Up in the air

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It seems like everyone in Shanghai is doing something to make the 2010 World Expo a success, whether it be putting in longer hours at work or turning their houses into home-stays. Whatever the means they all serve the same end: to get the city looking as hospitable as possible, as China Daily's reporters find out.

Zhang Lili has never spent a Chinese New Year with her three-year-old son and this year will be no different for the China Eastern Airlines' stewardess as she again takes the holiday shifts as a member of the airline's elite Ling Yan (Soaring Bird) crew.

Zhang was nominated as one of 100 smiling ambassadors in Shanghai's service sector for the 2010 Expo because she usually spends the holidays up in the air caring for other people and their children, among other factors.

"I can only make up for not seeing my son by buying him toys and candy from around the world," said the 30-year-old. "But no chocolate is sweeter than the smile on his face when I come home."

As Shanghai reshapes itself for this year's Expo with new transport infrastructure and mega-constructions, the city is also bolstering its service sector for tourists.

Expo partner China Eastern is pushing its air service crew to keep full-time hours during the upcoming holiday - with the 44-member Ling Yan crew at the forefront of its efforts to promote the Expo. These include: flying in specially painted cabins, hosting Expo-related quizzes mid-flight, and giving away prize draws.

Zhang said the latter are most popular because passengers like to snuggle up to Expo mascots Haibao and Feifei (the mascot of the China Aviation Pavilion) when they sleep.

Security has also been tightened due to the Expo, with more undercover officers boarding flights and greater restrictions on what fliers can pack in their hand luggage.

"Security is always the first priority," Zhang said. "Fortunately most passengers cooperate." Those who do not, or who cause trouble during the flight, may end up restrained to their chair until the plane lands, as one man on a flight to Moscow found out recently, she said.

After nine years as a flight attendant, Zhang said she can look back on a career that has taken her around the world and brought many accolades for her performance. But as a wife and mother, she said it gets harder to leave her child behind and take to the skies.

"I am just glad I was able to spend my first birthday with my son this year on Saturday," she said. "But even though I only get to see his smile once a week, I can see the smiles on my customers' faces everyday. That makes it all worthwhile."