By Wu Min

Today, when you step on the platform in Hanover Railway Station in Germany, you cannot miss the cordial greeting from the speaker: "Welcome to the city of World Expo: Hanover". Unconsciously, it rings the bell about the World Expo Hanover held in 2000.

"No useless things would be left over from the World Expo"

Hanover, the capital city of Niedersachsen, won the bid to host Expo 2000 in 1990. When another candidate Venice of Italy exited the final competition, Hanover was the winner by only one vote over Toronto of Canada. "When we were notified of the Expo bidding success, we have realized that this will bring opportunities to Hanover development," Dr. Herbert Schmalstieg, mayor of Hanover said so.

In October of 1993, the master plan for Expo Hanover was officially launched. A working partnership was formed between the Swiss firm Arnaboldi Cavadini, the German Frankfurt AS&P and Kienast, Vogt and Partner and the master plan was completed in April 1994. The planners had realized that the original exhibition facilities in Hanover were not in an orderly manner in need of integrated organization. Therefore, it needed to take into account both the original and new venues for the Expo planning. Most of the old venues, especially their exterior, should be renovated and rehabilitated to take a brand new image. The planners made a solemn declaration that "No useless things would be left over from the World Expo" to avoid "wasteland parks", common occurrence in the previous Expos.

In fact, 70% of the existing facilities were utilized for the Expo Hanover, the first of its kind in the over-100 year history of World Expo.

German Pavilion

A Journey to the Future Architectures

In the Expo Hanover, the participating nations displayed their historical cultural and yearning for the future in distinctive ways. A number of innovative pavilions could lead you to the journey to the future architectures. What is worth mentioning is the pavilion of Germany, the host country.

The first show area in the pavilion of Germany,"Creative Workshop", has presented 47 German celebrities statues, including the world famous musician Beethoven, the scientist Einstein, the tennis queen Graf, Romy Schneider (starring actress in the movie Sissy), the entrepreneur Bosch, and the representative heroes massacred in fighting the Nazis in World War II.

The second show area in the pavilion of Germany,"Bridge of the Future", is a large size multi-media display area with 3-level elevated walkway in a 720 degree panoramic theater. This hall received 5.4 million visitors during the Expo.

The third show area there, incorporates the essences from 16 German provinces, including the first patented Benz car, the first print Bible and so on.

Dutch Pavilion

Individualized Exhibition Theme

In addition to richness and innovation embodied by the pavilion architectures, the participating nations have developed the concept of sustainable development through individualized pavilions in the Expo Hanover with the theme of "Humankind, Nature and Technology".

The Holland pavilion presents a fabulous complex in five levels to the visitors: dune, farmland, forest, windmill park and a lagoon in a 40 meter high hall.

The Finnish pavilion features simplified structure with close-to-touch natural scenery. The Finnish replanted a birch forest from their homeland in the open area in the middle.

The Danish use three different shaped buildings to develop the themes of "Energy", "Wisdom" and "Food".

Vietnam sends out its cordial invitation in Asian way: come and enjoy our traditional architecture, crystal water and green mountains.

Bhutan, well known for its Buddhism tradition, presents a pagoda building to hold the exhibits featuring the traditional Buddhism, modern education and environment protection.

United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, lays down a great deal of yellow sands sufficient to fill an airplane and 60 palm trees. A camel team, arriving on August 7 2000, the German national day, renders a true desert atmosphere in the pavilion.

The pavilion of Central America incorporates seven countries including Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama divided in different areas to display their regional characteristics.

Over thirty south African countries also unite to concentrate on the theme of "Tradition and Modern" in the African pavilion. The member countries of SADC present the design titled "Water".

Bhutan Pavilion

Successful Modern World Expo Image

Compared to its predecessors, the World Expo 2000 Hanover is truly a brand new event in terms of both content and form. Featuring the theme of "Humankind, Nature and Technology", it has displayed how the humankind can live in harmony with the nature with the help of technologies. Moreover, it is the first of its kind which has made use of nearly 800 global projects around the world to supplement the theme development.

The UN Conference on Environment and Environment 1992 was a milestone in the course of realization about the relationship between environment and development. In the Conference, the principle of sustainable development was universally accepted. The Expo 2000 Hanover, with the principle of sustainable development as the core concept, incorporated nearly 100,000m2 theme parks, the first of its kind. With various factual or virtual exhibited cases intermingled in the theme park, the Expo sensually developed its themes and the human yearning for the future. As a result, the Expo Hanover has helped built a brand new Expo image in the times of globalization and informatization.