For Chinese firms, Expo is a world stage

Pavilions highlight tradition, modernity and country's economic prowess

As China showcases at the Milan Expo the importance of food and agriculture to the world, it is also pointing to the growing strength and internationalization of Chinese companies. Three Chinese pavilions are present at the expo, which opened on May 1: the China Pavilion, a pavilion by the property developer Vanke, and the China Corporate United Pavilion, jointly set up by a group of Chinese companies, covering a total area of 6,700 square meters.

In the China Pavilion, exhibits showcase the country's ancient food culture with stories that are specific to particular regions and cities. Clay figures stand inside a large exhibit showing Chinese people eating and making food, or chatting around the food table, conveying the message of how food has brought together different people.

The China Corporate United Pavilion at the Milan Expo opened on May 1. Three Chinese pavilions are at the expo and cover a total area of 6,700 square meters. Photos by [Cecily Liu / China Daily]

All these stories are coherently incorporated into the design of the China Pavilion, which is a wheat-field-shaped pavilion consisting of more than 20,000 straws of "wheat" made from steel and wood.

Each straw inside the pavilion is installed with LED lights that can be remotely controlled. They change colors constantly, giving visitors a sense of growing crops. The roof is covered by bamboo tiles, in the shape of many small individual straws, creating a feeling of harvesting.

Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, secretary-general of the International Exhibitions Bureau, says China's participation in international exhibitions has progressed greatly over the years, and the Shanghai Expo in 2006 changed the image of expos.

Loscertales says the design of the China Pavilion perfectly showcases tradition and modernity, central to China's values.

Carlo Calenda, Italian deputy minister for economic development, says China works closely with Italy in food and agriculture, and both countries believe food is not just about eating, but is an important part of life.

The China Corporate United Pavilion is themed "Seeds of China". Drawing on the symbolism of the seed, the China Corporate United Pavilion interprets the dream of a group of Chinese companies that seek to go global and engage with partners internationally.

The pavilion has three display sections. One shows companies that are present and inseparable from the daily lives of people, including companies in the food, clothing and transport industries.

The second section shows Chinese companies in high-end manufacturing and technology, a core area of China's strength when its firms go global, and the section echoes the essence of the Universal Exposition, which is to showcase the best of the world's innovative industrial breakthroughs.

A third section is a cartoon movie using pandas to tell the story of Chinese companies' desire to go global. The movie also allows interaction between visitors and a mascot panda.

Near the ground floor entrance is a shop that sells Chinese deserts, Chinese tea and small Chinese artworks. Also sold at the pavilion are "expo passports", which allow visitors to receive stamps from every pavilion.

Wang Hui, executive pavilion director of the China Corporate United Pavilion, says it the biggest gathering of Chinese companies to exhibit at a universal exposition outside China, and it is in line with the encouragement of the Chinese government for Chinese companies to go global.

"We hope to use the theme of the seed to show that the best of Chinese companies in their respective industries will grow in the global market, and become globally competitive firms, like big trees that grow from seeds. Some smaller companies may not have such high ambitions, so we hope that they will still grow, like grass, to support the bigger Chinese firms."

Wang says the design of the pavilion, with each section linked by a spiral walkway, echoes the idea of a seed growing up and blossoming.

Some of the firms already have a presence outside China, through both growth and acquisitions, so it makes sense for them to make their brands better known to a global audience, he says.

One such company is Bright Food, which has made numerous acquisitions overseas, including a majority stake in the Italian olive oil maker Salov in 2013.

Another is Shanghai Electric, which bought a 40 percent stake in the Italian power engineering company Ansaldo Energia last year. The two firms will then establish two joint ventures to make gas turbines for Asian markets, and set up a research and development center in Shanghai.

Another company at the expo, the Chinese drinks maker Jia Duo Bao, sells herbal tea in scores of international markets, having successfully established a distribution network across different continents.

"We don't just give opportunities to the biggest Chinese firms, but we also allow small food companies and Chinese gift producers to participate," Wang says.

"For many of them, even the idea of one day participating in an international event like the expo is unimaginable.

"This shows that the Chinese economy is already integral to the global economy. So we don't just want to simply exhibit the companies at the expo, we want to really allow companies to find the right business partners so they can do more international business through the exhibition."

At the China Corporate United Pavilion, various events will run throughout the expo, which lasts until October 31, allowing companies to promote their images and find potential business partners, and in the process enhance cultural exchanges.

One example is to invite Chinese companies to taste Italian wine and vote for their favorite, and another is a competition among Italian artists to paint their understandings of Chinese companies and the China Corporate United Pavilion.

Wang says setting up the pavilion has been a challenge because it is the first Chinese companies' pavilion overseas. Selecting the most representative companies to demonstrate Chinese firms' strength has been a key challenge, and linking up their displays in a coherent way has taken great effort because of the companies' great variety.

Zhuo Yalan, events manager of the China Corporate United Pavilion, says the pavilion will run a series of events to spread the impact to a more Chinese companies, so the end result will effect several thousand firms.

Zhuo says that the pavilion will dedicate events to groups of companies from specific cities or regions during different periods of the expo, so these cities or regions can organize companies to visit the expo and spread their message to the expo audience.

There will also be Chinese cultural events such as dance performances or Chinese traditional clothing fashion shows, to lighten up the atmosphere of the pavilion, which is heavily focused on businesses.

The pavilion is also hosting an e-commerce platform that allows trading in all kinds of products between China and the global market, so both Chinese and international users of the platform can enjoy some benefits of the pavilion without being at the expo, Zhuo says.

Zhou Xiaoming, brand manager of Shanghai Electric, a company presented in the pavilion, says he believes the pavilion is a great venue for companies like his to spread the message to a global audience.

"Right now the Chinese high-speed railway and infrastructure sectors are rapidly going global, and as a supplier of these industries, Shanghai Electric will also increasingly engage in international projects.

"As a key supplier to China's nuclear and wind power sectors, our technology is already consistent with the highest global standards and quality. We are already well known by industry experts but we would like to be well known to a wider audience."

Airaldo Piva, a visitor to the expo and also the European managing director of the Chinese conglomerate Hengdian Group, says he believes that with the combined efforts of the three pavilions, China will be highly prominent at the expo.

"I think it will be ... a chance for the world to learn more about China."

cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn