The itinerant exhibition on history of World Expos came back to Shanghai Tuesday with new updates to mark the 200-day countdown to the 2010 Expo, which is set to open on May 1, 2010 in the largest metropolis of China.

The exhibition, which made its debut 26 months ago in Shanghai, has been held in 26 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across China, attracting over 2.3 million visitors.

The newly updated exhibition features progress in ongoing preparations for the 2010 Shanghai Expo, including infrastructures being built and services to be provided during the impending six-month event.

In comparison with the 600-day countdown, Shanghai made remarkable progress towards a 'better city' over the past 400 days.

The city has finished a project to modify a total space of more than 48 million square meters of slope roofs and more than 91 million sq. m of external walls of buildings re-decorated.

During the 400 days, Shanghai increased green plots, including gardens, by 3,582 hectares, 20 percent larger than the plan, 18,700 public parking areas for motor vehicles and another 143,000 for non-motor vehicles, 172 percent and 372 percent, respectively, more than those planned.

The removal of illegal facilities is also well under way. Nearly 30,000 illegal ad boards and 80,000 commercial signs have been removed. A total of 2.8 million sq. m of illegal structures have been dismantled.

Despite the inconvenience from the construction and removal efforts, a survey conducted recently by the city government showed 93 percent of 5,700 citizens surveyed thought the public management and city environment have been improved. About 94.6 percent are satisfied with the public services in the preparations for the expo and 96.9 percent thought it's beneficial to the civilization of the city.

Approximately 88 percent of 345 environmentally-friendly toilets planned for the expo have been newly built, and 1,220 toilets were upgraded for the handicapped over the past three months.

Bilingual hot-line services have been launched for 47,000 taxi cabs in the city.

So far, 242 countries, regions and organizations have signed contracts to participate in the Shanghai Expo.

Construction work has begun on 40 out of the 42 pavilions to be built by participants themselves, and half of the 42 rented pavilions have handed over to participants. Construction on 3 of the 11 joint pavilions have finished. All the construction work will be completed by the end of this year.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2009)