By Staff Reporter Zhang Ruyun

Abstract: The nice image of a city is critical for holding the most successful world expo. Shanghai should take the historic opportunities to reshape its own city image, and show its best during, before and after the World Expo. The World Expo and the city image of Shanghai are interactive and linked.

Like the images of a brand or an enterprise, a city's image is an invisible asset, an indispensable element of the overall competitiveness of a city. In the era of the knowledge-based economy, a good image will surely sharpen by a great deal the overall competitiveness of a city and improve its capability of sustainable development. During the "Metropolis Image Forum," with "World Expo and the Civilization Image of the City" as its theme, held at the Shanghai International Convention Center on January 15, 2005, experts present at the meeting conducted extensive and in-depth discussions over the relations between the Expo 2010 Shanghai and the Shanghai's image. Shortly after the meeting, our staff reporter interviewed Professor Zhu Yunmao, the Director of the City Image Institute of Donghua University, on the subject.

Expo 2010 Shanghai: The city image seems to be a newly-emerging subject. What is its background?

Chu Yunmao: Over quite a long period of time, urban construction has been priority. People are likely to equate the infrastructure of a city with its image. Two years ago, as the deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Public Relations Association, I received a media delegation from the U.S. and Europe, which toured Shanghai to inspect the public relations situation in the city. At that time, I asked an accompanying official, "Where have you taken the guests in Shanghai?" He replied, "Lujiazui, subway and fly-over areas." "That's all?" "Maybe Chenghuang Temple and no more." The conversation prompted my thought: The subway, fly-over and skyscraper groups probably represented part of the city image of Shanghai, but they are definitely not all of them. What's more, the subway system appeared in Germany 155 years ago, and there is not a single fly-over in the entire city of Paris. Can you say Paris is not an international metropolis? For the guests from the U.S. and European countries, such a visit may have a minimal effect.

Expo 2010 Shanghai: It's more tiring than exciting.

Chu Yunmao: Absolutely. From then on, I began to think about the issue of city images. At that time, the bid for hosting the World Expo was underway. When we presented Shanghai to the world, how could we display the city image of Shanghai? Later I wrote an article in the Wenhui Daily - Reshaping the New City Image of Shanghai in the 21st Century. The article's main points were as follows: The industrial era was represented by a great number of smokestacks. Perhaps the skyscraper groups are a symbol of a city during the transition from the industrial era to the times of knowledge-based economies. In the information era of the 21st century, the city images may well include many more elements. After that, we established this City Image Institute. On the one hand, it is intended to conduct all-dimensional and systematic research of the city images. On the other hand, a strong image is critical for holding the most successful world expo. Our institute works toward this purpose. Shanghai should take the historical opportunities of holding the World Expo to create a better image for itself. It should show the best to the world during, before and after the World Expo. If Shanghai is able to hold a world expo without leaving a good impression to the people, we cannot say that it was successful world expo but one with flaws instead. Only when a World Expo is held and if Shanghai leaves people with a good impression can the World Expo be called the most successful one. The World Expo and Shanghai are interactive and linked.

Expo 2010 Shanghai: From where do you think should we proceed to reshape and display the city image of Shanghai? Just now, you mentioned the city images in the 21st century include many new elements. What are they specifically?

Chu Yunmao: In short, a favorable image includes the elements of security, cultural, ecological and technological images etc. Of them, the cultural element can be observed from the following areas: the elements of institutional, architectural, citizen, national, ecologic, fashion, industrial, and celebrity cultures. Each of the aspects has its own focal point. Here, I'd like to emphasize what I mean by fashion, ecologic and citizen cultures.
In the past, we had always given much attention to the national culture, which should undoubtedly be inherited and carried on, but this does not mean that we as a nation cannot pursue modern fashion. Fashion is an impulse that leads the trends of the times, a banner of cultural image of an international metropolis. In the world today, the vanguard of fashion is a city's symbol of dynamism. There are five major cities of fashion in the world. They are New York, Paris, London, Milan and Tokyo. Paris is more than a city of fashion. It's also a city of culture and arts. Shanghai possesses a very good potential. Given its hard work and opportunities, Shanghai will surely be able to establish its own image as a city of fashion and culture.

Expo 2010 Shanghai: You said fashion is an impulse that leads the trend of the times. It comes to my thought that ecology and environmental protection has increasingly become a hot topic in today's world, a keyword that tends to dominate. Can we say environmental protection is also a fashion?

Chu Yunmao: You can say that. This is why I attached special importance to the elements of the ecologic culture of the city image. The 21st century is an era in which ecology and environment protection are given top priority.
The 2005 Aichi World Expo has a theme of "Wisdom of Nature". Then, by 2010 when the World Expo is held in Shanghai, can the city we are living in present to the rest of the world its image as a pro-ecology culture highlighted by the respect for nature and the nature-first concept.

Expo 2010 Shanghai: This calls for the conscious participation of all the citizens.

Chu Yunmao: You're right. Then come the elements of the citizen culture. The citizen culture of a metropolis represents how a city is culturally advanced. Citizens should consciously take part in the city's cultural activities, instead of being mobilized to do so. The Expo 2010 Shanghai is a touchstone that tests the cultural quality of all the citizens, a driving force for improving the overall quality of the citizens, because it has a bearing on the development of the urban culture and steers its future orientation.

Expo 2010 Shanghai: One of my friends from another city once told me that the citizens of Shanghai have basically developed a self-awareness compatible with those of an international metropolis, and they have begun to behave accordingly. Now in Shanghai you can get a polite reply whenever you ask the way. Nevertheless, the only fly in the ointment is that you may still feel an underlying estrangement carefully enveloped in politeness.

Chu Yunmao: There is indeed such a phenomenon. Some speeches delivered at the "Metropolis Image Forum" have also touched upon this question. We now often talk about such words as "smiles" or "a smiling face". The citizens are urged to greet people from other places with smiles so as to demonstrate their amity and warmth. But why does it not live up to our expectations? I think we should not be too strict with our citizens. The right way is that we should make joint efforts. On the one hand, the living environment of our city should be further improved, making it more agreeable, so that the inhabitants of the city will naturally have a more joyful feeling free from worries and in turn are more willing to show their smiling faces. On the other hand, the awareness campaign should be enhanced further so as to make the concept of hospitality more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Persisting in this way, the Shanghai people will surely impress the rest of the world with more amity, friendship and generosity. The theme of the Expo 2010 Shanghai is "Better City, Better Life". The optimized and improved city image of Shanghai will be a perfect embodiment of the theme of the World Expo.