Expo prepared to battle san fu

A child drinks water from a water fountain at the Expo Garden on Monday when the mercury climbed to 35 C. [Hou Deqiang / Xinhua]

SHANGHAI - As the san fu season, the hottest period of the year according to the Chinese lunar calendar, began on Monday, the Expo 2010 Shanghai was all geared up to battle extreme temperatures.

The san fu season normally occurs between the middle of July and the middle of August and lasts about 30 to 40 days.

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Misting fans are the most widely adopted cooling measures for visitors to the Expo, especially in Zone A and C, where Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France and other popular pavilions are located.

Visitors usually have to wait more than two hours to enter these pavilions.

"We've brought along prevention measures, such as umbrellas, hats, traditional medicines for heatstroke, cooling oil, towels, and sunscreen," said Wang Meijie, a tourist from Linhai in Zhejiang province.

The Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination is giving out paper fans to visitors at all gates of the Expo Garden.

Certain pavilions have ice cubes and fans to help keep visitors cool.

"We started sending out paper fans around noon because our pavilion has a long line of people waiting. Buckets of ice cubes have been placed in the lines so that visitors can use them as they like to cool down a bit," said Zheng Lu, the press assistant at the Germany Pavilion.

Besides the pavilions, cold drinks and ice cream stands have turned out to be the hottest attractions in the Expo Garden.

"With the increasing temperature, most tourists choose to buy iced drinks instead of drinking the tap water. We sold out the first batch of iced Sprite by 11 am and we don't have enough time to refill the fridge with soft drinks," said a staff member working at the Coca-Cola stand in Zone B.

Beer is also quite a hit with the visitors. The Belgium Beer Bar, located at the exit of the Belgium-EU Pavilion, is usually packed with people.

"The bar is equipped with two extra fridges and has doubled the stock of all products to prepare for the hot season. The pavilion has also set up an extra stand on the back of the pavilion with special summer drinks like apple-flavored beer," said Fan Zhipeng, a supervisor at the Belgium Beer Bar.

All five medical centers and 11 first aid service points in and around the Expo Garden are well prepared for emergencies.

"We have an extra volunteer for each medical center and service point. Extra doctors and crew will be on duty during weekends and holidays in Zone A and C. Ten ambulances are ready at any given time in the Garden in case of an emergency," said He Zhichun, in charge of the emergency medical aid points in the Expo Garden.