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Shanghai World Expo's Superlatives
By Rona Rui & Ren Zihui
The curtain rose on the Shanghai World Expo on April 30 after eight years of preparations and at a cost of US$400 billion.
The Chinese regime advertises it as the “largest ever.”
But that might not be the sole superlative tied with the expo.
An estimated 18,000 families were evicted, many forcibly and without proper compensation, to make way for the 1,305 acres of land appropriated for the Expo.
"The opening of the Shanghai Expo today is a disaster for all the evictees and all the victims of the Expo,” says Shen Ting, chair of the League of Chinese Victims (LCV).
The LCV plans to file a lawsuit in Paris against the event’s organizer, International Exhibitions Bureau (IEB), for granting Shanghai the right to host the World Expo. They have hired French lawyer William Bourdon and addressed the IEB in an open letter which states that the IEB is morally and legally responsible for the actions of the Chinese regime which has left thousands homeless.
“Shanghai got the right to host the World Expo through deceit, and [cleared] the site through eviction,” Shen said, adding that people not only lost their homes, but the compensation accorded to them was tantamount to robbery.
Amnesty International reported that women housing activists in Shanghai were mistreated, harassed, and incarcerated in unofficial places of detention known as “black jails” for taking part in a wave of anti-eviction activism. It’s the first time in history that a country has victimized its people to host the Expo.
Shen Peilan, a petitioner from Shanghai, told The Epoch Times, “It is said that the public is welcome to attend the Expo, but petitioners are denied all rights. The police issued a notice to bar us from the Expo. Many of us have been monitored and suppressed, many have been arrested, and some have had to flee Shanghai.”
By Rona Rui & Ren Zihui
The curtain rose on the Shanghai World Expo on April 30 after eight years of preparations and at a cost of US$400 billion.
The Chinese regime advertises it as the “largest ever.”
But that might not be the sole superlative tied with the expo.
An estimated 18,000 families were evicted, many forcibly and without proper compensation, to make way for the 1,305 acres of land appropriated for the Expo.
"The opening of the Shanghai Expo today is a disaster for all the evictees and all the victims of the Expo,” says Shen Ting, chair of the League of Chinese Victims (LCV).
The LCV plans to file a lawsuit in Paris against the event’s organizer, International Exhibitions Bureau (IEB), for granting Shanghai the right to host the World Expo. They have hired French lawyer William Bourdon and addressed the IEB in an open letter which states that the IEB is morally and legally responsible for the actions of the Chinese regime which has left thousands homeless.
“Shanghai got the right to host the World Expo through deceit, and [cleared] the site through eviction,” Shen said, adding that people not only lost their homes, but the compensation accorded to them was tantamount to robbery.
Amnesty International reported that women housing activists in Shanghai were mistreated, harassed, and incarcerated in unofficial places of detention known as “black jails” for taking part in a wave of anti-eviction activism. It’s the first time in history that a country has victimized its people to host the Expo.
Shen Peilan, a petitioner from Shanghai, told The Epoch Times, “It is said that the public is welcome to attend the Expo, but petitioners are denied all rights. The police issued a notice to bar us from the Expo. Many of us have been monitored and suppressed, many have been arrested, and some have had to flee Shanghai.”
