The China pavilion for the Shanghai Expo placed its final concrete grouting on Friday, marking a milestone in the building of the country's showcase structure for the 2010 event, organizers said.

Workers at the top floor of the China pavilion being built for the Shanghai 2010 Expo on Friday. [Niu Yixin/China Daily]??

Known as the "The Crown of the East", the 63-m-tall pavilion costs about 1.5 billion yuan ($220 million) and is slated for completion by October.

It is one of the permanent constructions in the central area of the expo and will sport a distinctive square roof made of traditional dougong or brackets, which has a history dating back more than 2,000 years.

The top of the roof will feature a grid encompassing traditional urban planning features in ancient Chinese cities such as Xi'an in Shaanxi province and Beijing.

"The project is a difficult one because the pavilion has a small bottom that supports a larger top segment," Jiang Zhiquan, chairman of the Shanghai Construction (Group) building the pavilion, said on Friday.

The pavilion contains a 30,000-sq-m hall of exhibition space for provinces and regions, as well as a 3,000-sq-m room to be shared between Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The main structure will be used for an exhibition themed "Chinese wisdom in urban development" to explain the values of harmony, nature and spirit, organizers said. Provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and other areas will also present their urban achievements.

Organizers of the Shanghai Expo, to be held between May 1 and Oct 31, 2010, has confirmed the participation of 182 countries and 45 international organizations in the event.

The local environment protection bureau also launched a key research project on Thursday to guarantee a cleaner Shanghai during the event, while key figures in the environment sector including those who provided their expertise for the recent Beijing Olympics will reportedly be involved in the expo.

Similarly, the local government said on its website that its devotion to environmental protection for the Expo will "exceed the efforts made by the Beijing municipal government to present a green Olympics".

The air quality will be better than current levels, as Shanghai has maintained an 85 percent or above level for five years in terms of the ratio of excellent or good quality of air, authorities said.

A package of emergency plans also will be at hand to deal with the possible occurrence of highly polluted weather during the expo, the government said.

(China Daily November 29, 2008)