World leaders at the opening ceremony for the most expensive Expo in history (40 billion euro). A mixture of art, entertainment and business. The migrants, after building all the structures and skyscrapers, are sent away because their poverty is an eye-sore and they are "harmful to the image of China and Shanghai.

Shanghai (AsiaNews / Agencies) - After years of preparation, finally on April 30 in the evening there will be the opening ceremony of the Shanghai World Expo, which will remain open from April 30 until October 31. The opening ceremony includes fireworks on the Huangpu River, and by all accounts they will be an international spectacle, and perhaps as grand as the opening of the Beijing Olympics of 2008.

192 nations are participating in the Expo with huge stands and pavilions exhibiting the latest of their industries, intellect and history. Until October, the stands will present performances, lectures and economic meetings between businessmen from China and the rest of the world.

The importance of China in the economic world is seen from the fact that international leaders are attending the opening ceremony: the French Nicolas Sarkozy, the Korean Lee Myung-bak, the European Jose Manuel Cardoso.

Each national brings their best to attract attention to their quality and their market. Denmark has decided to move the famous Little Mermaid of Copenhagen to Shanghai for the past few months and Italy an exhibition on Caravaggio and Matteo Ricci, the French, Impressionist painters and the sculptor Rodin, with India leading a group of Bollywood stars, the Canadians Cirque du Soleil; the Japanese a robot playing the violin. The Chinese pavilion features a "reverse pyramid" which is actually a huge roof of an ancient Chinese building (door).

Spending for infrastructure is estimated officially at about 400 billion yuan (40 billion euros), but they say the cost is much higher.

For the occasion, Shanghai has been transformed: the Bund, the old colonial district on the banks of the river was restored, hundreds of kilometres of new subway lines were built, making Shanghai the first city in the world for the length of underground; Two new airport terminals.

The Expo theme is "Better city, better life", keeping an eye on ecological issues, and planning.

The Shanghai Expo is the most expensive in history, spread over more than 5 km square on both sides of the river between the city and Pudong. They expect about 100 million visitors, of which only 5% foreigners.

To ensure safety, for the past weeks security checks have been at a maximum, similar to those preceding the Olympics: military, police and "volunteers" at intersections, etc. .. At subway and bus stations metal detectors and in recent weeks at least 6,000 people have been arrested.

The city has been cleared of migrant workers, considered too poor a vision of China and for fear that they will carry out demonstrations. After they have worked day and night for the construction of the Expo, they have now been removed from the city. In March Chengzhong Yan, a member of the Chinese Parliament, had expressed concern about "adverse incidents to the image of China and Shanghai" by migrants. For this he advised them to be dragged out of town to work in suburbs, in closed shipyards, out of sight of others, perhaps to build underground tunnels for the future subway lines.

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