News bites

Book translated

The Chinese translation of The Girl Who Played with Fire by famed Swedish author Stig Larsson was recently launched at the Swedish Pavilion at the Expo 2010 Shanghai.

The late Swedish author's trilogy: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest have all attained incredible international success. The books have been translated into 30 languages and more than 44 million copies in 40 countries have been sold. In Sweden, with a population of just 9 million, 3 million copies have been sold.

Green Expo

A launch ceremony to promote the 12th China Hangzhou West Lake International Expo was held on Aug 31 in the Hangzhou Case Pavilion. Students from City College at Zhejiang University visited the Japan Corporate Pavilion, London Case Pavilion and Taipei Case Pavilion to learn about low-carbon emissions and recycling. The students will report on how these initiatives can be adapted for the West Lake International Expo, which will be held in October in Hangzhou. Free gifts made of recycled materials were handed out to children at the launch ceremony.

Trophy debut

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero visited the Expo Garden on the country's national pavilion day on Aug 30. The prime minister brought with him the FIFA World Cup Trophy, but it stayed for less than 24 hours. It arrived in Shanghai at 7:30 pm on Aug 29 and left at 6:30 pm on Aug 30. It was displayed in the Spain Pavilion for nine hours and enthusiastic fans queued for hours outside the pavilion to get a glimpse of and photograph the famous trophy.

Tennis stars arrive

The 2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters, which will include Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and many other world's leading players, will be held from Oct 9 to 17. The event organizer announced on Aug 30 that it would cooperate with seven national pavilions at Expo 2010 Shanghai by bringing big-name tennis players to the Expo. Tennis fans will have the opportunity to be invited to visit the top players' national pavilions and win tickets to the event, to be held at the Qizhong Tennis Center.

Lessons learned

Six teachers selected from primary and middle schools in Shanghai gave lessons on biology, physics and history in a number of pavilions recently in special "Expo Lesson" classes. The pavilions included the Chengdu Case Pavilion, the Ningbo Case Pavilion, the Hunan Pavilion, the Baosteel Stage and the African Joint Pavilion. The lessons incorporated characteristics of these pavilions.

China Daily

(China Daily 09/03/2010)