City of islands display showcases Zhoushan

Visitors can get a taste of the only city of islands in China in the case exhibition hall of the Pavilion of the Future, officials said as the Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, exhibition opened yesterday.

The Zhoushan theme case is about sea and city, said Mayor Zhou Guohui, and it's on show today and tomorrow.

Visitors can study the development of the islands, including deep-water ports, beaches and bridges, through a 10-minute movie. The exhibition is on the pavilion's third floor.

Zhou said life around the sea was always a classic topic at World Expos, having been highlighted at the 1975 Okinawa Expo and the 1998 Lisbon event. It will also feature in the 2012 Expo in Yeosu, South Korea.

Zhoushan is China's largest fishing port with an annual output of about 1.2 million tons of seafood and its Mount Putuo is one of China's four famous Buddhist mountains.

Meanwhile, an asteroid discovered by China's astronomical authority was officially named as "Zhoushan" yesterday to promote the city. The asteroid was discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, in 1981.

Nobel Laureate talks at Aussie Pavilion

Nobel Laureate Barry Marshall talked about his way to Noble Prize yesterday during a conference at Australia Pavilion.

Marshall proved the bacteria Helicobacter pylori to be the cause of most Peptic Ulcer and received Nobel Prize in 2005.

He and his colleague Robin Warren made the discovery that inflammation in the stomach (gastritis) as well as ulceration of the stomach or duodenum (peptic ulcer disease) is the result of an infection of the stomach caused by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, he said.

Among doubts and criticism, Marshall drank a Petri dish of H. pylori, developed gastritis, and the bacteria were recovered from his stomach lining, thereby satisfying three out of the four Koch's postulates.

The postulates, proposed by Robert Koch in 1890, are criteria designed to establish a causal relationship between a causative microbe and a disease.

Marshall's discovery reversed the traditional concept that peptic ulcer was caused by stress and too much acid.

When asked whether he felt it was too late to receive the prize after 23 years, Marshall said that Koch isolated the Tuberculosis bacillus in 1882 and was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1905.

Marshall's 23 years cycle was just 100 years later than Koch's 23-year-cycle so his Nobel prize was just perfect, Marshall added.

The conference focused on exchanges of China and Australia's biotech achievements.

Australia is famous for many biotech contributions to the world such as penicillin, implants of artificial cochlea, synthesis of omega-3 fatty acids as well as researching and developing world's first vaccine of cervical cancer.

Cooperation of biotech between the two countries has seen surges and now two sides are trying to forge innovative and highly efficient cooperative ties, commissioner general for Australia Lyndall Sachs said.

Oman Pavilion receives millionth visitor

Oman's vice commissioner general to Expo 2010 and the pavilion's director give a wooden model of traditional Omani sailing ship to the lucky visitor.

Oman Pavilion received its millionth visitor at 5pm yesterday and the lucky visitor was given a wooden model of traditional Omani sailing ship as a souvenir.

Chang Dewei, a Xuzhou native from Shanghai's neighboring Jiangsu Province, was on his first visit to the Expo. He said that he felt excited and honored as well as surprised being the millionth visitor to Oman Pavilion.

The Oman Pavilion offered VIP reception to Chang and his companion while the pavilion director's assistant accompanied them touring the pavilion exhibits such as the country's environment, culture heritage as well as its sustainable economic development.

Located at Zone A, the pavilion integrates Arabic feature and modern style. The exhibits inside feature a ancient city, a city inside deserts, a city in the mountain area, a port city, as well as its capital Muscat and the Blue City which will be completed by 2020. They are designed to help interpret Omani people's unique concept of sustainable urban development.

Visitor number reaches a new high

A total of 552,100 visitors packed the Expo site as of 8:00pm yesterday, breaking the record of 552,000 visitors on June 15. The total visitors' number since the Expo 2010 opening day jumped to 19.3 million. And the figure is expected to top 20 million by tomorrow.

Of the visitors yesterday, about 165,300 were on tour groups, and around 147,000 visitors used free tickets Shanghai government distributed to local residents.

A total of 47,622 tickets were sold on site by 8:30pm, with 18,563 night admissions.

It was expected that up to 156,400 group visitors will visit the Expo site today.

Yesterday, Houtan Gate received about 94,000 visitors, Shangnan Road 92,000, and Changqing Road, Gaoke Road W. more than 158,000 in total.

Expo organizers said that the morning peak at Expo site gate lasts from 9am to 11am and individual visitors were advised to take gates such as Shangnan Road Gate, Madang Road Gate and Bansongyuan Road Gate, which may take less time for waiting.

By 5pm, 71 shows were staged, attracting 107,200 spectators. A total of 8,158 volunteers served on the site.

Public transport inside Expo site transported 825,000 people by 6pm.

Five medical service stations inside the Expo site received 426 visits by 4pm yesterday.

Bracing for the heat wave in coming months, Expo organizers have doubled the supply of soft drinks especially mineral water.