KFC kids
Eleven children from Yunnan province teamed up with 11 volunteer families from Shanghai recently to hold a public welfare class in the Expo Garden. A one-day tour of Expo was held on the same day. The class, co-organized by KFC and the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, is part of a program called Donate One Yuan to Show Your Caring Heart and Deliver Nutrition. Through this and other programs, KFC aims to increase public awareness to help the unprivileged. A surprise party was thrown for the children who are celebrating their birthdays during the six months of Expo, from May to October. Each child received a parcel of gifts.
Lucky visitor
One of the most popular corporate pavilions in the Expo Garden, the Coca-Cola Pavilion, received its 500,000th visitor on July 27. The director of the pavilion, Li Yichuan, and special guest Purba Rgyal, 2006 champion of the TV show, My Hero, presented the lucky visitor with a certificate and accompanied him on a tour of the Coca-Cola Happiness Workshop. The visitor has also received a T-shirt, hat, backpack and a scroll painting.
Olympic effort
Li Ning, famous gymnast and entrepreneur who won six medals (including three gold) at the 1984 Summer Olympics, arrived at the Expo Garden recently with a large group of students from the unprivileged families and distressed areas. Eighty students in the group were from Wenchuan, where an earthquake struck in 2008, while another 15 were from Fuyang in Anhui Province. The Li Ning Fund Association, initiated by the Olympian, offers the chance for underprivileged children to go to the Expo Garden. This was the fifth time Li had accompanied children to the Expo since it began in May.
Lightening fingers
Known as the "fastest pianist in the world", Hungarian musician Balzs Havasi demonstrated his amazing skills at the Hungary Pavilion in the Expo Garden. Havasi can hit piano keys with his fingers 490 times per minute, a speed that is a blur to the naked eye. That's a record according to Guinness World Records. Havasi learned to play the piano at the age of four. Also a composer, Havasi wrote a symphony for Expo 2010 Shanghai. The pianist attributed his lightening fingers to his interest in kungfu.
Scalpers scuppered
The rules of acquiring reservation tickets to the Germany Pavilion from the Bremen Case Pavilion in Urban Best Practices Area have changed. Visitors, who could get the tickets on a first-come-first-served basis previously, now have to secure the tickets taking part in a quiz held in the Bremen Case Pavilion at 2 pm daily.
The director of Bremen Case Pavilion, Ulrike Hovelmann, said that the rules have been changed to crack down ticket scalpers who are selling the free tickets for up to 600 yuan each.
China Daily
(China Daily 07/30/2010 page39)
