The World Expo exhibition yesterday opened at the Nanjing Library in the capital of Jiangsu Province -- the second stop on its national tour, after it debuted in Shanghai.

Unveiled for the 1,000-day countdown of World Expo Shanghai 2010, the Expo exhibition attracted more than 130,000 visitors over 36 days in its first stop in the host city.

The organizers moved all the exhibits from Shanghai to Nanjing, providing information about the Shanghai Expo, its planning and preparation, as well as the history of World Expos. The aim of the national exhibit is to arouse the nation's enthusiasm for the Expo.

The World Expo is a historical opportunity for the development of Yangtze Delta Region, said Wang Zhongwei, head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China's Shanghai Committee, at the opening ceremony in Nanjing.

Expo organisers need the support and participation of Shanghai's neighboring provinces and cities, said Wang.

The organisers have added local features to the Nanjing stop, including the awards collected by Jiangsu Province at the 1926 Philadelphia World Expo. It also describes the Nanyang Commodity Expo held in Nanjing in 1910, which showed the embryo of China's modern exposition industry.

The Nanjing exhibition will run for a week through September 23; it is free to residents. The exhibition will also tour Beijing, Chongqing and Guangzhou this year.

Wu Jianmin, president of the Bureau of International Expositions, delivered a speech in the Nanjing Library about the opportunities for China offered by hosting the Expo.

(expo2010china.com Setember 17, 2007)