The 2025 World Expo, themed Designing Future Society for Our Lives, kicked off on April 13 in Osaka, Japan, where it will run until October 13. With 158 countries and regions participating in this year's edition, alongside seven international organizations, the event, held every five years, showcases global visions for tomorrow. 

The China Pavilion, themed Building a Community of Life for Man and Nature—Future Society of Green Development, opened on the same day as the expo.

At its opening ceremony, Ren Hongbin, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, which oversees China's expo participation, explained the pavilion's immersive journey. He said the pavilion allows visitors to experience the ancient Chinese philosophical wisdom of harmony between humanity and nature, learn about modern China's commitment to environmental protection, and envision a future society where people and nature coexist in balance.

Innovative design 

Covering an area of approximately 3,500 square meters, the China Pavilion is one of the largest self-built foreign pavilions at the Osaka expo. With its design inspired by bamboo slips, an important medium for disseminating culture in ancient China, the pavilion cleverly integrates culturally rich symbols including bamboo, Chinese characters and scrolls to tell the story of China's millennia-long history and demonstrate its extraordinary cultural heritage.

Cui Kai, chief architect of the pavilion and chief architect of China Architecture Design and Research Group, told Xinhua News Agency that the pavilion, designed to resemble an unfurling long Chinese ancient scroll, creates a sense of gradual revelation, guiding visitors through a journey of discovery.

The pavilion's façade of "bamboo slips" is etched with classical Chinese poetry in bronze, seal, clerical, cursive and regular scripts. Inside, visitors are greeted by an airy entrance hall bathed in natural light, which flows seamlessly into a central court and an expansive column-free exhibition space. This design is in harmony with the pavilion's exterior landscape of ponds and bamboo groves.

The pavilion champions green and sustainable development through its innovative design, exemplifying a commitment to low-carbon practices throughout its lifecycle.

The main structure of the pavilion features an innovative combination of bamboo and steel. Bamboo, a representative element of Chinese civilization, offers both cultural value as well as serves as a renewable, low-carbon and environmentally-friendly building material.

"Bamboo is not planted in large quantities in Japan, so there are no standards for using bamboo as a building material. Therefore, we had to abandon the idea of using bamboo structures and use steel structures instead, with laminated bamboo panels as the interface material. Although it is not a structural material, it is still the main material of the building," Cui said.

Cui elaborated on his vision for sustainable architecture: "In recent years, I've been advocating a new aesthetic for green buildings. Departing from the European approach that emphasizes air-tightness and high thermal performance to minimize energy consumption, we champion openness. Our approach prioritizes providing users with naturally ventilated and lit indoor or semi-indoor environments. This fosters a stronger connection with nature, not only saving energy but also creating a healthier living environment."

He further emphasized the importance of leveraging regional resources: "European and North American countries, situated at higher latitudes, rely heavily on wood. China, however, possesses abundant bamboo. Therefore, promoting the use of bamboo materials has become a key technical strategy for us. We want to showcase our unique green building solutions and the Osaka expo provides an ideal platform to do so."

Exhibition highlights 

The China Pavilion's exhibitions feature three themes: Harmony between Humanity and Nature, Green Mountains and Clear Waters and Endless Life.

The highlight of the Harmony between Humanity and Nature exhibition area is a multimedia dynamic image centered on the 24 solar terms, which reflect seasonal changes and guide farming and daily life to align with nature's rhythms.

The artwork on the 24 solar terms was created by prominent Chinese artist Chang Shana, renowned for her research on the Buddhist murals found in the famous Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu Province in northwest China. Her designs are inspired by the Dunhuang art. For the pavilion, 94-year-old Chang designed rotating digital display featuring pomegranates, lotus flowers, phoenixes and other natural images in a round floral pattern, a traditional circular floral motif that symbolizes nature's eternal cycles and the Buddhist concept of reincarnation.

As the bright pattern slowly turns, it brings to life China's ancient philosophy of harmonious renewal.

The rotating image also implies Earth's rotation around the sun. The ancient Chinese accurately discovered the patterns in Earth's rotation and revolution, and divided a year into 24 periods marked with key points of change known as solar terms, and gave them different names. They bear testimony to the philosophy of following nature.

The Green Mountains and Clear Waters exhibition area uses vivid examples to illustrate the idea that green is gold. Here, visitors can witness the stunning transformation of the southeastern city of Xiamen's Yundang Lake from a once-polluted water body to a scenic urban landscape with sparkling blue waters inhabited by graceful egrets, demonstrating the "Xiamen practice" of harmonious coexistence of humans and nature.

They can sense the energy generated by the coordinated ecological protection and economic development in Shibadong Village in Hunan Province.

And they can learn about the remarkable achievements of ecological restoration in the Taklimakan Desert, China's largest desert and the world's second largest drifting desert.

The Endless Life exhibition area is packed with hi-tech elements, demonstrating China's efforts to lead development through innovation. Shenzhou-19 astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze sent their best wishes via video from China's Tiangong space station, allowing pavilion visitors to gain a better understanding of the country's robustly developing aerospace industry.

Lunar samples from both the near and far sides of the moon, brought back respectively by Chang'e-5 and Chang'e-6 spacecraft, are on display. 

The images captured by oceanaut Tang Jialing during his historic descent in the Jiaolong manned submersible to reach the depths of the Mariana Trench, the world's deepest ocean abyss, in the Western Pacific, allow visitors to appreciate the mystery and charm of the deep sea. The smart city sand table demonstrates how technology can make urban life more convenient, efficient and green. AI technologies have been used to bring to visitors one of the most popular figures in Chinese mythology—the Monkey King, Sun Wukong—to chat with visitors and also write poems and draw pictures, showcasing how miracles can happen when AI meets traditional culture. BR

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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