On 09 July, New Zealand’s National Day, some of New Zealand’s most exciting young artists were given centre stage at the expo.
Visitors felt the Southern Pacific breeze from an impressive combination of modern dance, Hip-Hop, Kapa Haka dance, aria, and classical music.
Artists included Footnote Dance Group, Moana and The Tribe, the famous soprano, Aivale Cole, and the chamber music group NZTrio.
At a special presentation on the day Prime Minister Hon John Key gifted a special Maori canoe to the Prime Minister of China.
The canoe is known as a Te Kakano, which literally means ‘seed’.
Ten-meters long and three- meters wide, it consists of two parts: the top waka maumahara (canoe cenotaph), which memorialises the relationship between New Zealand and China, and the lower waharoa (traditional gateway), which opens forever and stands for the pathway between the two nations.
After preparatory work in New Zealand, the canoe was shipped to the Shanghai Expo.
The carvers then spent two months working in front of the New Zealand Pavilion until the canoe was completed.
“We want the Pavilion to show that New Zealand is clean, green and beautiful, and also that we New Zealanders are creative, smart and innovative,” the New Zealand Commissioner General Phillip Gibson said.
