Many pavilions at the World Expo site are scratching their heads to find the best way to concentrate their pavilion highlights into a single item that can be preserved and displayed in the city permanently after the big event.

Officials and pavilion directors said the city was planning to build an Expo museum to present the achievements of the Shanghai World Expo, with exhibits coming from each pavilion, according to Jiefang Daily.

Asad Wahid, director of the Pakistan Pavilion, told Shanghai Daily that Expo organizers had already informed them about the museum, but had not said when and where it would be built.

"Organizers told us that each pavilion could only present one exhibit at the museum," said Wahid. "We understand the number of exhibits is limited as there are so many participants at the Expo, but it's really hard to decide which one to display."

Wahid said the Pakistan Pavilion would probably decide to display one huge electronic book containing the history of Pakistan, its people and culture, in both English and Chinese.

He added that the Pakistan team was also thinking of rebuilding the pavilion after the Expo in other cities in China, to mark the friendship between the two countries.

Mahinda Ratnayake, director of the Sri Lanka Pavilion, said they had decided upon a special gift for the museum - a pair of ancient masks which are hanging on the walls of the pavilion.

"The masks are precious as they have a long history," said Ratnayake. "We also want to display one piece of traditional Sri Lankan ceiling at the museum, if there is enough space."

Officials of the pavilion said the masks were used for official religious rites in ancient times.

At the Poland Pavilion, an official told Shanghai Daily that they would like to display a piece of Polish paper-cutting artwork at the museum. It would be similar to the paper-cutting decorations on the walls of the pavilion which show the similarity between these traditional arts of Poland and China.

The idea of displaying distinctive art forms at the museum is also shared by the Turkey Pavilion. Mehmet Soylemez, operations supervisor of the pavilion, said he wanted to showcase Turkey's calligraphy, as well as the Ebru paintings - or water marbling - at the museum.