News Bites

Online Expo passports

An online Expo passport is now available for free by logging onto www.expo.cn. At the website, go into the online pavilions page and click on the "acquire stamp" button, a stamp will go automatically into your online Expo passport.

The online versions of the Expo passports and stamps are similar to those at the pavilions at the Expo Garden. Users can check the stamps they have collected at any time and share their stamps with other people in an online forum.

Cash card

Visitors can now purchase an Expo Commercial Card to pay for food, transport and souvenirs at Expo Garden, as well as in 3,000 stores in Shanghai and 3,000 outlets in Beijing. It will be expanded to 20,000 stores across China after the Expo. The card is on sale at China Post and China Telecom outlets across the country. The card, which is refundable, costs 200 or 500 yuan. People can add money to the card at 7,000 locations.

Inter-city bus

A Shanghai-Hangzhou inter-city Expo bus line is now running. Hangzhou visitors heading to the Expo can choose this bus line to save time and money.

Tickets are 48 yuan, about 30-percent cheaper than tickets for similar routes.

Passengers using the service will receive VIP treatment. Ten deluxe coaches from German company Setra will be used to carry passengers from both Shanghai and Hangzhou. A network will be launched to sell tickets.

Expo Axis award

Expo Axis, a permanent landmark at the Expo 2010 Shanghai, has won top honors in the Global EcoTecture Awards, published in the Times of Architecture journal. The Expo Axis, which is just over a kilometer long and 100-meters wide, is the main thoroughfare at the Expo, and also the biggest single construction at the Expo Garden. It was designed and constructed using concepts of environmental protection and energy saving, in keeping with the Expo theme of "Better City, Better Life".

China Daily