together, and alert people living on Earth that they are a "Global Citizen", when they are doing something, they need to care about people living far far away.