History of Shanghai expo

In 1851, a Cantonese businessman in Shanghai, Xu Rongcun (徐榮村), heard about The Great Exhibition taking place in London.

[1] Henry Courtney Selous created a number of paintings of the 1851 exhibition, including one featuring a Chinese man by the name of Xisheng (希生) .

[4] In 1893 a Qing representative from Xiangshan County, Guangdong named Zheng Guanying wrote a book called Words of Warning to a Prosperous Age.

Cheng recommended Shanghai as the place to hold the fair because it was a meeting point of East and West.

[1] In 1902 scholar Liang Qichao also mentioned the idea of an expo in a book called The Future of New China.

In the ancient town of Zhujiajiao in Shanghai, a scholar by the name of Lu Shi'e wrote a novel in 1910 called Xin Zhongguo (New China).

[7][8] In the Republic of China era, Sun Yat-sen wrote a series of three works collectively known as the Plan for National Reconstruction [zh].