Here is a two page paper that I wrote for class. It sounds pretty damn close to a blog post so I figure why not put it on the blog.
- muffinman
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Expo pins have to become as valuable and desired as bank notes within the expo and have come to be used as a way to break down barriers between expo workers.
I discovered the pin craze during my second visit to the Expo site while talking to Jennifer, a staff member at the Canadian pavilion. Over wine, Jennifer told me how one of her Canadian pavilion colleagues ran up the bill one night at the restaurant in the Chile pavilion and did not have enough money to pay. The colleague, however, managed to bargain the bill down a couple hundred Yuan using just pins. Later that night, I personally witnessed the use of pins as a form of payment. Jennifer took me to the restaurant in the Mexican pavilion, where she knew Archie, the manager of the restaurant. According to the prices listed on the menu, the meal should have cost a little over 300 RMB. As we approached Archie to pay, he refused to accept the money and told us it was his treat. There was an ulterior motive to this act of generosity, which was revealed when Archie asked Jennifer about acquiring some Peru pins for her, stating that he had promised some Peru pins to members of his kitchen staff.
To learn more about this pin craze, I interviewed Doris, a Fudan student and an Expo volunteer since August. Doris told me about how pin trading is extremely prevalent among all the Expo workers and that it was present when she started volunteering. The intensity of pin collecting and trading varies from individual to individual, but Doris thinks that it is the more intense among Expo staff and volunteers than among visitors. Doris herself has thirty pins, which she considers to be average among the volunteers. Doris mentioned how one of her friends had spent over 3000 RMB on pins and that such a large investment in pins was not too uncommon.
A handful of pins in exchange for a 300 RMB meal alerted me to the high value of these pins. Through Doris, I learned that the price of an Expo pin bought at the Expo ranges from twenty to sixty Yuan and she also told me that these same pins are being resold on Taobao, an online marketplace similar to Ebay, for twice the price. Stories have been floating around the expo of foreigners trading high value items for pins; Doris told me she heard someone traded his SLR camera for a pin. The most valuable pins are the limited edition ones which are distributed by Expo organizers. China Daily reported that the price of the Saudi Arabia pin distributed to VIP, reached 10,000 RMB on Taobao . City Weekend states that Canadian and South African pins were most favored by the market . Volunteer pins which have a unique number are also in high demand according to Doris. The practice of trading pins for VIP access was revealed to me by Jennifer, who told me she was going to trade a pin for VIP access to the Saudi Arabia pavilion, the most popular pavilion at the expo. Doris further highlighted the prevalence of this practice by telling me that pins are routinely traded by volunteers for VIP access.
When I asked Jennifer about why people placed such a high value on pins, she told me she was just as puzzled by the craze as I was. Doris thought that the pins were valued highly by volunteers because they are objects of interest and intrigue and offered a break from the grind of volunteer work. To Doris, the increased chance of acquiring pins was the reward for volunteering.
In addition to being used as a form of currency, staff and volunteers use the pins to as a social tool. Doris explained that there are divides between the volunteers and staff due to differences in age, authority and culture, but what brings everybody together is the want for pins. The trading of pins provides a common topic among everybody at the Expo and is often used as an ice breaker to start a conversation. Doris herself has met many people and even created some friendships, just through the act of trading pins.
The usage of Expo pins as a currency and social bonding tool shows the development of a subculture among the Expo staff and volunteers. In a relatively short time, the diverse Expo community has found a way to bond with each other.
