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 Visitors ride bicycles inside the Denmark Pavilion. [gao erqiang / china daily] |
A few accidents aside, the use of bicycles by visitors to the Denmark Pavilion has proved a big hit, Matt Hodges reports.
The Denmark Pavilion was said to be nearly as difficult to design as the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing because of its lack of supporting pillars, and navigating it by bicycle is no mean feat either - as many Chinese have discovered.
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Denmark decided to bring hundreds of Copenhagen's city bikes to the Expo to enhance its green message and be in keeping with the Expo's motto of "Better City, Better Life".
This makes for a refreshing change from many of the pavilions, which rely heavily on audiovisual gimmicks. However, the problems that Denmark has encountered, such as spills and grazed knees, suggest that banning bikes, skateboards and Segways from the Expo Garden was just as inspired. (One foreigner had somehow managed to get a Segway into the Expo Garden on May 9 and was clearly enjoying cruising around).
The main problem for the locals has been getting to grips with the foot brake, which requires you to back pedal to stop - a rare function in this part of the world.
"We have an average of five people who fall off a bike each day, but no serious accidents yet," Lene Winther, the head of media at the pavilion said. But this number pales in comparison to attendance, which is averaging 20,000 a day.
"It's a bit dangerous, because the Chinese are used to having hand brakes, but that's why we (insist they wear) the helmets," said pavilion director Stine Guldmann.
The pavilion put its foot down on May 8, seven days after the Expo opened. Bike riding was temporarily halted while handbrakes were installed and the bikes were back in action on May 11.
Expo organizers toyed with the idea of giving bike-rental companies free reign during the event, then rejected it as unsound given the logistics of having up to half a million people a day in a site just over 3 square kilometers in area.
Yet Denmark was prepared to take the gamble at both its national and urban pavilions - the only places where bikes are permitted within the Expo Garden. It originally asked guests for a 100-yuan deposit but soon waived this.
"Some clever Chinese people found a way to unpick the lock and reclaim the deposit, so we decided to stop that," said one Danish member of staff.
"We haven't seen any spills that couldn't be fixed by a band aid," said one of his colleagues.
Accidents notwithstanding, the Denmark pavilion was a huge success in its opening two weeks, and it's airy and partially open-plan design makes it one of the best places to head on a hot and humid Shanghai summer's day as most of the other pavilions are closed structures.
The irony of the Denmark Pavilion is that it is composed of ascending and descending circular slopes, whereas Denmark is a flat country - one reason why cycling is a popular and practical way of getting around there.
"Key people, like branding experts, told us it was a stupid idea, that Chinese hate bikes and are embarrassed by them, that they all want to drive SUVs and Minis," said Winther.
"But as you can see, they love them."
"I like this bike very much, it's very green, very economical," said Qi Luhai, who was riding one-handed while videoing his trip with a camcorder. "I ride 300 kilometers every month."
However, The Little Mermaid is the real star of the show and deservedly so. "The way they've positioned it here in the pool, behind the glass, is much better than the view in Denmark, where it sits on rocks and is quite difficult to see," said a Swedish middle-aged man who gave his name as Arne.
Denmark's Odense Pavilion in Puxi has a similar bike-rental service within its 500-sq-m grounds. Its cycling track is half the length of its opposite number in Pudong.
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