Visitors at the Expo Garden walk past the China Pavilion on Wednesday. The areas around the pavilion have been redecorated in preparation for China's National Pavilion Day, which falls on Oct 1, the country's National Day. [China Daily]

The China Pavilion, the top attraction at the Expo 2010 Shanghai, is scheduled to reopen in the city on Dec 1, one month after the event closes, organizers said on Wednesday.

However, before people can visit the Crown of the East, as the China Pavilion is known, the large, inverted pyramid-like building is due to be renovated for a month after its intense run at the Expo, which is scheduled to close on Oct 31.

Throughout November, the neighboring regional pavilions will be dismantled, as the enclosures and roads surrounding it are redesigned.

"We anticipate there could be huge demand from the public and will try to come up with a proper exhibition plan," the pavilion's director Xu Hubin said at a press conference on Wednesday.

"We will fulfill the commitment we made to the public at the beginning of the Expo," he added.

At that time, Expo organizers asked Shanghai residents to postpone seeing the China Pavilion until after the event to give greater access to outside visitors during the 184-day fair.

At Wednesday's press conference, Xu did not make it clear how long the pavilion's post-Expo run will last or how much it will cost to visit.

Inside sources told China Daily that tickets for the China Pavilion will be priced at up to 30 yuan (US$4.5) to control the potentially huge demand from the public and the site will be open for six months.

The China Pavilion is expected to retain the same features from the Expo, including the 2,200-year-old Bronze Chariot and Horse sculpture, which has been one of its centerpieces, said Qian Zhiguang, the pavilion's deputy director.

There will also be a new exhibit: the history of the China Pavilion from its inception throughout its operation during the fair.

At a cost of 2 billion yuan, the China Pavilion was designed to accommodate 50,000 people every day -- a fraction of the Expo's daily visitors.

Although the pavilion was actually only able to accommodate 35,000 visitors when it first opened, it is now able to receive 52,000 visitors a day.

So far the China Pavilion has received more than 7.48 million visitors, according to figures from Expo organizers.

Standing at the center of the Expo site, the China Pavilion is 69 meters high - triple the height of nearby pavilions. It also has a floor space of 160,000 square meters, while other pavilions only have a few thousand.

A virtual version of the pavilion is available for the public to visit online and a China Pavilion DVD will soon be released.

On Wednesday, Shanghai announced that parts of the city, including the Expo Garden, will be brought under radio control on Oct 1 to ensure events run smoothly on National Day, which is also China's National Pavilion Day, and on Oct 31 for the closure of the Expo.

Outdoor radio stations and illegal outdoor wireless local area network stations will be banned within a 1 km radius of the Expo Garden.

Within 500 meters of the Expo Garden, large mechanical and electrical equipment that uses radio frequencies will also be stopped, according to the city government.

The use of mobile phones will not be affected, the government said.

(China Daily September 30, 2010)