The price for entry to the China Pavilion - which reopens to the public from December 1 until the end of May next year - has been set at 20 yuan ($3), the World Expo organizer said yesterday.

The pavilion will open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Monday, but entry will stop at 4 p.m. as a tour of the pavilion takes around one hour.

Tickets can be used on any day until the end of May.

Visitors can enter the Expo site at the former No. 6 entrance on Shangnan Road. The new entrance to the China Pavilion will be at the former entrance of the Chinese Provinces Pavilion. The provincial pavilion itself is closed as exhibits inside are being dismantled.

Visitors will have to go through the same security checks as those conducted during the Expo.

The exhibition will be almost the same as that during the Expo, with the national treasure of the "Bronze Chariot and Horse" from China's Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.) on show. It may, however, be returned the Terracotta Soldiers Museum in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, at some point during the exhibition, Qian Zhiguang, deputy director of the pavilion said. Negotiations are being conducted with the museum.

A new exhibit will showcase the construction, infrastructure and operating procedures of the Expo 2010 in the waiting area of the pavilion.

Sixteen ticket windows and eight security checkpoints will be set up at the pavilion entrance to ensure visitors do not have to spend long buying tickets or going through security, said a staff member on the pavilion hotline.

"Visitors shouldn't need to wait for long to get into the pavilion according to our estimates. However, the pavilion operators can not absolutely guarantee this as the maximum capacity is less than 50,000 people a day," Qian told Shanghai Daily.

At the Expo, visitors with reserved tickets often had to wait for an hour to enter the China Pavilion.

Qian suggested that people avoid coming during weekends or on national holidays such as the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, which falls on February 3, when a large number of visitors are expected.

Seniors citizens, disabled people, students, children and military personnel will be eligible for a 5 yuan discount. Children less than 1.2 meters tall can enter for free if accompanied by an adult.

Groups numbering more than 16 people must make a reservation ahead of their visits by going to http://cp.expo2010.cn. The website will open on November 29.

(Shanghai Daily November 25, 2010)