News

2 november: The Odense Pavilion shutting down

The Odense Pavilion is shutting down and wishes to thank all the participants, partners and visitors who have contributed in making the last 6 months unforgettable. A total number of 532.348 visitors have passed through the pavilion, more than double the number originally expected.

A great variety of guests have shown interest in the pavilion, ranging from students from Urban Planning departments of local Shanghai Universities to designers and architects, as well as local and international politicians and government officials. All have been inspired by the simple message of urban cyclism that Odense has brought to the Expo and have left the pavilion with new ideas and goals for the future.

Also the Chinese media has shown great interest in Odense Pavilion. Journalists, tv producers and radio hosts have brought attention to the importance of bicycles in urban planning and helped bring the message of the Odense Pavilion outside of the Expo site to the Chinese people.

The Odense Pavilion staff will soon be leaving Shanghai to head back to Denmark to continue their daily lives. Some will continue their studies and others will be looking for jobs. They are all proud to have been a part of the Expo, Shanghai 2010 and have made valuable experiences to take home with them.

The Pavilion is now headed to Shaoxing, the friendship city of Odense, who will take over the bicycles and create an exhibition about the Bicycle City of Odense. Any further questions regarding the City of Odense can be directed to pavillion director of the Odense Pavilion,

Signe Z. N. Madsen: sznm@odense.dk

1 november: ”The lasts” of the EXPO

In the days leading up to October 31st Odense Pavilion witnessed a number of ”lasts”. Rune sold his last Søbogaard elderflower juice, the guides gave away the last sunface pin and finally on October 31st we received our very last guest.

The pavilion’s last guest was an elderly Chinese man, who was also a stamp collector and showed the guides his special sample of Hans Christian Andersens stamps. He was thrilled to be the last guest of the pavilion and received a number of gifts from the pavilion, including a selection of stamps.

Following the last day at the EXPO, the guides of Odense Pavilion are now preparing all the Pavilion’s bikes and inventory, which will be sent to the friendship city of Odense, Shaoxing. Indeed, on Friday the 5th of November, it will be the last of lasts – when the Odense guides are working together for the very last time.

19-24 October: Spainmark in the EXPO World Cup

In the past week EXPO has witnessed an hitherto unseen collaboration across borders in the world of soccer. This collaboration resulted in the team of Spainmark, consisting of three guides from the Odense Pavilion (Jacob, Joachim and Mikkel) and a number of staff members from the Spanish Pavilion, participating in the exciting EXPO World Cup.

On October 19th this team combination resulted in two successful preliminary rounds. Firstly the team experienced a clash between two playing styles, which created frustration and loud discussion between the Danish and Spanish players, however, soon the playing styles emerged into one playing style of Spainmark.

The first match against Finland was a walkover, while the second match against China clearly and literally made them sweat heavily. Nonetheless, the match ended 4-2 and the team continued in the tournament with a good amount of confidence and a renewed team spirit.

The semi-finals were played against a joint team of Latin American countries. In an exciting match with the spectators sitting on the edge of their seats, the Spainmark team managed to take home the victory in a final penalty shoot-out.

For the final match against the Netherlands, the Spainmark team were one (Odensean) player short, because of a knee injury. Still, the team managed to be ahead throughout most of the game, first leading 1-0, then 2-1. In the end, however, the result was 2-2 and the final winner was decided by a penalty shoot-out, where Spainmark was defeated by the Netherlands.

Still, finishing in 2nd place, the Spainmark team has lived up to the expectations of the two proud soccer nations; Spain and Denmark.

21 October: Odense thanks the media

Throughout the period of the EXPO, a large group of journalists and photographers have covered the Odense Pavilion, its background and its many events. The attention from the media has exceeded our expectations and sometimes been quite overwhelming. For this reason, the Odense staff decided to give special thanks to a group of selected journalist that have been particularly consistent in covering Odense Pavilion. This was done by inviting the journalist to the pavilion, where they were presented with giftbags with both information on and merchandise from the city of Odense.

For this special event of thanks several of the big Chinese media were represented, including Shanghai Daily, Xinhua News Agency, Eastday Net and Shanghai Evening Post.

For the invited journalists not able to attend the event, we would like to take this opportunity to extend a special thanks for all your attention and kind words throughout the past 6 months.

20 October: Charity at Odense Pavilion

Today, at Odense case pavilion, we had a visit from the charity organisation Morning Tears.

From 11.00 to 15.30 the charity organisation had many activities in the pavilion, mainly for children. Among other things small children could build a house with bricks from Lego, meanwhile their parents and older children could attend a drawing competition by drawing the little mermaid. At 15.30 we announced the winner of the drawing competition, where the drawings receiving the biggest applause won first, second and third price.

At the end of the event we handed over 10.000 Odense’s popular sunface pins to the organisation.

19 October: Minister of Culture at Odense Pavilion

Spirits were high, when Danish Minister of Culture Per Stig Møller visited Odense’s Pavilion at the EXPO today. Upon entering the pavilion, the minister exclaimed in a good funen island accent: “Funen is fine”. Per Stig Møller and his companions quickly found their way to the bicycle bar of the pavilion and enjoyed a few elderflower refreshments while listening to the presentation of pavilion leader Signe Zilmer Madsen.

16 & 17 October: Record number of EXPO visitors

During the weekend of the 16th and 17th of October, EXPO hosted a record number of visitors. Saturday over one million guests visited the EXPO and Sunday reached 800.000 guests. Also Odense Pavilion had a busy weekend with more than 7000 visitors Saturday and 6000 Sunday. With a daily target number for visitors at 1.600 people, this weekend made for an especially busy one at Odense Pavilion.

The weekend of the 16th and 17th of October also marks the third last weekend of the EXPO and the second last for regular EXPO tickets. Though this weekend broke all records in terms of the amount of EXPO visitors, there is still next weekend left to see yet another record of visitors.

11 October: Urban Experts visit Odense Pavilion

The 11th of October was a busy day at Odense Pavilion. Early in the morning a big Danish organisation called the Network of the City arrived at the pavilion. The group was introduced to the pavilion themes by daily leader Signe Zilmer Madsen. Being a large group of many different backgrounds ranging from architects to urban planners the participants showed a broad interest in the pavilion. After a quick ride on the Odense bicycle lane the group continued to a number of selected urban practice pavilions, among others Madrid and Shanghai Pavilions.  Later in the afternoon another large Danish group followed, this time from Denmark’s Technical University. Their visit to the EXPO and Odense Pavilion was part of their study tour to Shanghai.

8 October: Tour de France Megastar at Odense Pavilion

On a sunny Friday the Odense Pavilion welcomed a megastar in the world of cyclism.  Bernard Hinault visited the Odense Pavilion and borrowed one of the pavilion’s bicycles to continue his tour of the EXPO site.

Bernard Hinault is famed for his many tour victories. He has won the Tour de France no less than 5 times.  Furthermore, he is also one of only four bicyclists, who have won all three Grand Tour-races. These three are: Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana, while he is the only one who has won them all more than once.

Of course, as the ”Bicycle Pavilion of the EXPO”, the Odense pavilion was honored to welcome the Grand Tour Master.

5 October: Gerlev Performance Team at Odense Pavilion

A big group of over 20 young dancers performed a lively dance show in front of Odense Pavilion in the morning of October 5th. The dancers were all part of the Gerlev Performance Team (GPT), lead by Tine Salling. The team consists of almost an equal number of male and female dancers, performing a medley of both carpoiera, modern and jazz.

The dance team’s visit to the EXPO is part of a month long stay in China, where the team will visit several Chinese cities, including Beijing, Xian, Tianjin and Guangzhou.  The trip is motivated by an ambition to promote a more physical and active everyday for the Chinese people by performing and doing workshops around the country, aiming to inspire physical education in universities around the country.

See more pictures here

30 September: The small fish turn out to be basketball sharks

The EXPO brings people together, and what better way to socialise than to do so by sports. The Lithuanian Pavilion thus arranged a big basketball tournament for all EXPO staff to participate. The games consisted of small teams of three members, shooting against one basket in a 10 minute fight.

The Denmark Pavilion participated with several teams, but their First Team was one man short. Actually the team was a tall man short – and of course the Odense Pavilion guide Joachim Åresøn volunteered for the position.

Before playoffs the Danish First Team was wildly underestimated, everyone thinking the small fish would drown in the bigger fish waters. However, as the team reached the semi-finals a big crowd attended the games, cheering for the Danish team and the Odensean guide.

Though the team lost 7-5 against Lithuania in the semi-finals, they beat the US team for third place in an exciting match with the final result of 11-7.

Finishing in third place in the big tournament, the small fish of Denmark proved to be real basketball sharks.

See more pictures here

22 September: World Car Free Day

As the bicycle pavilion of the EXPO, Odense Pavilion naturally had to celebrate World Car Free Day in Shanghai.

Firstly, the pavilion joined forces with a local NGO, GoodtoSH, that has a full programme of promoting sustainable urban development, including the revival of the bicycle in urban life.

On World Car Free Day GoodtoSH and Odense Pavilion organised a bicycle parade through the city of Shanghai with the participation of around a 100 bicycle enthusiasts. The parade started on Nanjing Road and finished at the waterfront of Shanghai. The big group of bicyclists got a lot of attention in the streets, reminding people that the 22nd of September was not only Moon Cake Festival (a traditional Chinese festival), but also the day of international celebration of a city without cars.

The Odense Pavilion had provided all the volunteers with Danish public bikes and at the finishing point of the parade Odense had also contributed a white bike for a local artist to decorate and paint according to his vision of sustainable living.

Following the bicycle parade the celebration of World Car Free Day continued at the Odense Pavilion within the EXPO site. The celebration involved a lucky draw, where a few lucky guests could win bicycle helmets and LEGO lunch boxes. The Odense Pavilion had also invited a local street artist to come and join the celebration, making small and colorful bicycles in wire for the pavilion guests to take home. Finally the many activities were accompanied by the music of DJ Simon, creating a festive atmosphere in the small, open bicycle pavilion.

See the pictures here

20 September & 24 September: A Fairytale performance at the Odense Pavilion

Twice in the past week the Odense Pavilion has welcomed a multilingual performance of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairtytale: The Teapot.

The Antusheng Theater, consisting of three Danish actresses, performed in a mix of languages, so that both Chinese and Danish children could understand the play. One of the Danish actresses, Trine Runge, grew up in Malaysia with a Chinese nanny and so performed her part in Mandarin, while the two other actresses, Anne Tulestedt and Amanda Maag, both performed their parts in Danish.

The performance style of the small theater group is highly inclusive and engaging and both young and old enjoyed the act immensely.

The Odense Pavilion had furthermore arranged for the Antusheng Theater to perform at a local kindergarten. Before the performance of The Teapot, the guides of the Odense Pavilion had brought along a number of running bikes for the children to play with. Thus linking Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales to the tale of the bicycle that is represented at the Odense Pavilion.

Finally, the small group of artistst also performed at the Nordic Light House in Shanghai, where one retired Chinese woman was moved to tears by the story.

See the pictures here

10 September: Danish Minister of Environment returns to Odense Pavilion

Last Friday the Danish Minister of Environment, Karen Ellemann, returned to the Odense Pavilion.  This time of visiting the minister was in the company of a group of national parliament members, who also form the Committee for the Environment in the Danish parliament and the visit to the EXPO was thus part of a study tour around China to better understand the environmental initiatives and developments taking place in China.

The group was given a thorough presentation of the Pavilion as well as the cycle city of Odense by Pavilion leader Signe Madsen, and the minister along with national parliament member Ida Auken were happy to jump up on the three-wheeled Christiania bike and ride around the pavilion. Before taking off, Ida Auken presented Signe Madsen with a small gift along with thanks for the interesting presentation of the Odensean efforts to promote cyclism both in Denmark and worldwide.

See the pictures here

3 September: Papercutting fun

As part of the weekly event programme of Odense Pavilion the guides had arranged for a papercutting competition on Friday 3rd.

Central to the lay-out of the pavilion is the papercutting of Hans Christian Andersen; the sun face, which is also the image of the popular Odense Pavilion Pins. In general most Danes associate papercutting with the famous Odensean fairytale writer, however, in China papercutting is among the most traditional and ancient artforms. The competition thus made for an interesting point of cultural exchange.

Throughout the day many guests came by the pavilion to participate in the competition and at 5pm the guides chose the top three among the many papercuts. The winner was to be selected by the applause of the spectators; however in the end two papercuts scored equally high in applause and therefore two winners were announced. The proud winning papercutters were taken on a ride of victory in the bamboo tricycle, while the many spectators lined up for the final part of the event: the handing-out of the popular sun face pins.

The many papercuts of both guests and guides are exhibited in one of the Pavilion windows, adding colours to the already very colourful pavilion.

See the pictures here

1 September: Bamboo Treecycle on show

The first week of September Odense Pavilion hosted yet another cycle in it’s pavilion. A modern tricycle made mainly in bamboo by eco-entrepreneurs Florence and Chris Trees; a couple that specializes in sustainable transport solutions.

The tricycle (or rather treecycle) fit well into the theme of the Pavilion; the bicycle as an integrated and sustainable part of urban life. The Odense Pavilion was the first stop on the treecycle’s tour of the EXPO; next stop will be London Pavilion as part of their zero-carbon emission exhibition.

While at the Odense Pavilion the bamboo treecycle was very popular with all our guests; including the Danish Prince consort and the Danish Minister of Food and Agriculture, who were both given a ride in the elegant tricycle.

30 August: Bicycle workshop in Shanghai

Today the guides of Odense Pavilion, along with 10 students and 2 teachers of Sct. Hans Middle School, went to sthe streets of Shanghai with the single purpose of preparing the local Shanghainese bikes. The aim of this event was to further spread the message of the Odense Pavilion: the importance of bicyclism. The bicycles that passed by the improvised repair shop were pumped, washed, supplied with new bicycle bells for safety and finally the owners of the bikes were all given the Pavilion’s special sunface pin and a balloon.

Local Shanghainese as well as the press watched while the ten students and the Pavilion guides quickly and efficiently cared for the bikes. The young students of Denmark, in particular, showed an enthusiastic commitment to the event and worked hard to give the worn-down bikes a new make-over, despite the obvious language barrier between students and passers-by.

Many of the guests were moved by the free service and expressed their hopes that this would be a reoccuring event.

29 August: Monocycle performance at Odense Pavilion

Today Odense Pavilion welcomed a group of young students from Odense. 4 boys and 6 girls of ages 13 – 15 years visited the pavilion to perform a bike parade show, where they presented all the different bikes exhibited in the pavilion. The guests were clearly impressed when all of the students jumped onto the moncycles, and elegantly paraded across the Expo site.

In the end the students had brought some pictures with various motives, among these pictures of H. C. Andersen and The Little Mermaid. The challenge for the guests was to bike around the Expo site to search for an equivalent picture, and then hurry back. The winners were rewarded with the desired H.C. Andersen pin.

On their journey to China the Danish students also stopped by Odense’s friendship city, Shao Xing. Here the young Danes met the same Chinese school class that will visit Odense next year.

28 August: The Prince Consort surprises the Odense Pavilion

A busy day of visits from both Odense’s friendship city, Shaoxing, and the Danish Food- and Agriculture Minister, was finalised with a succesful and surprising visit from the Danish Prince Consort, Henrik of Denmark.

The Prince Consort was picked up at the bridge leading to the Urban Best Practice Area in a bamboo tricycle, enjoying the ride to the Pavilion immensely. Arriving at the Pavilion the Prince Consort and his company was welcomed by staff and the daily leader Signe Madsen.

The Prince Consort happily remarked that he had always enjoyed cycling himself and was therefore pleased to see bicycles and bicycling culture as the main theme of Odense Pavilion.

As the Prince Consort prepared to leave the Pavilion, the staff were again preparing the bamboo tricycle to escort the Prince outside the EXPO site, but were taken by surprise when the Prince Consort readily jumped up on one of the Pavilion’s public bicycles and himself rode all the way to the exit, with his companions trying to keep up the with his joyous high-speed bicycle ride.

28 August: Danish Food- and Agriculture Minister commends Odense Pavilion

Danish Food- and Agriculture Minister, Henrik Høegh, left a proud Odense Pavilion behind after having visited the Pavilion in the afternoon of August 28.

The Minister was picked up at the bridge leading over to the Urban Best Practice Area in a rather special kind of ride; a bamboo tricycle with room for two passengers and one of the Pavilion guides as the driver. When arriving at the pavilion, the Minister was greeted by both staff and daily leader, Signe Madsen, who took the Minister and his company on a tour of the pavilion as well as outside to see the 150 meter long bike lane outside.

Before leaving the Pavilion and the EXPO after a busy day of visiting a number of pavilions, the Minister took time to give a short speech, commending the Odense Pavilion not only for it’s layout and design, but also for Odense’s clearly presented and understandable message: the bicycle as a means to develop a better city and a better life. Finally Minister Henrik Høegh praised the enthusiastic young staff of the Pavilion, thus leaving an encouraged and satisfied Pavilion behind.

28 August: Shaoxing returns to Odense Pavilion with families

In the morning of the 28th of August a big group of guests from Odense’s friendship city, Shaoxing, arrived at the Odense EXPO Pavilion. A number of the guests, representatives of the Foreign Affairs Department of Shaoxing Municipal Goverment, had already visited the Pavilion before, but this time they had brought their families, including a large number of children. While the adults were enjoying a cool drink of elderflower juice, the children overtook the pavilion’s many running bikes and also ran out to play at the open bike lane just outside the pavilion. The large group of visitors left high-spirited, led by one of Odense’s guides in the direction of the Little Mermaid and the Danish Pavilion.

20 August: “Ni bu yao ai”(you don´t want love) video release party

Odense Pavilion is one of the smallest at the Expo. And today, on the 20^th of August, the capacity of the pavilion was challenged. The pavilion was completely packed with people who wanted to see a performance with the two Odense guides that composed a Chinese pop song by the name “ni bu yao ai”(you don´t want love). The song addresses a group of Expo visitors that seems to care more about the pins than the ideas and messages presented at Expo.

Firstly the two guides performed the song, and secondly the guests were invited to participate in a dancing competition. The participants were selected among the audience, and shortly after the whole pavilion was cheering and laughing, while the dancers showed their best moves to the sound of the pin song. Lastly the pins were handed out along with an internet link to the “you don´t want love” music video.

To watch the video follow this link: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/IAJ8WuavnBQ/

August 15: Danish art exhibited in several Shanghai venues

Two-To-Go is a joint project by the two Danish artists, paper cutter Sonia Brandes and ceramist Jacob Skov.

The art piece is a spinning plate that is traditionally used when eating in China. It was created to celebrate Odense’s participation in EXPO 2010. Two-To-Go is also the official gift of the Odense Pavilion. However the Odense representation has also found that the piece deserves special attention as an object of artistic expression in itself.

The guides of Odense Pavilion have worked hard to find appropriate venues for exhibiting the plate around the city of Shanghai.

The piece has been exhibited in the lobby of the prestigious international hotel, Howard Johnson, during the week leading up to the celebration of the Danish National Day at the EXPO.

The piece is currently exhibited for longer time periods at several other venues; the Bandu Art Gallery and Music Cafe in the Moganshan Art District, the Shanghai Art and Handcraft Museum as well as the Shanghai Litterature Association Venue.

Throughout the rest of the EXPO, the exhibiting venues will also host a number of events related to Odense and Odense’s EXPO representation.

August 14: Danish Table Tennis Talents at the EXPO

On the hottest day at the EXPO so far, Odense Pavilion launched its new initiative involving a weekly event and a subsequent hand-out of the popular Hans Christian Andersen pins.

The pavilion welcomed a performance by six table tennis talents from Odense Table Tennis Club. As part of their preparation for next week’s China Open, the talents have been undergoing intensive training in China for the last month.

Table tennis is China’s national sport, and shortly after the young Danes had shown their skills at a table outside the pavilion, some Chinese guests started to challenge them.

All six players are supported by Team Denmark, which includes financial help, and training facilities in Brøndby. But all started their career in Odense Table Tennis Club.

August 13: The heat strikes at the EXPO

With temperatures reaching 40 degrees and a humidity above 80 percent, the EXPO has been struck by heat!

According to local Shanghainese these past days have been exceptional, even for Shanghai, in terms of heat and humidity.

As the only truly open pavilion in the UBPA area of the EXPO, Odense Pavilion – and it’s guides, not least – have been tremendously challenged by the high temperatures. The guests still flow in, however, though in a much slower and less energetic pace than usual and the guides try their best to keep up their good humoured welcome.

With a new addiction to the cold elderflower juice sold in the pavillon, the guides have pulled through and are now looking forward to degrees reaching a more liveable, and more importantly, workable heat level.

August 4: Kalle’s World Tour at Odense Pavilion

August 2: New pins strategy of the Odense Pavilion

August 1: Halfway through the EXPO, the guides are taking stock

July 29: Odense Pavilion welcomes guest no.250,000
Around noon on July 29 Odense Pavilion welcomed its guest no. 250,000.  Not even halfway through the EXPO, Odense has thereby already reached its target number of guests for the entire EXPO.
Guest no. 250,000 was a young woman of 14 years from the Chinese province, Xinjiang. She was so overwhelmed by the sudden attention in the summer heat, that she almost couldn’t tell the joyous guides of the pavilion her name. However, she quickly recovered from the surprise and was able to enjoy the special gifts presented to her. The gifts included a collection of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales, a handful of Odense Pavilion’s popular Sunface pins as well as a cool bottle of Elderflower juice and a piece of Danish chocolate.

July 28: Choir of Southern Denmark sang into the sunset of the EXPO
On the 28th of July, the Choir of Southern Denmark visited the Odense Pavilion. The 62 choir members, all girls of ages 12 to 20, lined up by the pavilion’s entrance and before long, a large group of EXPO guests were ready to enjoy the beautiful singing voices of the choir. To great surprise and excitement to the many Chinese guests, the choir finished their performance by singing their own version of a Chinese folk song. The performance at the Odense Pavilion marked the 10th performance throughout their visit to China. 

See more pictures

Odense's pavillon aim to reach out to as many people as possible. The message is very simple - choose the bike instead of the car. Today guides from the pavillon rewarded those, who already made that choice. At a busy street corner in Shanghai, the guides offered to repair and wash the bikes of bypassers. In an attempt to get in contact with people who haven't been to EXPO, the event was held outside the EXPO site.

And the assistance of Odense’s guideteam was highly appreciated by the local Shanghainese. Some spectators even went as far as calling the guides Lei Feng – a Chinese soldier of the People’s Liberation army, who after his death in 1962 was iconized as a figure of extreme selflessness, altruism, modesty and dedication. Others called the guides good representatives of all foreigners in China.

Many Chinese journalists were on the spot to report on the unusual event that took place at a random corner in Shanghai.

See more pictures

July 22: Danish melancholia on EXPO
Odense Music School performed at EXPO today. The choir came directly from a competition in Shao Xing, and to some that city name might ring a bell. Odense has twin towns all over the world, and Shao Xing is one of them. The choir performed on the main stage twice during the day, and clearly the audience was enchanted by the melancholic mood that spread across from the stage. The sincere and beautiful songs were undoubtedly a new experience for some of the spectators.

See more pictures

July 22: Young musician impress

The young violinist Thyge Pedersen turned the pavilion into a foot-stamping Danish folk music party. While aspiring to the conservatory in Odense, Thyge conveniently performed his lively and cheerful repertoire in the Odense pavilion.

In addition, the evening of the 22nd of July Thyge also performed at an art cafe in Shanghai.  At this same venue an important art piece is also exhibited. This art piece is a spinning table and was created by two Danish artists, Sonia Brandes and Jacob Skov, to celebrate Odense’s EXPO 2010 exhibition. While Thyge entertained the ears of the audience with Danish folk music, the spinning table entertained the eyes of the admiring audience.
See more pictures

July 5-25: The Tour has arrived at Odense Pavilion
From the 5th to the 25th of July most bike enthusiasts will be following the professional cyclists’ tour around the French terrain, finishing on the famous Champs-Élysées of Paris.  As the bicycle pavilion of the EXPO, Odense pavilion has now also made the Tour de France part of its exhibition. A large map of France lines out the daily routes of the Tour and every day the contestants of the yellow, green, polka-dotted and white classification jerseys are updated and put on display for the visitors and the guides themselves to follow the race towards Paris.  

July 12: Odense Guide invited to give a lecture at Chinese University
On July 12 Signe Cheung Torsleff, guide at the Odense Pavilion, was invited to give a lecture to a group of Chinese students of the Shanghai Ocean University. Signe as asked to prepare a speech on several aspects of her own life; both as a Goodwill Ambassador and guide of the Odense Pavilion, but also on her family's background and history and her own educational and work experience from around the world. Growing up in Denmark, with a Danish father and Chinese mother, later on studying in both China and France, Signe is indeed a citizen of the world and the Chinese students welcomed the chance to learn more of Signe's cultural insights and perspectives. 

July 1: The Flying Kids of Vejle Springteam visit Odense Pavilion
On July 1st the Odense pavilion was taken over by a large group of flying kids. These kids were all members of the Vejle Spring Team, which is a Danish performance team of young male and female gymnasts between 9 and 18 years old.

The weather conditions, reaching temperatures above 35 degrees Celcius, made it somewhat difficult for the young performers to execute their dangerous jumps and spins. Because of these difficulties they had to cut their performance short and instead stick to the rythmic part of their programme only. However, they were met by applause from the audience for their efforts. 

The spring team's performance at the Shanghai EXPO 2010 marked the team's sixth time of participating in a World EXPO. 

June 29: The Day of Denmark
Today, Odense Pavillion experienced the busiest day so far. As the prime guest of the day - his excellence Crown Prince Frederik took time to visit Odense’s contribution to the Shanghai EXPO. The occasion was the so - called Denmark day, one day in the duration of EXPO, where the Danish flag is raised all over the EXPO site. Fortunately, the rain stopped just as the delegations approached the pavilion, and the arrangement was held without the need of umbrellas.

A delegation from Odense Municipality with the mayor Anker Boye in front, arrived together with the Crown Prince, while another delegation from Copenhagen Municipality arrived shortly after. In one corner of the pavillion the famous Danish Chocolatier Fritz Knipschildt exhibited his impressive chocolate sculptures, and especially for this occasion, the Denmark day,  he had created a miniature sculpture of H. C. Andersen.

 While the Crown Prince and the other VIP guests tasted the exclusive chocolate, the music was delivered by a young and gifted Chinese violinist. She interpreted music by Carl Nielsen, who much like H. C. Andersen, is wellknown in China. Not only the danish press was represented at the pavilion, but also a number of Chinese broadcasting stations and newspapers were especially invited, and were eager to get the best photo of the Danish Crown Prince. 

 June 25: Danish Minister of Environment and Nordic Cooperation Visits the Odense Pavilion
On the occassion of the Nordic-Chinese Energy and Climate Day the Danish minister of Environment and Nordic Cooperation, Karen Ellemann, visited the Odense Pavilion at the Shanghai EXPO on June 25th 2010. 
The Minister was welcomed by the Mayor of Odense City, Anker Boye, and guided around the open pavilion by project leader Helle Thylkjær Henriksen. The guided tour led the Minister through the many different exhibition rooms, each providing insight in the many aspects of Odense as a bicycle city as well as the bicycle culture of the city’s population. 
Before taking her leave, the Minister defied the pouring rain and energetically jumped up on of the Pavilion’s bicycles. Greatly admired by the spectators within the Pavilion, she took a quick ride around the pavilion before continuing her busy programme in Shanghai. 

June 17-18: Palle Krabbe Entertains Odense's EXPO guests
Odense Pavillion is a sales window to the world. Today, University College of Lillebælt took the chance to promote themselves by a series of events orchestrated by Palle Krabbe. The objective was to actract young chinese people, and perhaps convince them that they should commence a study in Odense at University college of Lillebælt. 
Through singing, dancing and little bit of magic Palle Krabbe managed to catch the attention from not only a few, but a huge crowd of Chinese guests. All very impressed by his talents. His loud singing was not only to be heard at Odense Pavillion, but certainly also at the nearby pavilions. 

June 1: Children's Day
Children’s Day in China is celebrated on the 1st of June. As 2010 markes a special year for Shanghai and China in general, this year’s Children’s Day also involved a wide range of different acitivities and fun at the World EXPO. The Odense Pavilion was recommended in the Chinese press as one of the better places to visit with children on this particularly festive day and we, guides of Odense Pavilion, did our best to live up to the children’s expectations by handing out balloons,  putting out all the children’s running bikes and finally inviting our big pink HC Andersen hat to participate in the fun. 

May 26th 2010: Fixie event at Odense Pavilion
Odense has now been open for almost a month! After all the events of the great opening, the pavilion has now hosted its first music/bike event.

Sunday 23rd of May 2010 Odense Pavilion had invited 5 FIXIE bike enthusiasts to perform on the bicycle path for a couple of hours. The group of bikers consisted of 3 Danes, one Dutch and one Norwegian.
FIXIE bikes are fixed-gear and fixed-wheel bikes that have no freewheel. This means the pedals are always in motion, when the bike is moving. The bikes kan ride forwards and backwards, as well as brake by using the pedals. In Denmark the FIXIE bike culture is especially popular among the many bicycle messengers in the cities, but is also growing in other circles.
The FIXIE bikers spent 4 hours at the pavilion, where they demonstrated the bikes to the guests of the pavilion and helped several spectators to try their custom-made bikes. They brought along a DJ, who played music at the pavilion’s bike lane throughout the event. The music attracted more guests and created an amiable and festive ambience during the four hours of performing and fun. 

Have a look at pictures from the event here. 

May 1st 2010: Opening of Odense Pavilion
Odense is ready to welcome guests at EXPO 2010 after a great opening!  During the first week you will meet a local mime artist from Odense who actually mimes in Chinese. You can also try our popular bicycle lane and a bicycle if you want to see how it is to ride a bicycle in Odense. 
The Odense pavillon has already had a lot of guests and we are delighted to welcome even more guest during the next 6 months.

Have a look at pictures from the first week here.