The grand opening of the highly anticipated "most expensive" World Cup in Qatar!
Although Qatar has a land area of only 11,521 square kilometers, less than Beijing, it has a resident population of 2.8 million, with a majority of foreigners and only 380,000 native citizens, making the population density far greater than that of the Tiantongyuan community.
Yet, this small country has managed to soar economically, becoming the world's third largest natural gas reserve. Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Qatar has risen rapidly to replace Russia as the largest supplier of LNG to the European Union, with total exports topping $100 billion in the first three quarters of 2022.
Qatar seems to be born to win, with local residents working just three hours a day, one of which is spent in prayer. Even among the many rich countries in the Middle East, Qatar is known for being the richest of the rich.
But Qatar faces a thorny problem: the country's small size makes it difficult to host major events. the 2006 Asian Games, which featured unprecedented investment - the opening ceremony alone cost $180 million - were thrown into disarray by torrential rains, and for a time it lost the right to host the 2016 Olympics.
However, Qatar proved their "money power" by winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup against the United States.
The decision sparked controversy, with many arguing that Qatar got the World Cup through money.
For the World Cup, Qatar built eight stadiums, seven new and one expansion. The Lusail Stadium was built by the Chinese Railway, which took six years to build and even became the signature of the Qatari currency, the 10-dollar bill.
Qatar also creatively built a 974 stadium consisting of 974 shipping containers, which were manufactured at the Yangzhou base in China.
Qatar's stadiums are closely linked to Made in China, such as the steel structure used in the Laiyang Stadium, which came from Zhejiang Jinggong.
To solve the problem of fan accommodation, Qatar has also built a fan village housing 6,000 shipping containers, which is costly and equivalent to a hotel apartment.
In addition to the high cost, Qatar has ordered 1,500 new energy buses, making it the first large-scale application of China's new energy buses in an international event.
Qatar World Cup, Chinese elements are everywhere, Yiwu manufacturing occupy 70% of the surrounding commodity market.
Qatar has reportedly invested a whopping $229 billion in the World Cup, far more than previous hosts.
Qatar's huge investment in the World Cup showcased Middle Eastern pride, with a record $440 million in athlete prize money alone.
Unfortunately, the national soccer team was not able to enjoy this glory.
Made in China, referees, fans and sponsors were all involved in the event, which brought almost every country to Qatar except for the Chinese team.
