Shanghai 2010 Expo opening ceremony sneak preview

Anyone near the Bund Tuesday night was treated to a sneak peek of the Expo opening festivities

By Jessica Beaton 29 April, 2010

Slated to be the largest outdoor multimedia display China has seen since the Olympics, the show will make non-stop use of fireworks, sound and light, says a DAE press release.

The Shanghai 2010 Expo outdoor opening ceremony will be 30 minutes long and take on a 3.4 km stretch of the Huangpu River.

The 2010 Expo opening ceremonies will feature record-breaking firsts -- would China have it any other way?

Expect the biggest LED screen ever made, the largest searchlight installation in the world and the greatest number of pyrotechnics ever fired over water, land, bridges and buildings at the opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony will be drawing dozens of foreign leaders including South Korean President Lee Myung-bak who will be in Shanghai on April 30 and May 1. Will he be going to the Friday and Saturday opening ceremony? We’ll have to see.

DAE artistic director Ignatius Jones says of the show: “We look forward to stunning the world.”

Friday’s opening ceremony will be made for TV with a live audience, according to Shanghai Daily, but CCTV will air it in full at 8:10pm.

Don't only look above for the opening ceremony show. Look out on the Huangpu for boats carrying the flags of the nations taking part in the 2010 Expo.

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If you heard a couple of pretty loud booms on Tuesday night, it wasn't the Maglev backfiring, it was a dry run of Friday night’s opening ceremony for the Shanghai 2010 Expo, lights, fireworks -- lots of them -- and all.

“The ceremony will include some indoor official protocols and outdoor light and firework shows,” said Shanghai Vice Mayor Yang Xiong to Shanghai Daily.

Click the gallery button above for Tuesday’s run through, a preview of the light and fireworks show.

Slightly more enthusiastic is David Atkins CEO of DAE, the company producing the event. “This is the first time a World Expo is hosting an opening ceremony of this scale,” says Atkins. “We are honored to have worked so closely with Chinese cultural authorities to create and produce a ceremony worthy of showcasing China -- and the great city of Shanghai -- to the world.”

Friday’s opening ceremony will be made for TV with a live audience, according to Shanghai Daily, but CCTV will air it in full at 8:10pm. There will be another airing in case you missed it the first time around at 9am Saturday morning.

A borough-bred Manhattanite, Jessica Beaton has lived in Shanghai for five years working as a magazine editor and freelancer writer. She's now the Shanghai city editor at CNNGo.

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Shanghai 2010 Expo opening ceremony sneak preview

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