The History of Shanghai expo began when numerous scholars and government officials envisioned China would one day join the world community in hosting an international global expos. Different governments have gained international experience in participating in fairs outside China. It wasn't until the later 20th century when the participation and hosting became more regular.
Early unofficial participations
In 1851, a Cantonese business man in Shanghai, Xu Rong-cun (徐荣村) heard of the news of a first ever expo. He hurriedly grabbed 12 bags of silk and brought it to London in a long trip.[1] Queen Victoria herself even awarded Xu with a golden award.During that 1851 London expo, Henry Courtney Selous did a number of paintings for the event. According to one of the painting at the Crystal Palace, a Chinese person by the name of Xi-sheng (希生) was wearing a Qing government official outfit and represented China. Later this person was investigated to be from Guangdong and was not actually a government official. He happened to be from a boat called (耆英号).The participants were the first from China to take part in the expo experience. They were not official.
Official participation
The Qing dynasty first officially participated in the 1867 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, then continued in 1904 in the St Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The Republic of China participated in the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition.[4] China did not participate in another expo until the 1982 World's Fair, a 67 year gap.