Origin

from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_fair

     The definition of World Fair means “various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world”. It can also be called, which is an abbreviation of Exposition. There are other names people use to call it, such as World’s Fair, Universal Exposition and World Fair. The idea of World’s Fairs originated in the French tradition of national exhibitions. Other European countries were influenced by France and later London held the first real international exhibition on May 1 of 1851. It was the idea of Queen Vitoria’s husband, Prince Albert, that Queen Vitoria opened the Exhibition of manufactured products in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. The Britain Empire’s powerfulness and industrialization were exposed all over the world, which consolidated a high position for England at the age. It was the precedent of many international fairs so people gave it another name” World’s Fair”.

     There are lots of pavilions at World’s Fairs and each of them is responsible a particular country. The style and design of architecture represents the characteristic of the country. At World’s Fair, two types of expositions can be seen: registered and recognized. Registered expositions are the biggest displays and every nations show their new inventions or specialties. For example, Italy usually presents international well-known brands and Japan likes to presents its invention of Robot. Recognized ones are smaller and usually organizers build for participating states. They can exhibit in there without taxes, rents, charges and expenses. The former duration during the exhibition is longer than the latter. In addition, a third category of exposition is the horticultural exposition where gardens and garden pavilions take the form of a participant’s representation.

World’s Fair can be divided into the era of industrialization, the era of cultural exchange, and the era of nation branding.

Industrialization(1851-1938):

During the period, the expositions focused on trade and the show of technological inventions and advancements. The famous inventions, such as the telephone, were first displayed during this era.

Cultural exchange(1939-1987):

Although technology and inventions were still important, the fairs put more emphasis on cultural significance and began to address issues of humankind. For example, the theme of NY World’s Fair in 1939 is” Building the World of Tomorrow” and Stockholm World’s Fair in 1949 is”Sports”.

Nation branding(1988-present):

It has been a trend to use the exposition to express national images through pavilions since the Expo’88 in Brisbane.

Today’s World’s Expositions include elements of all three eras.