A sculpture created by contemporary Italian-American sculptor Virginio Ferrari was presented as a gift Sunday to the Shanghai Expo to mark the 25 years of sister cities' ties between Shanghai and Chicago.

The sculpture, composed of 9 sculptures each measuring about 3 meters high, takes up about 60 square meters of area along the Huangpu River in Shanghai.

Ferrari said he began work on these sculptures, named The Family, in March 2009.

The two intersecting sculptures standing in the middle represent father and mother, said Ferrari, while the other seven sculptures, looking like high rises but each with a different shape, represent children and relatives of the family.

Given that the theme of the Shanghai Expo is city-related, these sculptures might naturally spark such an imaginative thought that these "high rises" were acting as different cities from around the world, sitting together in dialogue for mutual and multilateral cooperation.

At the gift-giving ceremony, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said the sculpture also reflected the long history of friendship between Chicago and Shanghai.

"Shanghai is a vibrant city. The cultural and economic ties between Chicago and Shanghai are going to benefit residents of both cities," Daley said.