SHANGHAI'S commit-ment and ambition to recreate itself as a world city is clear, and part of the strategy is to bring world events to the city.In 1999 Shanghai hosted the Fortune Global Forum, in 2001 the APEC summit, last year saw the Master's Cup in world tennis and next year it expects to host its first Formula One race.

Through these events, Shanghai attracts people from all over the world and catches global attention, building up the profile that Shanghai, and China as a whole, is winning on the world stage.

But none of these events can compare to what will happen in 2010. The World Expo 2010 is projected to attract over 100 nations to showcase their culture and technology, drawing 70 million visitors. Shanghai, which used to be known as the "Paris of the East," will once again stand in the spotlight of the world.

The Shanghai Expo presents an opportunity to showcase the city's extraordinary growth over the last two decades, as well as an opportunity to unveil Shanghai's rebirth as a world city, as Asia's primary financial centre, and as a window onto the new China, said Victor Mallet, chief Asia correspondent of the Financial Times.

China is engaging more fully with the world on a diplomatic level, its economy is the envy of the world, and Shanghai is at the forefront of this economic expansion. But to be a world-class city, Shanghai needs more than economic investment.

According to Mallet: "Economic growth is essential for China and for Shanghai, but it would be wrong to make that the only message broadcast to the world."

His view is echoed by Yu Wujin, a professor at Fudan University. Yu said the World Expo 2010 is not only an important force to lift the standard of living of Shanghai residents, but also a significant opportunity to promote the city's humanistic spirit.

Shanghai won its fame in China for its unique cultural combination of acute political awareness, ardent national feeling, diversified ideological ferment and avant garde cultural consciousness.

As Shanghai becomes more integrated into the world, carrying forward its aim to be an international metropolis, "it's very necessary to discuss how Shanghai should present itself on the world stage and how we should enhance its humanistic spirit," Yu said.

"The coming Expo is a critical opportunity to bring Shanghai's humanistic spirit and the people's culture to a new level, making the city a brilliant star on the international stage," he concluded.

New images

World Expos have traditionally helped promote the cities that host them. The Expo leaves a rich legacy in the shape of investment in infrastructure and city planning. Look at the landmarks Expo have left: the Crystal Palace in London in 1851 (since destroyed by fire), the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889 and the Space Needle in Seattle in 1960.

No wonder Vice Mayor Zhou Yupeng recently rejected worries that the 2010 Expo Shanghai could lose money, calling them "short-sighted and narrow-minded."

"Some of the facilities will be kept after the Expo, thus the economic and cultural effect of the Expo will persist for many years," Zhou said.

Tatiana Romanchenko, general manager of Interfax China said the Expo host country will gain a new political status.

"One can say that it will automatically give China economic priority in international economic relations for quite a long time to come," she said.

But to really achieve this ambitious goal, enormous work is yet to be done.

According to Richard Wooldridge, the president and COO of IHT, China's gigantic and culturally diverse canvas poses a real challenge for the rest of the world to fully understand and comprehend.

He said that in the West, there is outright ignorance about and misunderstanding of China: ignorance about her history and potential for the future. "So much ignorance," he stressed.

Both Shanghai and central governments are aware of this. Last year, several international publications, including the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune, carried pages of a supplement designed to brand Shanghai as an international city, fit and ready for the Expo. Such public relations campaigns are costly.

On a more esoteric level, said Brian Rhoads, chief correspondent of Reuters China, the truly great fairs appear to have been those that demonstrated most effectively where a country or even a society has been, where it is and where it is going.

"But we will be looking for how it [Expo 2010] will effectively illustrate this to capture the world's imagination," he said.

The Financial Times' Victor Mallet drew an analogy between Shanghai and France.

Millions of tourists go to France each year and contribute to its economy. They go there for the food, for the culture, for the architecture and for the fun.

"I hope the same will be true for Shanghai, both before and after 2010," he said.