By Zhao Hong

A special flag raising ceremony

On the morning of 19 March, the news studio of Shanghai Jin Cai High School was different somehow: a refined dough figurine of the character in the Chinese masterpiece Journey to the West was placed on the news desk; the three student hosts looked exciting and nervous before the video camera; the principal Wang Conglian came to the news studio early. A special flag raising ceremony was about to begin in live TV broadcast. Accompanied by the sound of majestic national anthem, the hosts declared that flag-raising ceremony under the theme of "Expo and Us" began.

"As a young force in the city, being volunteer will be the most direct way for us to serve the Expo. My dear schoolmates, let's act as the host to devote ourselves to the Expo and let every visitor feel the quick changes in China and appreciate the passion of Chinese younger generation towards Expo 2010 Shanghai China. We hope our Jin Cai students can show themselves in the team of volunteers in 2010", said Chen Yan from Class 13, Senior Grade 3 in her keynote speech. Next, Wu Yi from Class 4, Senior Grade 2 read the letter dated 28 February from Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, Secretary General of the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), and asked Principal Wang to send a dough figurine of Journey to the West made by himself to Secretary General Loscertales as a gift. Although this lifelike handicraft is small, it bears the expectation of Jin Cai students for the Expo 2010 Shanghai China.

An unforgettable Expo complex

Early in 2002 when Shanghai bade for hosting Expo 2010, Jin Cai High School's Expo complex began to grow. In March 2002, the BIE delegation led by Carmen Sylvain and V. G. Loscertales inspected Shanghai. On their short tour, the delegation inspected and visited more than ten projects related to the Expo, and one of them was to visit Jin Cai High School. After the delegation arrived at Jin Cai High School, they were all moved by the sincere desire and self-confidence of the students and teachers. A natural, harmonious, sincere and affecting atmosphere went through in the whole process of reception. The chorus of Song of Joy, paper-cuttings and paintings about the bid for Expo 2010, and Chinese knots of "Expo Complex", all these attracted these honored guests. When the students wore a Chinese knot bracelet made by them on the wrist of Mrs. Sylvain, she said excitedly, "I will wear this bracelet when vote. I'll tell everybody this is a gift sent by Chinese children when I visited China. Good luck to China!" During the visit, the students talked with these guests in fluent English, French and German, which delighted the members of the delegation very much. From these young students, they saw the hope of Expo 2010 and the future of China.

"The enthusiasm, sincerity, courtesy and cleverness of Jin Cai students leave a good impression on the delegation. It is our pride and this good memory will encourage us to make contribution to Expo 2010 Shanghai China continuously", said Principal Wang Conglian. In recent years, Jin Cai High School has always regarded Expo 2010 Shanghai China as a chance, taken the consciousness of state, cultural identity and citizen personality as the major parts of moral education, and paid attention to lay a good foundation for the lifetime education of students. The school has arranged special lesson on "Expo manners", continued the multi-language and double-foreign-language (French-oriented) teaching and applied for participation in the volunteer work for Special Olympics Shanghai 2007 as training for Expo 2010 Shanghai China.

A precious gift

On January 10, 2007, Jin Cai High School invited Zhou Hanmin, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination to make a speech under the theme of "Advance with Expo & Let the Youth Shine". After Loscertales was told of this information, she wrote down the following words gladly: "I have a very good impression of Jin Cai High School. Her students are polite, clever and diligent, which are the best guarantee for them to become the volunteers of Expo 2010 Shanghai China in the future". When Deputy Director Zhou Hanmin sent this inscription by Loscertales to Jin Cai High School, it became a precious special gift. Principal Wang wrote a Thank-you letter to Secretary General Loscertales at once, expressing he will lead all the students and teachers to contribute to the volunteer work of Expo 2010 Shanghai China. Secretary General Loscertales wrote a letter in reply in February to express his desire of visiting Jin Cai High School again in the near future. This precious gift encouraged Jin Cai students greatly. "We will try to become the best volunteer of Expo 2010 Shanghai China", "we will show the elegant demeanor of Shanghai teenagers like the elder schoolmates five years ago", and "we will try our best to achieve the 'polite, clever and diligent' required by Secretary General Loscertales by all means", said the students. The schoolmate Wu Yi, on behalf of all the teachers and students, presented a dough figurine of Journey to the West made by himself to Mr. Loscertales as a return. So is what happened at the flag raising ceremony.

Zhou Hanmin said, "Our all forces come from the people. We have more expectations from the youth, for they are the pillar of this Expo, for I hope the whole world can see the confident smile on the face of our Chinese youth." As the representative of Shanghai youth, Jin Cai High School's students express their attention to Expo 2010 Shanghai China and this attention reflects the expectations of the society for the Expo. Jin Cai students' politeness, cleverness and diligence are actually the miniature of the younger generation of China today. Expo 2010 Shanghai China endows this younger generation with a great mission and gives them an opportunity to show self-confidence, enthusiasm and splendor at this grand gathering of human beings.

Expect the year 2010, and expect the embrace!