The mascot of Shanghai World Expo - "Haibao" is created from a Chinese character meaning people. ?

1. Participating nations:

192

2. Participating international organizations: 50

3. Participating regions in China: All 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on the mainland of China, along with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan

4. Pavilions built by foreign countries: 42

5. Size: The 5.28-square-kilometer Expo site is the biggest in the event’s history and has various structures covering up to 2 million square meters.

6. Proposals: A total of 108 proposals from 80 cities around the world are competing to enter the final list of about 30-50 exhibits. International organizations such as UNESCO and the World Bank have also recommended 118 cases to the Expo committee.

7. Top travel destination: The Shanghai Expo was listed as one of the top travel destinations in 2010 by Lonely Planet, the world’s largest independent travel publisher.

8. UBPA: Covering an area of 15.08 hectares, the UBPA (Urban Best Practices Area), is the brainchild of Shanghai Expo organizers.

9. Tickets: As of January 17, 2010, more than 18 million tickets had been sold, according to the official Expo website.

10. Visitors: The Expo expects to receive a total of about 70 million visitors, an average of more than 400,000 per day.

11. Land transportation: More than 90 bus routes and 5 subway lines cross the Expo area, and 42 other bus routes will run within 2.4 kilometers of the area.

12. Water transportation: The Expo will have ferries running on 5 routes, with the capacity to carry 500 passengers at a time. The ferries will leave every 30-minutes and are expected to transport about 200,000-300,000 passengers a day.

13. Solar power system: The Expo is equipped with solar power units that can generate up to 4.6 megawatts.

14. Information centers: By November 2009, Shanghai had set up 37 tourist information and service centers.

15. Volunteers: A total of 70,000 volunteers were selected for the Shanghai Expo.

16. Hotline: The 962010 hotline is the official service line. It is operated by Shanghai Telecom and will cooperate with the 962288 Shanghai Call Center to provide local information.

17. New International Expo Center: The New International Expo Center will be the largest exhibition hall in Shanghai, stretching 100,000 square meters.

18. Theme Pavilion: The pavilion features 5,000-square-meter "green walls" covered in plants, the largest ecological walls in the world. It also includes solar cells on the rooftop that can generate 2.8 million kilowatt-hours per year and reduce carbon dioxide discharges by 2,800 tons. Covering a total area of 11.5 hectares, the pavilion also features a 25,000-square-meter exhibition hall, the largest "non-column space" in the world.

19. Expo Boulevard: The Boulevard is 2.4 million square meters, the largest site at the Expo. It will act as the main entrance to the Expo and will link four streets, five blocks and three subway stations. More than 50 percent of the 70 million expected visitors will enter the Expo from the Boulevard.

20. Sunny Valley: Sunny Valley comprises six horn-like structures built alongside the Boulevard. The 40-meter-high horns are designed to recycle rainfall, which will be collected underground and used for irrigation and toilet flushing. It will also use river water for cooling. Sunny Valley will save 432,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 432 tons a year.

21. Performance Center: The 126,000-square meter Performance Center is the largest comprehensive performance arena in China, and will hold most of the 20,000 Expo performances during the 6-month long event. Seats in the auditorium can be arranged to fit audiences anywhere from 4,000-18,000 people.

22. Wetland park: A 14-hectare wetland park featuring natural habitats will be part of the greenery landscape at the Expo site.

23. Five degrees Celsius: The 230,000-square-meter Expo Garden and 140,000-square-meter Houtan Park built along the Huangpu River will allow visitors to enjoy a cooler environment during the summer, up to five degrees Celsius lower than other parts of the Expo site.

(China.org.cn by Wangyanfang January 22, 2010)