Controversies
A group of NGOs protested a month before the expo against the alleged displacement of 18,000 families in the Shanghai area in connection with the Expo. Dissident Feng Zhenghu was detained in mid April 2010 for threatening to publicly seek redress for them in the courts. According to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Shanghai authorities used the expo as an excuse to conduct a surveillance, propaganda, and detention campaign against members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group.
Denmark controversially sent the original Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen to the expo, putting a video replica recorded by dissident Ai Weiwei in its place. Some observers criticized the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office's payment for the 9 Hong Kong undersecretaries to inspect infrastructure projects and hold discussions on city-to-city cooperation. Six legislators from the pro-democracy camp boycotted an invitation to the expo by the Shanghai government because of the issue of political reform and the Hong Kong by-election, 2010. The Chinese government postponed the planned visit of 1,000 Japanese youths to the expo in September because of the 2010 Diaoyu boat collision incident, which Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan called regrettable.
State employees were given free one-day vouchers to the expo, and according to one worker, threatened with wage cuts, in order to fulfill the target of 70 million visitors. Long lines at the Germany pavilion caused visitors to shout "Nazi, Nazi" and attack workers, according to general commissioner for Germany's pavilion Dietmar Schmitz. Free tickets to an expo show featuring K-pop group Super Junior allegedly caused a stampede that injured 100 people, which spokespersons for the expo and the Korean pavilion denied.
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