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A visitor to the Belgium-EU Pavilion is presented with a diamond gift. yong kai / China Daily |
Everything from chocolate and diamonds to laptop computers and overseas holidays are up for grabs, Shang Ban reports.
Some visitors to the Expo 2010 Shanghai are leaving with more than just happy memories, pictures and paid-for souvenirs. Some will leave with jewelry, trips, money and even a car.
When 7-year-old Hong Yiwei walked into the Hungary Pavilion a week ago, she was lucky enough to win a seven-day trip to Budapest.
"We didn't expect to be the one millionth visitor to the pavilion, but we were more than happy to receive the gift," said Hong's parents, cuddling their daughter who is too young to know where Budapest is.
The Hongs are not the only visitors who have been lucky during their Expo visit. Many pavilions are offering incentives to visitors - some big, some small, but all free.
On the Puxi side of the Expo Garden, the Coca-Cola Pavilion gives each visitor a 200-milliliter souvenir bottle of Coca-Cola.
"I am a huge fan of Coca-Cola. I have a collection of different Coca-Cola bottles. I will add it to my collection," said Nicholas Wretch, a sociology major at Yale University in the United States.
The Japanese Corporate Pavilion distributes flax bags with a chocolate bar and a plastic fan inside. The Seoul Case Pavilion in the Urban Best Practices Area attracts people by taking photos of each visitor and printing an oil painting-style picture of these photographs.
In Pudong, the Belgium-EU Pavilion has a chocolate factory where visitors get a chance to taste the country's famous dark collocate for free. Thousands of pieces are given out at the pavilion twice a day.
In the France Pavilion, visitors can receive samples of perfumes and other cosmetics. "The distribution is random on any day to anyone to make the event less predictable and more exciting," said one staff member at the pavilion.
The millionth visitors at national pavilions can receive special prizes and money.
Zhang Gennan, the one-millionth visitor at the African Joint Pavilion, had the opportunity to hold a scepter, a sign of authority and power in African culture.
"I do not know exactly what it is all about, but it seems fun," said the 54 year-old woman from Shanghai.
The Canada Pavilion gave out a wapiti (a deer native to North America) toy and a bottle of maple syrup. Luxembourg gave its millionth visitor a case of white wine, the same kind that is enjoyed by its royal family. The Finland Pavilion gave a specially designed set of hammers for making memorial coins to its one-millionth visitor.
Apart from local products, luxuries are always appealing to people. In the Belgium-EU pavilion, people have a chance to win diamond jewelry every day by texting a number given at the pavilion.
When an unnamed schoolgirl was contacted by the pavilion to pick up the diamond gift, she could not believe she was the first to pick up the 4,999-yuan prize.
Poland treated Feng Yuanyuan and her family to a Polish meal and a laptop computer, while Australia gave out a gold pendant worth 4,500 yuan.
And some visitors may even win a car. Staff from the SAIC-GM Pavilion told China Daily: "The winner will be determined by seat number when the audience watches a movie at the pavilion." No other details have been released yet.
As an award to its one-millionth visitor, Turkey gave two roundtrip tickets to Istanbul. Hungary and Indonesia were even more generous and gave weeklong trips that included tickets, local transportation, accommodation in five-star hotels and dining.
Yu Ran contributed to the story
(China Daily 06/18/2010 page35)
