China is now vigorously supporting Shanghai's bid for the World Expo 2010, hoping to be the first developing country to obtain the opportunity of holding a World Expo.

According to Wang Junyi, chairman of the Shanghai Bidding Office, the World Expo is divided into two types: one is registered, the other is recognized.

Though Kunming, capital of south China's Yunnan Province, successfully held the World Horticulture Exposition of the recognized type in 1999, registered Expos have always been hosted by developed countries since they first came into being over 150 years ago.

Wang Junyi said that each World Expo gathers the latest achievements of civilization and human wisdom of its time.

The Expo is also a great chance for the host country to exhibit its own social, economic and cultural accomplishments as well as its prospects for future development comprehensively, said Wang.

Therefore, many member countries of the International Exposition Bureau (IEB) have participated in the bidding for the Word Expo, which signifies a country's national power and rising international standing, Wang said.

For many years, however, the Expo of the registered type has been confined to a few developed countries, which has greatly hindered its own wide popularization and goes against the aim of realizing communication and cooperation through the Expo, Wang said.

IEB's secretary-general, Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, also considers it significant for as developing country to hold a registered Expo.

Loscertales said, "Developing countries are comparatively more enthusiastic and interested in holding a World Expo, which they expect will promote domestic infrastructure construction, enhance their people's living standards and propel their opening up to the outside world."

If China wins the bid, it will greatly boost other member developing countries' keenness to apply for the Expo holding right, so as to promote their social and economic progress.

Currently, the IEB has 87 member countries, about half of which are located in Europe. Many developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America are not members yet.

When mentioning the theme Shanghai has chosen for its bid -- "A Better City, A Better Life" -- officials from the municipal government said that Shanghai, the largest city in China and one of the leading cities in Asia, will review the process of urbanization, and demonstrate new ideas and technologies for urban renewal during the exposition.

It is predicted that two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities by the end of 2020. Problems like how to build better cities and improve the quality of people's lives should arouse attention from both developed countries and developing ones, said one of the officials.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2002)