Shanghai prepares for Expo 2010

courageneverdies · Mar 27, 2010

Construction workers and organizers in Shanghai, China are busily completing tasks ahead of the planned opening of the 2010 World Expo on May 1st - planned to be the largest World Expo in history. The theme of the Expo is "Better City, Better Life", and is scheduled to run until October 31, 2010. In recent months, large construction and renovation projects have dominated much of Shanghai, in preparation for becoming the World's stage on May 1st. Up to 800,000 visitors are expected each day - a total of 70 million visitors in all visiting exhibitions from nearly 200 participants around the world. Collected here are several recent photos from Shanghai as construction nears completion for the Expo 2010.

In this photo taken Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010, a man labors in front of the Seed Cathedral, formed by thousands of slender acrylic rods - the centerpiece of the UK Pavilion, at the Shanghai World Expo site in Shanghai, China. The expo starts May 1 and runs for six months. It is expected to draw 70 million visitors. (AP Photo)

Workers are seen at the Seed Cathedral, part of the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site. The 20-meter-high cube-like Seed Cathedral will be covered by 60,000 slim, transparent acrylic rods, which will quiver in the breeze, according to the official website of Shanghai Expo. (REUTERS/China Daily)

The Chinese pavilion (right) seen from the expo boulevard at the World Expo 2010 site in Shanghai on January 22, 2010. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

A worker takes a break next to the Chinese Pavilion during a ceremony of finishing construction at the Shanghai World Expo site, Monday, Feb. 8, 2010.

A trumpet-shaped structure designed to soak up the sun's rays to light up galleries and catch rain to water the green areas, at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on January 28, 2010. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

A migrant construction worker cleans the exterior of the "Sunny Valley", a structure to harness solar energy, at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo site in Shanghai, in this January 6, 2010 photo. (REUTERS/Nir Elias)