The Little Mermaid goes to China?
She has had her head and arm cut off in the past, she was even knocked off her rock once, but despite the vandalism she’s never left Copenhagen. Rumours has it, though, that she’s now considering the biggest journey of them all, a trip to Shanghai.
The Little Mermaid plans to temporarily move her rock to the middle of the Danish Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, according to The Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs.
If all goes to plan The Little Mermaid will be placed in a small, artificial lake filled with water from Copenhagen harbour, so that she won’t feel too homesick.
I do not begrudge the girl her trip, after all she has been sitting in Copenhagen since 1913, but I wonder if Denmark has thought the whole thing through? Is it wise to bring one of your main tourist attractions to a World Expo, so the entire world can see just how small and utterly overrated it is?
If The Little Mermaid manages to get a visa, she’ll be in Shanghai from 1 May to 31 October 2010. Presumably all you’ll see at her rock in Copenhagen is a ‘be back soon’ sign.
You can see an artist’s impression of the Danish Pavilion on The Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs website - The Little Mermaid is in the third illustration.
TAGS: Copenhagen, Shanghai, The Little Mermaid, travel, World Expo 2010
2 Responses to “The Little Mermaid goes to China?”
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TRAVEL GAMES
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I read the article in the Spiegel Online International and a few other ones before commenting here. My question to those who want to take the statue from the harbor to the Expo is simple: Why? This is one of the most completely insane ideas ever. I had to wait 53 years to get to Copenhagen to see her in her setting. Denmark is her context. She is not some piece of sculpture in an art collection to be lent out for a traveling exhibition of any sort. I can only hope the voice of reason and responsibility prevails and she stays put, in her place in her water. A copy would do for the Expo.
24 September, 2008 at 7:24Thanks for your comment, Debra. For what it’s worth, I wrote this post two weeks ago, when the plans were first revealed, and since then there has been quite a bit of opposition to the idea in Denmark. So my guess is that it won’t get approved.
Personally, I don’t see the point of bringing her to the Expo, she has very little to do with modern Denmark, and I think the plan to bring her shows a complete lack of imagination.
24 September, 2008 at 13:35