世博測試續亂 10 萬人迫爆
(明 報 )2010 年 4 月 24 日 星 期 六 05:10
【明報專訊】
垃圾桶塞爆 遍地狼藉
昨 日 有 10 萬 民 眾 入 場 參 與 世 博 試 運 營，秩 序 較 首 次 試 營 運 稍 有 改 善，有 民 眾 表 示 自
己 已 經「 做 過 功 課 」，知 道 中 國 館 改 為 人 手 派 預 約 券，不 料 在 開 園 20 分 鐘 內 已 經 派
完，多數觀眾只得失望而歸。中午時分，大多市民自備乾糧，園區內的垃圾桶被塞
爆，垃圾遍地，一片狼藉。
日本館排長龍 需等 5 小時
日本、法國等外國展館昨日首次對遊客開放即大排長龍，新民網引述日本館工作人
員 稱，每 小 時 放 1000 人 入 場，排 龍 尾 位 置 約 需 等 5 小 時，法 國 館 的 等 候 時 間 亦 在 2
小時左右。
有外國記者問到吉祥物「海寶」涉嫌抄襲，徐威回應稱：「版權問題是法律問題，
若有抄襲嫌疑通過法律問題解決，並非誰說抄襲就真算抄襲。」
前日是世博會「領導專場」，前國家領導人江澤民、李鵬、朱鎔基、李瑞環、李嵐
清、羅幹及吳儀等人前往參觀，在地方館中，有來自雲南、青海的少數民族工作人
員為他們獻上香包、哈達等禮物。
此外，江蘇警方昨日宣布一名大學生在網上散播「近期江蘇有地震，上海世博會將
取消」謠言，對他進行「批評教育」，並無拘捕。
世博「黃牛護照」炒至 5000 元
官方售票渠道暢通與便捷，令倒賣世博門票的「黃牛」無機可乘，見風駛舵的「黃牛」便打起「世
博護照」的主意。記者在浦東南路一個世博票務銷售店外發現，一名「黃牛」正忙著兜售，原價
30 元一本的「世博護照」被炒至 100 元。而在網上，一本蓋齊 200 多個展館印章的護照叫價高達
5000 元。
F.4A
Jacintha Chan(4)
Vienna Ho(11)
Date: 3rd May, 2010
Source: South China Morning Post, Ming Po
Explanation of the issue
According to the piece newspaper from SCMP,
Recently, Shanghai Expo is opened and it will be held from May1 to October31. It is
the largest scale of exposition which also cost 450 billion US dollars which aims at
providing a platform for different countries, regions as well as organization. On the
first few days, there were long queues of tourist outside some of the popular pavilions.
In order to get in, people had to queue for two to three hours. Since the pavilions are
economic goods, its quantity is insufficient to satisfy all people’s wants. More of them
are preferred. Therefore, people are willing to compete for it through non-price
competition (eg.queue). Hence, there is a positive cost of getting it.
Shanghai Expo is in short run situation which involves fixed factor as well as variable
factors. Fixed factor refers to the factors that does not change (i.e. pavilions) when
output changes. Variable factor refers to the factors that change (i.e.labour) when
output changes.
Besides, the pavilions there are fixed capitals that are man-made resources used in
production. The pavilions are durable capital goods and can be used repeatedly. The
return is named interest and the supply of pavilions can be increased by humans.
There is a cost of producing it as present consumption has to be given up. The
Chinese government can used this large amount of capital to reduce disparity between
the rich and poor as well as building more infrastructures to facilitate the economic
development.
Labour is also used in Shanghai Expo. The security guards and medical personnel
provide human effort, both mental and physical, used in production. Their income is
named wages and the number of security guards and medical personnel can be
increased by humans. There is a cost of producing it as scarce resource is used to train
them.
According to the second piece of newspaper from SCMP (supplement),
Shanghai Expo becomes a popular tourist attraction for mainlanders as well as Hong
Kong people. However, this creates threat to Hong Kong’s tourism sector. Since
Shanghai Expo is a huge exposition that records the civilization of the world and
future expectation, it’s a rare and commendable chance for people to know more
about the development or history about different countries. Therefore, the demand for
Shanghai Expo increases (D1D2) as shown in the graph below. At the same time, as
Hong Kong is praised as the “shoppers’ paradise” and “food paradise”, it is one of the
tourist spots for many foreigners. Moreover, Shanghai Expo becomes a more
attractive spot for tourists to visit than Hong Kong. As the retailing industry of
Shanghai Expo and Hong Kong are substitutes, they are in competitive demand. They
can be replaced by each other to satisfy the same wants. Meanwhile, it causes the
decrease for Hong Kong’s retailing service.
According to the third piece of newspaper from Ming Po (supplement),
The ticket of Shanghai Expo is insufficient to satisfy people’s wants. As shown in the
below graph, supply of tickets is fixed (S). As the market price of the ticket is set
below the equilibrium price, quantity demanded for tickets is greater than quantity
supplied of tickets. Hence, excess demand occurred.
Further, the government has applied price ceiling for the Shanghai Expo passport
which is one of the souvenirs for the visitors. Due to the high equilibrium price, the
government applied price ceiling in order to protect the consumers. Therefore, it is set
below the equilibrium price. Quantity demanded (Qd) for Shanghai Expo passport is
greater than quantity supplied (Qs) of Shanghai Expo passport. Hence, shortage
occurred. However, the price ceiling leads to a black market. The illegal sellers sold
the Shanghai Expo passport illegally at a price ($100) which is much higher than the
price ceiling ($30).