包起帆：我和世博會特別有緣

我和世博有緣。如今世博中心會場就設在浦東白蓮涇碼頭邊上，那里是我曾經工作過28年的地方，我對那里的每一寸土地、每一棵樹木都有著深厚的情結。

1968年，17歲的我被分配到了上海港務局白蓮涇碼頭做裝卸工，那是一個承載歷史的老碼頭。十九世紀初期，美國大來洋行看中了這塊寶地，因為它在白蓮涇與黃浦江的交匯處，由于水流的沖刷不淤不積，是個筑港的好地方，于是就在那里建設了上海為數(shù)不多的大碼頭。聽我的師傅說，這個碼頭曾經停過各國列強侵略中國的軍艦。解放后，大來碼頭回到了人民的懷抱，成為上海港一個專業(yè)的木材、生鐵和雜貨碼頭。我在那里工作的28年見證了上海港的變遷。1968年我剛進港，當時的上海港，在世界上沒有相應的地位。壓船壓貨嚴重、人拉肩扛普遍。如今的上海港已經是世界大港了。碼頭從黃浦江移到了長江，又從長江移到了洋山深水港，上海港的吞吐量也從我進港時的3500萬噸上升到2008年的5.8億噸，成了世界第一大港。我為之奮斗28年的白蓮涇碼頭也結束了歷史使命，成了世博會的主會場，宏偉的世博場館拔地而起，即將成為世人矚目的地方。老碼頭見證了歷史的變遷，令我感慨萬千。

我和世博有緣。世博將喚起人們對創(chuàng)新的新認識。世博會開辦以來，人類以科技創(chuàng)新為主題，實現(xiàn)著自我突破和超越。人們通過世博會的平臺發(fā)布最新的科技成果和最好的發(fā)明產品。通過在世界范圍內的展示，起到了加速推廣的作用。世博會成為鼓勵科技創(chuàng)新的象征，因此可以說歷屆世博會是發(fā)明家的天堂，是科技創(chuàng)新的舞臺。像大功率蒸汽機、電話機、混凝土、打印機、電梯等，就連米老鼠的第一次亮相都是在世博會上。辦世博將提升公眾對科技創(chuàng)新的認識，提升公眾對發(fā)明成果的認識。世博精神將長遠地影響我們的生活。

我是一名長期工作在生產第一線的工程技術人員，白蓮涇碼頭是我創(chuàng)新的發(fā)源地。從我進港工作到1981年短短的十幾年里，由于木材裝卸采用人力捆扎作業(yè)，就發(fā)生死亡事故11起，重傷、輕傷546起。為了從根本上保證工人安全，我在那里發(fā)明了第一個木材抓斗，隨后形成了配套的木材裝卸工藝系統(tǒng)。從此以后，我們港口的木材裝卸就再也沒有發(fā)生過一起工傷事故，工作效率也成倍提高。創(chuàng)新能夠改變世界。我在白蓮涇開始的創(chuàng)新，令我走上了從一個普通工人到教授級高工的路，以后我立足崗位，不斷用創(chuàng)新成果來提高碼頭的效率和安全，陸續(xù)在日內瓦、巴黎、匹茲堡、布魯塞爾獲得了30塊國際發(fā)明展覽會金獎，印證了白蓮涇是一塊福地?，F(xiàn)在那里將召開世博會，我真的與世博會特別有緣。

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.