Despite being a party newspaper, I am more a fan of the Shanghai Morning Post (新闻辰报) than the relatively less government-oriented Oriental Morning Post (东方日报). I find the Shanghai Morning Post to have more stories related to the city I live in, though the Shanghai paper sells out quicker outside my apartment building than the Oriental Morning Post, so I often have to settle for the Oriental if I make it outside past 10 a.m.

In the Monday, March 29 edition of the Shanghai Morning Post, readers were given a 30-page primer to the upcoming World Expo — a breakdown of each country, provincial (yes, each province in China gets its own little building within the Expo grounds) and corporate pavilion. One of the benefits to being a government paper is that when major events take place — i.e. the World Expo — there is a deluge of information in the newspaper.

Even more impressive was the foldout section with the map of the Expo grounds. I had always thought centerfolds were reserved for “Playboy,” but the Shanghai Morning Post managed to have a four-fold spread of Expo Park, meaning one had to unfold the page four times to completely read everything. The Expo map is not as appealing as “Ms. July,” but I thought it was a clever joke. 

For newspaper purists out there, I realize removing the individual section of the paper, then opening it up four times to a length that is longer than some people’s arm spans is a little much, especially if you’re riding the subway or in any type of confined space. But I found the “origami” newspaper to be an interesting design scheme.

The aim of the pullout map and “complete guide” to the Expo is for people outside of Shanghai, which seems a little counterproductive because I don’t believe the Shanghai Morning Post is distributed that far out of the city. Nonetheless, I never thought I would be able to say a physical newspaper was “interactive” with its readers, but the Shanghai Morning Post figured out a clever method.

I’ve included photographs below to show the folds for the newspaper:

The first fold (image on the left) features a Shanghai Metro subway map, with extra details on which new lines will be open in time for the beginning of the Expo. According to the Shanghai Morning Post, line 10 might not be open in time to coincide with opening weekend of the World Expo.

Interesting, though, there will be a special line 13 that only runs between the Puxi and Pudong sides of the Expo grounds — two stops total.

After completing one’s journey through the China pavilions, one should head to the Asia section — still in the “A” balloon part of the image — to see buildings from South Korea, Thailand, India and Pakistan.

Section “B” features the European Union pavilion and individual European country pavilions. Section “C” includes pavilions from the United States, Russia and South Africa.

Sections “D” and “E” are located on the Puxi side of the Expo grounds, and include an Expo museum, corporate pavilions — China Air and Coca-Cola are two names that have interesting pavilion designs — and exhibits that relate to Shanghai.

The second image on the foldout (left, bottom) features key bus routes, metro stops and train stations for people heading to Shanghai from surrounding areas, including the routes across the Yangtze River Bridge to Ximen.

Despite the extensive resizing that had to be done on the above image, it represents the last fold in the newspaper, clearly showing four pages by the creases in the paper. It depicts a scaled-down drawing of the entire Expo grounds. Each pavilion is labeled, along with major transportation routes and park entrances. The total length of the map is more than one meter long.

Monday’s Shanghai Morning Post was a fun newspaper. I wish more publications would get creative with their designs.