The History of Shanghai expo began when numerous scholars and government officials envisioned China would one day join the world community in hosting an international global expos. Different governments have gained international experience in participating in fairs outside China. It wasn't until the later 20th century when the participation and hosting became more regular.

Outside participations

Early unofficial participations

In 1851, a Cantonese businessman in Shanghai, Xu Rongcun (徐榮村), heard about The Great Exhibition taking place in London. He hurriedly grabbed 12 bags of silk and brought it to London in a long trip.^[1] Queen Victoria herself even gave Xu a golden award.^[1] Henry Courtney Selous created a number of paintings of the 1851 exhibition, including one featuring a Chinese man by the name of Xisheng (希生) .^[2] Xisheng was wearing a Qing government official outfit and purported to represent the Chinese government. However, after later investigation it was revealed that he was from Guangdong and was not actually a government official. He had arrived on a ship called the Keying.^[3] Neither of these two earliest Chinese participants were official government representatives.

Official participation

The Qing dynasty first officially participated in the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, then continued in 1904 in the St Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The Republic of China participated in the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition.^[4]

Hosting vision

In 1893 a Qing representative from Xiangshan County, Guangdong named Zheng Guanying wrote a book called Words of Warning to a Prosperous Age. In the book, Zheng argued that China needed to establish a constitution and a parliament^[5] and become a constitutional monarchy.^[6] The book also proposed the idea of China hosting a "world's fair". Cheng recommended Shanghai as the place to hold the fair because it was a meeting point of East and West.^[1] The book was read and appreciated by the Guangxu Emperor, who recommended printing 2000 copies of it.^[1]

In 1902 scholar Liang Qichao also mentioned the idea of an expo in a book called The Future of New China.^[7] He even went to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in the United States in 1904.

In the ancient town of Zhujiajiao in Shanghai, a scholar by the name of Lu Shi'e wrote a novel in 1910 called Xin Zhongguo (New China). The novel describes a utopian vision of Shanghai in 1950, hosting a grand exposition for nations from around the world.^[7][8]

In the Republic of China era, Sun Yat-sen wrote a series of three works collectively known as the Plan for National Reconstruction [zh]. In one of the books, he pointed out that Shanghai was in the position to host a world's fair.^[9] In the 1930s and 1940s, China was engulfed by the Chinese Civil War and the Second Sino-Japanese War, and all plans to host an exposition were postponed.^[9] It wasn't until after 1979 when Deng Xiaoping revisited the world expo idea again.^[9]

Hosting previous fairs

A number of specialized world fairs of much smaller scale have appeared in China before. The first of which is the Qing dynasty Nanyang industrial exposition, also referred to internationally as the Nanking Exposition. The Republic of China government has tried numerous times to host a fair since 1920. They did not succeed until the 1929 Westlake exposition.^[10]

Since then the successful hosting of the 1999 World Horticultural Exposition in Kunming was a key event that brought modern hosting experience into China and eventually led to the Shanghai bid.^[11] On November 18, 1999, the Chinese government officially decided that Shanghai would bid for the 2010 World Expo. The city would win the bid on December 3, 2002 at the 132nd General Assembly of the International Exhibitions Bureau.^[12][13] The 2010 Shanghai Expo took place exactly 100 years after 1910, when Lu Shi'e envisioned hosting an expo in the city.^[8]