Organizers urge patience among slated 70 million visitors to Shanghai World Expo

Organizers prep for 70 mln Shanghai Expo visitors

BEIJING — Organizers appealed Monday for patience from the expected 70 million visitors to Shanghai’s World Expo, which opens in under two months, because not all of them will be able to see the most popular pavilions.

The six-month event, with the theme “Better City, Better Life,” is expected to draw an average of 400,000 people a day to see exhibits from 192 countries.

A soft opening, with 200,000 people a day, will take place from April 20 to 25 to iron out any teething problems before the Expo officially opens on May 1, Zhou Hanmin, deputy director of the World Expo, told a news conference on the sidelines of China’s annual legislative session.

“Crowd control will be a comprehensive challenge on many levels, including safety, which is our No. 1 priority,” Zhou said.

The capacity of the China pavilion, expected to be one of the most popular, means that not all of the visitors will be able to see it every day, so it will be kept open for visitors after the Expo ends on Oct. 31, he said.

Zhou said the visitors, mostly expected to be Chinese, needed to plan their trips in order to maximize their time, and to show patience.

“Expo visitors should also be polite and respect one another. For example, visitors from Shanghai should let outside visitors have priority when visiting crowded pavilions, and Chinese visitors should do the same with international visitors,” Zhou said.

At the Expo site Monday, workers toiled in freezing rain, putting final touches on many pavilions. Roads in the site were being repaved and piles of construction waste awaited removal.

In the German pavilion, less than half of the interior appeared ready to house exhibits, but Huang Jianzhi, deputy director of the Expo bureau, said no participants had informed them of delays and he expected a majority of the pavilions to open as scheduled.

Expo organizers said that visitors can expect to see the latest technology from around the world, including China’s largest solar rooftop energy system and wind turbines to power buildings at the Expo.

More than 1,000 hydrogen and electricity-powered cars will be used for transportation around the Expo site.

Other displays of technology include robots preparing food, while the Japanese and British pavilions will generate their own power, and the Swiss pavilion will be made of biodegradable soybean fibers.

“I hope the green technology and innovation displayed at the Expo will carry on and become incorporated into our lives, to improve our way of living,” Science and Technology Minister Wan Gang told the news conference.

Associated Press reporter Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai contributed to this story.