Nations get ready to show their best at Shanghai’s World Expo 2010

If you want to learn more about the achievements in science and culture of nations throughout the world, China's the place to be as Russia prepares its finest to put on show at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

The international exhibition – named 'Better City, Better Life' – will run from May 1 through the end of October. It will be the first World Expo in a developing country – and participants are expected to display innovations in urban life and civilization.

The theme for the Russian exhibition pavilion is “New Russia: city and citizen.” It’s decorated like a fairy-tale world, showing a comfortable city as seen through children’s eyes.

The pavilion will stand on a 6000-square-meter plot and feature 12 white towers inspired by traditional Russian women’s costumes. Twenty-meter towers represent ancient Ural towns, but with a modern touch expressed in the irregular shapes of the towers that reflect the diversity of both ancient and modern cities.

A three-storey central building, which is 15 meters high, will link the towers. Four of the 12 towers will be open to the public where 20 Russian regions will display cultural and technological products. The other towers will be VIP rooms or be used for technical purposes.

Further, the pavilion will remain in place after the exhibition is over, says Russian Minister of Industry and Trade, Viktor Khristenko.

“We'll do our best to produce the best impression possible,” Khristenko said. “Under the rules, all pavilions should be dismantled after the end of the exhibition. But some of them may remain there and our pavilion will remain in Shanghai as well, if a special commission makes that decision.”

The Russian pavilion is hoping that up to 8 million visitors will pass through its doors during the five months of the show, while the total number of visitors is expected to be 70 million.