Shanghai Expo: Puxi Side, Part II
On Thursday our first order of business was to get in line for the GM SAIC pavilion. The previous evenind we just missed the cut-off for getting into line before the close of the Expo. Of those on the Puxi side, this seemed to have the longest lines and with good reason. After our two-hour wait, we were permitted entry with a group of about 25 others. Up stairs and ramps we were led, and then we waited again in front of some video screens. One of the videos was a cartoon introducing us to what the cars of the future could be like--mostly two-seater pods that will be equipped to perform all necessary driving and navigation tasks, allowing children, drunks, and the disabled alike to get in the vehicle, indicate the destination, and then be driven there.
The other video was more geared toward the Chinese audience. It traced the rapid changes in Shanghai in the past 20 years to allow us to consider that the next 20 years will naturally continue such an exponential trajectory. This video paralleled a Shanghai man's own life with the changes of the last 20 years. In 1990, he bought a bicycle. That same year he catches the eye of a pretty young girl on the street. A few years later, he gets a scooter and he and the young woman are now dating. A few years later, he has his first car....you get the picture.
It concludes with his saying that now in 2010 the three of them (he, wife, and one obvious son) ride together in their Very Nice Buick to see the Expo to see what the next 20 years has in store for them. And then, at that point we were invited into the theater. We buckled our seat belts and were treated to an amazing presentation, imagining the hopeful New World of Tomorrow, or at least, 2030.
The short movie was incredible. It tended towards sappy and silly, though I admired the exectution and the integration of the product, namely GM cars, as well as the moving seats. The vision GM-SAIC is projecting for the automobiles of 2030 for the urban Chinese market are mainly two-seater petrol-free pod vehicles using the OnStar system for all navigation and communication needs. These park simply and easily in automated docking systems (parking garages will be so 2010 by then), one of which stores the cars in a revolver-like magazine. People read emails, have conferences, do all kinds of things as their little car carries them around. Even a legally blind woman is able to have a car. I really found, too, the recurring themes of individuality and fashion as important to how these new cars would work incredibly interesting. In some ways it seems to me to be very specific to the Shanghai market, or least that is my feeling. Also, in the movie they hammered that these cars built for individual use would keep people connected and help them stay connected. That was odd, too, that cars truly built to carry around one or two people would improve people's connections and relationships just because in the car they can stay connected to all their social media and communications.
After the film, the screens disappeared revealing moving prototypes of the cars featured in the movie, with fluorescing dancers.
And then outside the theater we could get a better look at the design of the cars in a showroom.
One thing, too, that really distressed Myles (particularly since one of the stories in the movie was about a young married couple having a baby) was that the cars only had two seats. Where will the kids sit, he wondered.
After being dazzled by GM-SAIC we got into the line for the Oil industry pavilion. Of all the 3D, 4D, XD films in the Expo, this promised to be among the best, and certainly, a few thousand other people had heard the same thing, too. While outside though, we were able to watch day turn to evening and the change that brought about at the Oil Pavilion.
By day, a plain blue basket-weave building. A bit odd, really.
But then as the sun went down, the exterior changed, and frequently.
Once inside this pavilion (after another almost 2-hour wait), we walked through the displays on our way to this theater. What a contrast, I tell you, between the GM presentation which promises cars that rely not on oil at all, and the reminder from China's Oil Industry that petroleum and its derivatives are such a part of our life that even the World of Tomorrow still needs oil.
The movie shown by the Oil Industry is truly a 4D film. In addition to being 3D, complete with glasses, there was wind, water spray, and other special effects to make you think a snake was going under your legs, huge mosquitoes were actually coming at your arms....you get the idea. The 3D film alone was incredible, but the addition of that 4th D really put this movie over the top. In this case, again, the media was much better than the message. The message was that without oil, we have nothing, nothing at all that resembles a normal, comfortable, modern life as shown in a series of scenes where things just disappear. No cars, no iPods, no clothes. Yes, even clothes disappear without unlimited access to oil, as shown in one scene too bizarre to describe well. No nudity, thankfully, but the filmmakers have an interesting idea what sort of undergarments Western Leaders of advanced age and their advisers wear (really, a corset? like on a Western?). But mostly the message was probably lost to the special effects.
After the movie there was another room about the history of Oilexploitation exploration which included some places and events near to my hometown. Look kids, Drake's Well!
And in case there were any doubt who sponsored this pavilion and their intent for the future:
Another long, long afternoon for us. Friday would be the day that we spent just looking at country pavilions.
The other video was more geared toward the Chinese audience. It traced the rapid changes in Shanghai in the past 20 years to allow us to consider that the next 20 years will naturally continue such an exponential trajectory. This video paralleled a Shanghai man's own life with the changes of the last 20 years. In 1990, he bought a bicycle. That same year he catches the eye of a pretty young girl on the street. A few years later, he gets a scooter and he and the young woman are now dating. A few years later, he has his first car....you get the picture.
It concludes with his saying that now in 2010 the three of them (he, wife, and one obvious son) ride together in their Very Nice Buick to see the Expo to see what the next 20 years has in store for them. And then, at that point we were invited into the theater. We buckled our seat belts and were treated to an amazing presentation, imagining the hopeful New World of Tomorrow, or at least, 2030.
The short movie was incredible. It tended towards sappy and silly, though I admired the exectution and the integration of the product, namely GM cars, as well as the moving seats. The vision GM-SAIC is projecting for the automobiles of 2030 for the urban Chinese market are mainly two-seater petrol-free pod vehicles using the OnStar system for all navigation and communication needs. These park simply and easily in automated docking systems (parking garages will be so 2010 by then), one of which stores the cars in a revolver-like magazine. People read emails, have conferences, do all kinds of things as their little car carries them around. Even a legally blind woman is able to have a car. I really found, too, the recurring themes of individuality and fashion as important to how these new cars would work incredibly interesting. In some ways it seems to me to be very specific to the Shanghai market, or least that is my feeling. Also, in the movie they hammered that these cars built for individual use would keep people connected and help them stay connected. That was odd, too, that cars truly built to carry around one or two people would improve people's connections and relationships just because in the car they can stay connected to all their social media and communications.
After the film, the screens disappeared revealing moving prototypes of the cars featured in the movie, with fluorescing dancers.
And then outside the theater we could get a better look at the design of the cars in a showroom.
One thing, too, that really distressed Myles (particularly since one of the stories in the movie was about a young married couple having a baby) was that the cars only had two seats. Where will the kids sit, he wondered.
After being dazzled by GM-SAIC we got into the line for the Oil industry pavilion. Of all the 3D, 4D, XD films in the Expo, this promised to be among the best, and certainly, a few thousand other people had heard the same thing, too. While outside though, we were able to watch day turn to evening and the change that brought about at the Oil Pavilion.
By day, a plain blue basket-weave building. A bit odd, really.
But then as the sun went down, the exterior changed, and frequently.
Once inside this pavilion (after another almost 2-hour wait), we walked through the displays on our way to this theater. What a contrast, I tell you, between the GM presentation which promises cars that rely not on oil at all, and the reminder from China's Oil Industry that petroleum and its derivatives are such a part of our life that even the World of Tomorrow still needs oil.
The movie shown by the Oil Industry is truly a 4D film. In addition to being 3D, complete with glasses, there was wind, water spray, and other special effects to make you think a snake was going under your legs, huge mosquitoes were actually coming at your arms....you get the idea. The 3D film alone was incredible, but the addition of that 4th D really put this movie over the top. In this case, again, the media was much better than the message. The message was that without oil, we have nothing, nothing at all that resembles a normal, comfortable, modern life as shown in a series of scenes where things just disappear. No cars, no iPods, no clothes. Yes, even clothes disappear without unlimited access to oil, as shown in one scene too bizarre to describe well. No nudity, thankfully, but the filmmakers have an interesting idea what sort of undergarments Western Leaders of advanced age and their advisers wear (really, a corset? like on a Western?). But mostly the message was probably lost to the special effects.
After the movie there was another room about the history of Oil
And in case there were any doubt who sponsored this pavilion and their intent for the future:
Another long, long afternoon for us. Friday would be the day that we spent just looking at country pavilions.
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