Jigs
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Friday, September 17, 2010
BARÇIN YİNANÇ
SHANGHAİ - Hürriyet Daily News
The döner spit is from the Xingjian region, where the Uigur Turks live. The meat comes from Mongolia. The oil is a mixture of two brands of butter. The tomato paste, for the sauce, is an imported brand since Chinese do not consume it.
When Ambassador Sencar Özsoy, the commissioner general of the Turkish pavilion at Shanghai EXPO 2010, failed to convince Turkey’s prominent İskender brands to come sell this Turkish specialty at the expo, his team rolled up their sleeves to produce Iskender themselves. The success of their product was beyond all expectations; so much so that they had to request additional gas for the kitchen in the pavilion to meet the increasing demand.
“We are breaking the taboos of Chinese tastes,” said Özsoy. “They said Chinese don’t eat sweets. But 2.5 tons of baklava have been consumed within four months.” Seyidoğlu, a Turkish brand, has been providing the Turkish sweet at no charge. “We are grateful to them. They are doing it just for the promotion of Turkey,” he said.
Yet it is neither İskender nor baklava, but Maraş ice cream that attracts the most attention. Şensoy’s idea of selling ice cream to attract more visitors seems to have proved the right strategy. There are long queues in front of the three spots where the ice cream, made by experts from the eastern town of Maraş, is sold.
The company “dondurmam,” who produces the ice cream in Japan, does not regret its decision to produce the ice cream in China for EXPO 2010. They are very happy with sales, which were boosted further after it was chosen as one of the best ice creams at the expo. Waiting in the line for ice cream, Linda Xu said she had no idea about Turkey. She said she heard of the fame of the ice cream and would visit the pavilion after she ate her ice cream.
One may ask what Iskender, baklava and ice cream have to do with an expo, which is mainly a platform for promoting aspects of society including art and design, technology, trade and tourism.
As the third largest non-commercial global event in terms of economic and cultural impact after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games, during the last decade countries have started using the world expositions more widely and more strongly as a platform to promote their national images through their pavilions.
The theme in Shanghai is “Better city, Better life.” Yet the tango show at the Argentine pavilion or the flamenco show at the Spanish pavilion do not have much to do with the theme.
This year’s expo in Shanghai is spread out over 5.28 square kilometers. Countries have planned strategically to attract their share of the expected 70 million visitors by the end of October, when the exhibition will end.
In this sense, the fact that red was chosen as the main color of the exterior design of the Turkish pavilion proved to be the right strategy, since many Chinese are attracted to the color, which represents luck in Chinese culture. The color was among the reasons why Zhang Yi Song, from Xian, chose to visit the Turkish pavilion from among hundreds of interesting edifices.
The theme of the Turkish Pavilion was inspired by one of the first known settlements in the world, Çatalhöyük, which is in Central Anatolia.
The exterior design pays tribute to the wall frescos found at a house in Çatalhöyük from the Neolithic Age. The two colors on the exterior cladding, red and beige, are borrowed from the original colors of those wall paintings.
Zhang, a railroad worker, said the absence of a long line at the entrance of the pavilion was another reason that attracted him there.
That was the other strategy of the Turkish officials – keeping a fluid line.
Some wait six or even seven hours to visit a popular pavilion, like Germany’s or Saudi Arabia’s.
The maximum waiting period in the Turkish line is 45 minutes. This way, 10 percent of the expo visitors have visited the Turkish pavilion, with the number of people to visit the Turkish pavilion by the end of the expo expected to reach 7 million.
“We are trying to give an idea of Turkey to 7 million people,” said Ambassador Şensoy, who knows no limit in creativity to attract visitors to the pavilion. As the traditional janissary band was expected to perform in Shanghai by mid-October, Şensoy was in touch with his Austrian counterpart to organize a march of the janissary band from the Turkish pavilion to the Austrian pavilion nearby to symbolize the siege of Vienna in the 18th century by Ottoman armies. The band will play Beethoven’s Turkish March, as well as Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio. The Austrian pavilion was in touch with the Austrian Consulate in Shanghai to find a female candidate that will be abducted by the band.
“The Chinese tourism market is big enough to change the faith of a country,” said Eren Kurt, the operation and commercial manager of the Turkish Pavilion.
A deal following lengthy negotiations in 2000 on the passage of a huge aircraft carrier purchased by China from Ukraine through the Bosphorus had included a promise from China to send more tourists to Turkey. Yet, the expectation of receiving millions of Chinese proved to be a disappointment, as the number of Chinese tourists coming to Turkey is limited to 90,000.
According to Chinese official estimates, the number of Chinese tourists who go abroad is expected to reach 53 million annually soon. When Turkish President Abdullah Gül visited China last June, he asked his counterparts to send more Chinese tourists to Turkey. The answer he got was, “You have to do more to promote Turkey.”
Since first allowing groups of its citizens to travel abroad to Western countries in 1999, the Chinese market has become a focus of tourist destinations around the world wanting to attract visitors.
In this respect, the Turkish Pavilion certainly plays the role of a tourism agency. “Those who would visit popular pavilions like Saudi Arabia’s or Germany’s often don’t come out feeling like they’ve visited the country. Yet I am pretty sure most Chinese visitors who come out of the Turkish pavilion will want to go to Turkey to see it,” said Noyan Rona, a representative of Garanti Bank who has been living in China for the past 28 years.
Wu Rui-Ping, a bank clerk from Shenzhen is one of them. “I knew a little bit about Turkey. But I was curious to learn more. I would like to go to Turkey as soon as possible,” she said as she skimmed a brochure about Turkey over a Turkish coffee at the Istanbul Café in the pavilion.
BARÇIN YİNANÇ
SHANGHAİ - Hürriyet Daily News
The döner spit is from the Xingjian region, where the Uigur Turks live. The meat comes from Mongolia. The oil is a mixture of two brands of butter. The tomato paste, for the sauce, is an imported brand since Chinese do not consume it.
When Ambassador Sencar Özsoy, the commissioner general of the Turkish pavilion at Shanghai EXPO 2010, failed to convince Turkey’s prominent İskender brands to come sell this Turkish specialty at the expo, his team rolled up their sleeves to produce Iskender themselves. The success of their product was beyond all expectations; so much so that they had to request additional gas for the kitchen in the pavilion to meet the increasing demand.
“We are breaking the taboos of Chinese tastes,” said Özsoy. “They said Chinese don’t eat sweets. But 2.5 tons of baklava have been consumed within four months.” Seyidoğlu, a Turkish brand, has been providing the Turkish sweet at no charge. “We are grateful to them. They are doing it just for the promotion of Turkey,” he said.
Yet it is neither İskender nor baklava, but Maraş ice cream that attracts the most attention. Şensoy’s idea of selling ice cream to attract more visitors seems to have proved the right strategy. There are long queues in front of the three spots where the ice cream, made by experts from the eastern town of Maraş, is sold.
The company “dondurmam,” who produces the ice cream in Japan, does not regret its decision to produce the ice cream in China for EXPO 2010. They are very happy with sales, which were boosted further after it was chosen as one of the best ice creams at the expo. Waiting in the line for ice cream, Linda Xu said she had no idea about Turkey. She said she heard of the fame of the ice cream and would visit the pavilion after she ate her ice cream.
One may ask what Iskender, baklava and ice cream have to do with an expo, which is mainly a platform for promoting aspects of society including art and design, technology, trade and tourism.
As the third largest non-commercial global event in terms of economic and cultural impact after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games, during the last decade countries have started using the world expositions more widely and more strongly as a platform to promote their national images through their pavilions.
The theme in Shanghai is “Better city, Better life.” Yet the tango show at the Argentine pavilion or the flamenco show at the Spanish pavilion do not have much to do with the theme.
This year’s expo in Shanghai is spread out over 5.28 square kilometers. Countries have planned strategically to attract their share of the expected 70 million visitors by the end of October, when the exhibition will end.
In this sense, the fact that red was chosen as the main color of the exterior design of the Turkish pavilion proved to be the right strategy, since many Chinese are attracted to the color, which represents luck in Chinese culture. The color was among the reasons why Zhang Yi Song, from Xian, chose to visit the Turkish pavilion from among hundreds of interesting edifices.
The theme of the Turkish Pavilion was inspired by one of the first known settlements in the world, Çatalhöyük, which is in Central Anatolia.
The exterior design pays tribute to the wall frescos found at a house in Çatalhöyük from the Neolithic Age. The two colors on the exterior cladding, red and beige, are borrowed from the original colors of those wall paintings.
Zhang, a railroad worker, said the absence of a long line at the entrance of the pavilion was another reason that attracted him there.
That was the other strategy of the Turkish officials – keeping a fluid line.
Some wait six or even seven hours to visit a popular pavilion, like Germany’s or Saudi Arabia’s.
The maximum waiting period in the Turkish line is 45 minutes. This way, 10 percent of the expo visitors have visited the Turkish pavilion, with the number of people to visit the Turkish pavilion by the end of the expo expected to reach 7 million.
“We are trying to give an idea of Turkey to 7 million people,” said Ambassador Şensoy, who knows no limit in creativity to attract visitors to the pavilion. As the traditional janissary band was expected to perform in Shanghai by mid-October, Şensoy was in touch with his Austrian counterpart to organize a march of the janissary band from the Turkish pavilion to the Austrian pavilion nearby to symbolize the siege of Vienna in the 18th century by Ottoman armies. The band will play Beethoven’s Turkish March, as well as Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio. The Austrian pavilion was in touch with the Austrian Consulate in Shanghai to find a female candidate that will be abducted by the band.
“The Chinese tourism market is big enough to change the faith of a country,” said Eren Kurt, the operation and commercial manager of the Turkish Pavilion.
A deal following lengthy negotiations in 2000 on the passage of a huge aircraft carrier purchased by China from Ukraine through the Bosphorus had included a promise from China to send more tourists to Turkey. Yet, the expectation of receiving millions of Chinese proved to be a disappointment, as the number of Chinese tourists coming to Turkey is limited to 90,000.
According to Chinese official estimates, the number of Chinese tourists who go abroad is expected to reach 53 million annually soon. When Turkish President Abdullah Gül visited China last June, he asked his counterparts to send more Chinese tourists to Turkey. The answer he got was, “You have to do more to promote Turkey.”
Since first allowing groups of its citizens to travel abroad to Western countries in 1999, the Chinese market has become a focus of tourist destinations around the world wanting to attract visitors.
In this respect, the Turkish Pavilion certainly plays the role of a tourism agency. “Those who would visit popular pavilions like Saudi Arabia’s or Germany’s often don’t come out feeling like they’ve visited the country. Yet I am pretty sure most Chinese visitors who come out of the Turkish pavilion will want to go to Turkey to see it,” said Noyan Rona, a representative of Garanti Bank who has been living in China for the past 28 years.
Wu Rui-Ping, a bank clerk from Shenzhen is one of them. “I knew a little bit about Turkey. But I was curious to learn more. I would like to go to Turkey as soon as possible,” she said as she skimmed a brochure about Turkey over a Turkish coffee at the Istanbul Café in the pavilion.
