The exotic pavilions and parks of the Shanghai Expo are supported by invisible high technologies that will ensure visitors enjoy the experience of a lifetime in safety and convenience.

Tickets with hearts

The organizers expect 800,000 people to visit the Expo every day – a number that traditional, manual ticket checking cannot handle. To cope with the huge numbers and filter out fake tickets, tiny microchips in the 0.5 mm thin tickets will use a technology called "radio frequency identification," developed in Japan in the 1990s, to allow turnstiles to validate tickets without touching.

Tiny microchips in the 0.5 mm thin tickets use a technology called "radio frequency identification" to allow turnstiles to validate tickets without touching.

Similar technology is used in supermarkets and by delivery and logistics firms, but experts say the Shanghai Expo will be the largest ever application of the technology and will boost innovation in the field.

Trash flies underground

While people walk around the Expo Park, beneath their feet trash will be flying underground at a speed of 20 meters per second. A system of tunnels, turbines and vacuum tubes has been devised to automatically suck trash from dustbins and deliver it to trash stations.

When the amount of trash in dustbins passes a defined threshold, a central control system will switch on turbines to cut air pressure in the tunnels and suck in the trash, which is then separated, compressed, filtered, purified, deodorized and ejected at a trash station.

Cool, clear water

As the Expo will take place at the height of Shanghai's sweltering summer, the organizers have made great efforts to keep the park cool. The Expo's weather adjustment project will ensure people enjoy their visit in comfort.

Stretches of beautiful white parasols in every major exhibition area and around pavilions will shield visitors from the burning sun.

Environmentally-friendly building materials have been used throughout. Specially modified road surface materials will let rainwater pass through to tree roots, and transmit heat underground instead of reflecting it back into the atmosphere.

The Expo's temperature reduction technology relies mainly on water. Springs, water curtains, pools and brooks in the park will cool the air by evaporation. And in open spaces, ultra-fine water particles will be sprayed into the air to cool visitors down.