As the only official museum and authorized documentation centre of BIE, World Expo Museum decided to hold Expo Literature Exhibition between from mid-December 2019 to early February 2020.

　　Expo Literature Exhibition

　　This exhibition will be the first large-scale literature exhibition in the expo industry. It will display more than 300 documents from various countries, and show the communication and mutual learning of nine industries, including education, transportation, architecture and art, which show the diversity of the world and the changes of the times.

　　At the end of the exhibition, the "Writing the Future" section will display the letters written by Einstein and three other famous people for Expo 1939 New York.

　　It has been 80 years since three famous people wrote these letters

　　Does the world become what they thought it was?

　　What do you think the future and humanity would be like?

　　You can also "Writing the Future"

　　You can also participate in this exhibition!

　　Expo Literature Exhibition will design a space for the public to show their replies to famous people!

　　Reply to ALBERT EINSTEIN

　　ALBERT EINSTEIN（1879－1955）

　　Jewish theoretical physicist who founded relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics, won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921.

　　Our time is rich in inventive minds, the inventions of which could facilitate our lives considerably. We are crossing the seas by power and utilize power also in order to relieve humanity from all tiring muscular work. We have learned to fly and we are able to send messages and news without any difficulty over the entire world through electric waves. However, the production and distribution of commodities is entirely unorganized so that everybody must live in fear of being eliminated from the economic cycle, in this way suffering for the want of everything. Further more, people living in different countries kill each other at irregular time intervals, so that also for this reason any one who thinks about the future must live in fear and terror. This is due to the fact that the intelligence and character of the masses are incomparably lower than the intelligence and character of the few who produce some thing valuable for the community. I trust that posterity will read these statements with a feeling of proud and justified superiority.

　　Albert Einstein

　　Reply to THOMAS MANN

　　THOMAS MANN(1875-1955)

　　German novelist, essayist, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929. His famous work and representative work,"Budenbollocks" caused a sensation once published, and established his position in Germany and even European literary world.

　　We know now that the idea of the future as a “better world” was a fallacy of the doctrine of progress. The hopes we center on you, citizens of the future, are in now way exaggerated. In broad outline, you will actually resemble us very much as we resemble those who lived a thousand, or five thousand, years ago. Among you too the spirit will fare badly—it should never fare too well on this earth, otherwise men would need it no longer. That optimistic conception of the future is a projection into time of an endeavor which does not belong to the temporal world, the endeavor on the part of man to approximate to his idea of himself, the humanization of man. What we, in this year of Our Lord 1938, understand by the term “culture”—a notion held in small esteem today by certain nations of the western world—is simply this endeavor. What we call the spirit is identical with it, too. Brothers of the future, united with us in the spirit and in this endeavor, we send our greetings.

　　THOMAS MANN

　　Reply to ROBERT MILLIKAN

　　ROBERT MILLIKAN(1868-1953)

　　American physicist who won the 1922 IEEE Edison medal and the 1923 Nobel Prize in physics.

　　At this moment, August 22, 1938, the principles of representative ballot government, such as are represented by the governments of the Anglo Saxon, French, and Scandinavian countries, are in deadly conflict with the principles of despotism, which up to two centuries ago had controlled the destiny of man throughout practically the whole of recorded history. If the rational, Scientific, progressive principles win out in this struggle there is a possibility of a warless, golden age ahead for mankind. If the reactionary principles of despotism triumph now and in the future, the future history of mankind will repeat the sad story of war and oppression as in the past.

　　ROBERT MILLIKAN

　　Westinghouse Pavilion: a time capsule under the gaze of the crowd

　　Grover Whalen and other officials buried the time capsule into the ground

　　Their letters were in the time capsule

　　1939-1949 New York Expo archives

　　New York Public Library

　　Reply to be a part of the exhibition

　　Please choose one of the following topics and write a response or comment:

　　1. Please choose one or more famous people to reply to your letter.

　　2. The theme of expo 2020 Dubai is "Connecting Minds and Creating the Future". What do you want to say to Expo 2020 Dubai?

　　3. If China hosted another world expo in 2030, what theme would you like China to adopt?

　　4. What do you want to say to yourself in 10 years later?

　　Please use A4 paper to write a letter on one side. From now until November 10, 2019, please send a scanned copy or photo of the letter with your name, age and contact information to library@expo.cn. The author is requested to keep the original letter until November 20, 2019. Upon acceptance, World Expo Museum will contact the author to obtain the original letter.

　　World Expo Museum will organize a working group to select the letter of acceptance, which will be exhibited in Expo Literature Exhibition or the expo pavilion in Expo 2020 Dubai, and the author will receive the letter of acceptance certificate issued by World Expo Museum.

　　Your reply today is both a potential exhibit for document and a document for tomorrow.

　　Dear Exhibition makers, please write back soon!