Shanghai will hold an exhibition this month to let people experience the excitement of sport prior to the Beijing Olympics.

From May 16-25, the 2008 Shanghai International Science and Art Exhibition, a key part of the city's annual Shanghai Science and Technology Festival, will be held at the Shanghai Pudong Exhibition Center, organizers announced yesterday.

The exhibition will feature sports-related displays, including China's flume-based swimming training method and virtual NBA games.

"Visitors to the exhibition will get a whole new feeling for sports," Yu Tao, vice chairman of the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology, said yesterday.

The exhibition will incorporate a Sports Science Hall, Sports Art Hall, Experience Hall, New Media Art Theater, Gallery for Academicians, Science and Art Education at School Hall and International Hall.

In the Sport Science Hall, visitors will see how swimmers are trained in flumes via video clips being played in public for the first time.

Also in this hall, visitors will have chance to play an interactive virtual NBA game in front of a big screen.

In the Sports Art Hall, interactive videos about sport stars will be presented along with interesting sports practised by Chinese minority groups.

Special audio narration by sport experts will help visitors appreciate Olympic events. For example, visitors will be told the theories behind Chinese shadow boxing.

Entry to all shows will be free but visitors will have to get tickets beforehand at the Shanghai Science Hall or Shanghai Pudong Exhibition Center.

(Shanghai Daily May 8, 2008)