Without traditional outdoor celebrating performances, large-scaled activities or a sumptuous banquet, the 10th West Lake International Expo Hangzhou China was officially launched in a thrifty way last Friday in Hangzhou, the capital of eastern Zhejiang Province.

Why was Hangzhou, a fairly affluent city in the country's major economic powerhouse, the Yangtze River Delta, so mean with one of the city's most important events this year?

"We will donate our savings of over 1 million yuan (US$146,342) to the reconstruction work of Qingchuan County", said Guo Chumin, deputy director of the organizing committee. The money has been saved through a smaller opening ceremony, and cutting out banquets and large activities.

Qingchuan was severely hit by the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan Province. Zhejiang Province was paired up with Qingchuan in May by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and has provided aid since that time.

So in order to save money, the city moved the opening ceremony performances indoors for the first time. "Holding the opening ceremony performances at the theater costs much less than an outdoor show", said Sha Xiaolan, the art consultant.

"Since 2002, the West Lake expo has been sponsored by enterprises, rather than the city budget", said Guo, "our capital is financed through society and we should return that to people."

Zhejiang set up a commanding center, in Qingchuan in August, staffed by its own influential officials, to aid reconstruction there. A material raising department was also established in Hangzhou. "Hangzhou has donated over 1 billion yuan to the May 12 quake-hit areas", Guo said.

A donation ceremony was scheduled to be held at the ending of the expo.

Not only Qingchuan, but also Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province also hit on May 12, benefited from the expo. An activity named The Communion of Two Cities was designed as one of the 102 expo projects. The theme is the dialogue between Dujiangyan (the world's oldest operating irrigation system in Chengdu) and the Grand Canal (a canal linking Beijing and Hangzhou, which was built in 604 AD in Hangzhou).

The expo will provide a sound platform to boost tourism in Chengdu, helping with the recovery of the quake-ravaged city.

(China Daily October 22, 2008)