Mr. Xisheng

Oil Painting, the First World Expo in 1851. Mr. Xisheng was seen in the crowd on the right

According to Wu Jiangzhong, Head of the Shanghai Library, in the first World Expo in London in the year 1851, a Cantonese, named Xisheng, was invited to attend the opening ceremony.

Mr. Xisheng, left Guangdong in Dec 1846, boarding a ship "Qiying", and arrived at London in Mar 1848. The art pieces and goods on the ship, as would be displayed in the first World Expo, attracted many English visitors, including the Queen and Charles Dickens. Mr. Xisheng, then was invited as a guest to participate in the opening ceremony of the gala.

Guangdong's connection with World Expo
Xu Rongcun, a businessman from Xiangshan of Guangdong, was the first Chinese who attended the Expo. Mr. Xu participated in the first World Exposition held in London, Britain in 1851, carrying with him silk, tea and traditional Chinese medicines, and was awarded gold and silver prizes.

Moreover, the first Chinese who proposed to host the World Expo in Shanghai was Zheng Guanying, also from Xiangshan, Guangdong. He wrote the propose in a book "Alarm at the Heyday (Shengshi Weiyan)" in the year 1894, saying the Expo would greatly fuel the social and economic development of the host city and Shanghai, as the main port connecting China and the world, was the best place in China for hosting the event.