Follow Pippi to explore Sweden's innovative journey

Pippi play staged at the Zhongshan Park [en.expo2010.cn]

Pippi Longstocking, a household name in Sweden because of the literary character's curiosity and ideas, has been selected as one of the Sweden Pavilion's guides to help visitors discover the country's "Spirit of Innovation."

A playground inspired by Pippi's house, Villa Villekulla, will be constructed at the pavilion, according to the Swedish official World Expo 2010 Website.

Longstocking is a fictional character in a series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Since 1945, Lindgren's character Pippi has inspired children all over the world and encouraged them to be strong, have fun and to believe in themselves.

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Swedish director Staffan G?testam's Pippi play is also on the agenda during the Expo.

Pippi is included in the exhibition to encourage Chinese children to be even more creative, said Carin Lembre from PR and communications bureau Springtime, which has developed the concept of the exhibition.

"Our idea is that if you want to be like Alfred Nobel, the Swedish scientist, you must start by being creative like Pippi. In the exhibition she comes up with fun ways in which she questions situations, and we have collected all the material from situations and images in the books."

"The Spirit of Innovation is created when you dare to be wrong, dare to be brave and dare to try new ways of thinking – just like Pippi, and in addition, Pippi is always standing up for the weak," she added.

One of the key elements of the pavilion is in seeing things from the perspective of a child, with their sense of fun, curiosity and strange but inspiring ideas.