I can't forget the night on February 3, 2002 when I successfully applied for the Expo. Shanghai never sleeps, and the Century Square on Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street is full of joy. History remembers this night of celebration. As the World Expo said, "If Shanghai is lucky, the world will add a luster". I am eagerly looking forward to the Shanghai World Expo. The World Expo will give every ordinary person a unique opportunity to better understand the people of other countries in the world. The purpose of the World Expo is to promote better communication between people.
The World Expo is not only a great gathering of the latest civilization achievements and human wisdom in each era, but also the best opportunity for the host to mobilize the national strength and fully display its social, economic and cultural achievements and development prospects. It is a symbol of national strength and an important symbol of the promotion of international status, so it has been held all over the world. However, the World Expo has been limited to a few developed countries for a long time, and China won the right to host the 20 10 World Expo for the first time since10. The success of hosting the 20 10 World Expo is a recognition of China's reform and opening-up policy and China's economic strength, and will also greatly promote the overall progress of China society and the improvement of people's quality of life.
The theme of this Shanghai World Expo is "Better City, Better Life", which is the only time in history that the host country takes the city as the focus of publicity and promotion, and this is not beyond the core concept of the Expo, that is, paying attention to the unity of human development and protecting the natural environment. In the long history of mankind, people have never stopped thinking and creating the "ideal city". How to give the city a sustainable structure and a healthy soul is a long-term urban dream. It is becoming an urgent proposition to shape the good relationship and interaction among people, cities and the earth and create a healthy urban system. The concept of "city" shows that human beings have a deeper understanding of their own environment and times.
The city is created by people, and it constantly evolves and grows into an organic system. Man is the most dynamic and innovative cell in this organic system. People's life is closely related to the form and development of the city. With the acceleration of urbanization, the interaction between urban organic system and earth biosphere and resource system is deepening and expanding.
It goes without saying that China is a country with extremely strong nationalist sentiment on the issue of the World Expo. Throughout the history of China's modernization in the past century, most of the time China was in a state of confrontation with the West. Nationalism has a strong sense of hardship, self-improvement and catching up, which can arouse strong national pride, enterprising spirit and cohesion, and can be regarded as a positive thought at a specific level; Nationalism is a double-edged sword. At the same time, it will breed isolationism, lead to confrontational consciousness, self-isolation, arrogance, refusal to learn and communicate with foreigners, and refusal to recognize universal values.
The growth of nationalism in China today is naturally due to the continuous development of China society and the increasing economic strength. Compared with the backward society in China in the last century, the national pride is not strong, and the Chinese people's psychology of worshipping foreign things is serious, which is a sign of the improvement of self-confidence and self-esteem brought about by the social and economic development in China.
The World Expo is worldwide and should be viewed from the perspective of all mankind and the global village. We live not only in nations and countries, but also in the world. We face not only national and ethnic problems, but also global problems; We should not only have national pride and self-esteem, but also have cosmopolitan mind and tolerance, and actively participate in world cooperation and exchanges, rather than isolating ourselves. Only in this way can we gain the acceptance of the world and keep pace with the world in exchanges and dialogues.
The history of urban development is a process full of passion and variables, and cities are the crystallization of human civilization. In human history, the city, as an evolving organic system, has left many footprints. These footprints, whether they prove failure or success, are important chapters of human civilization and will also guide the future development of human society. "Better city, better life."