bluestar summer camp youth in front of the chinese pavilion. photos provided to china daily
this year's bluestar summer camp has offered the children of employees in its domestic and overseas divisions the chance to experience two days at the shanghai expo.
the subsidiary of state-owned chemchina brought children from the uk, germany, australia, spain, france and italy to visit their national pavilions and others at the expo.
the trip was part of this year's 20-day youth summer camp, which concludes today.
"the uk pavilion looks like a hedgehog, the italian pavilion is also beautiful and the indian pavilion looks quite magnificent," said 14-year-old amandine sterin from france.
"the chinese pavilion is spectacular and gives people a deep impression," the french teenager said.
fifteen-year-old andrea selvaggio from milan was happy to visit the italian pavilion.
"i saw the exhibition seats and instruments from the milan theater and models wearing well-known italian brand clothes," he said. "i saw ferrari and fiat cars and italian food as well."
nuria zambrana ibanez, a 15 year old from spain, said: "it's so big and interesting at the expo - we visited the pavilions of china, germany and spain".
"the most impressive is the chinese pavilion. it is really unique since it is so big that it can hold a lot of people."
"but the spanish pavilion makes me extremely excited. even though it is not that big, i was touched by the music because it brought the feeling that i am back in my country," she said.
debora silva dos santos, a 13 year old from brazil, said: "the two-day visit to shanghai was very interesting and i was happy to have the chance to visit the brazil pavilion".
twelve-year-old kieran mcgovern from the uk said his mother was quite excited about the visit to the expo and thought it was a "once in a life opportunity". the first-ever expo was in london in 1851.
the outing was also designed for youngsters to know more about multinational cultures, according to the organizer.
"when children from different countries play together, they don't need more languages," said feng tianhan, the daughter of a chemchina employee.
"what they need is the moment they are with each other." feng has attended previous five bluestar camps and now helps as a spanish interpreter.
meng qingyang, the son of a bluestar employee who has joined the camp for eight consecutive years, said "the most important thing is how to live independently" during the outing.
"i certainly would like to attend the camp next year because i like to make more friends with children from other countries," andrea selvaggio thought it interesting to talk with other children.
"maybe this is my last time joining the summer camp due to my age," said cristina pangua saez from spain, who noted she hoped to come back to china again.
by wang danna (china daily 08/10/2010 page15)