The Expo Exhibition Center, the first promotion and education base for Expo 2010, will open for free tomorrow at Hong Kong New World Tower on Huaihai Road M. to mark the two-year countdown to World Expo 2010.

The 1,000-square-meter center, on the third floor of the tower, will introduce various aspects of Shanghai Expo, China's participation at past Expos as well as the 150-year-plus history of World Expo with multimedia videos and electronic books.

World Expo 2010 will run from May 1 to October 31 in 2010 in Shanghai. The center, near Huangpi Road Station of Metro Line 1, will close on April 30, 2010.

Visitors will also be able to learn about exhibition plans and the pavilions of participants by touching upon multimedia screens and see exhibits include the world's first telephone and the earliest Kodak camera.

Officials will update the displays at the center every quarter to inform visitors of the latest progress in preparations for Expo 2010.

The center will be open from 9am to 6pm daily. All visitors are required to book in advance by calling 6335-3336 or 6335-3338 or logging onto the official Website of World Expo 2010 Shanghai (www.expo2010china.com).

The center is already proving popular as all entries for tomorrow have been reserved, an official in charge of reservations said.

"Residents are so enthusiastic about Shanghai Expo that we have to control the number of visitors," the official surnamed Zhang said, while declining to reveal the ceiling limit of visitors. She said the center will try its best to meet the demands of as many as visitors as possible.

The center is jointly sponsored by the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination and the Luwan District government.

(Shanghai Daily April 30, 2008)