包起帆：我和世博会特别有缘

我和世博有缘。如今世博中心会场就设在浦东白莲泾码头边上，那里是我曾经工作过28年的地方，我对那里的每一寸土地、每一棵树木都有着深厚的情结。

1968年，17岁的我被分配到了上海港务局白莲泾码头做装卸工，那是一个承载历史的老码头。十九世纪初期，美国大来洋行看中了这块宝地，因为它在白莲泾与黄浦江的交汇处，由于水流的冲刷不淤不积，是个筑港的好地方，于是就在那里建设了上海为数不多的大码头。听我的师傅说，这个码头曾经停过各国列强侵略中国的军舰。解放后，大来码头回到了人民的怀抱，成为上海港一个专业的木材、生铁和杂货码头。我在那里工作的28年见证了上海港的变迁。1968年我刚进港，当时的上海港，在世界上没有相应的地位。压船压货严重、人拉肩扛普遍。如今的上海港已经是世界大港了。码头从黄浦江移到了长江，又从长江移到了洋山深水港，上海港的吞吐量也从我进港时的3500万吨上升到2008年的5.8亿吨，成了世界第一大港。我为之奋斗28年的白莲泾码头也结束了历史使命，成了世博会的主会场，宏伟的世博场馆拔地而起，即将成为世人瞩目的地方。老码头见证了历史的变迁，令我感慨万千。

我和世博有缘。世博将唤起人们对创新的新认识。世博会开办以来，人类以科技创新为主题，实现着自我突破和超越。人们通过世博会的平台发布最新的科技成果和最好的发明产品。通过在世界范围内的展示，起到了加速推广的作用。世博会成为鼓励科技创新的象征，因此可以说历届世博会是发明家的天堂，是科技创新的舞台。像大功率蒸汽机、电话机、混凝土、打印机、电梯等，就连米老鼠的第一次亮相都是在世博会上。办世博将提升公众对科技创新的认识，提升公众对发明成果的认识。世博精神将长远地影响我们的生活。

我是一名长期工作在生产第一线的工程技术人员，白莲泾码头是我创新的发源地。从我进港工作到1981年短短的十几年里，由于木材装卸采用人力捆扎作业，就发生死亡事故11起，重伤、轻伤546起。为了从根本上保证工人安全，我在那里发明了第一个木材抓斗，随后形成了配套的木材装卸工艺系统。从此以后，我们港口的木材装卸就再也没有发生过一起工伤事故，工作效率也成倍提高。创新能够改变世界。我在白莲泾开始的创新，令我走上了从一个普通工人到教授级高工的路，以后我立足岗位，不断用创新成果来提高码头的效率和安全，陆续在日内瓦、巴黎、匹兹堡、布鲁塞尔获得了30块国际发明展览会金奖，印证了白莲泾是一块福地。现在那里将召开世博会，我真的与世博会特别有缘。

My involvement in World Expo 2010 Shanghai China was predestined. Its Expo Park sits alongside the Bailianjing Wharf in Pudong, where I had worked for 28 years. I feel a deep attachment to every inch of land and every single tree there.

In 1969 when I turned 17, I was assigned to the Shanghai Port Administration and worked as a stevedore at the Bailianjing Wharf, an old wharf that had evolved with Shanghai's history.

Located at the confluence of the Huangpu and Bailianjing rivers, the site was ideal for a wharf because of the constant washing from these two great waterways, which kept the area from silting up. In the early 19th century, this treasured land attracted the Dollar Steamship Company, predecessor of today's American President Lines Ltd, who built one of the Shanghai's few big wharves there.

My mentor told me that warships of many world powers moored there when they invaded China.

After the country's liberation, the former Dollar Port was returned to the Chinese people and became a hub for trade in wood, pig iron and household goods.

During my 28 years as a worker there, I witnessed the progress of the Port of Shanghai. When I started working there in 1968, the port did not enjoy any international status due to its poor efficiency in handling ships and cargos by mainly manual operation.

Today, it has become the largest port in the world, with cargo throughput jumping to 580 million tons from 3.5 million in 1968 after it was moved first from the Huangpu River to the Yangtze River and then again to the Yangshan Deep-Water Port. The Bailianjing Wharf had fulfilled its historic mission, and now the area has been given a new destiny as the main venue for the World Expo. As the exposition draws near, this piece of land will soon come into the global spotlight.