Hanging with Haibao

The city has Expo fever. The opening day is May 1 and the excitement/anticipation is palpable. The government is making a concerted effort to clean up the city and to keep things orderly, as evidenced by the "no smoking" and "no spitting" signs hung up everywhere and the guards in every metro stop and tourist destination.

The Expo mascot, Haibao, also seems pumped. Haibao is everywhere, from stuffed versions being hawked on the street to the large-scale versions in parks and public areas. (Even our school has a large Haibao at its gate.) Though he looks more like Gumby than anything else, Haibao is modeled after the Chinese character for the word "ren," meaning people. Enjoy this picture of Beth and me with Haibao at the Xujiahui park yesterday.