Nearly 300 Miss Etiquettes began a 2-month training course Monday in east China's Zhejiang Province, preparing them for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

After the World Expo opens on May 1, the Miss Etiquettes will welcome visitors from around the world in east China's Shanghai Municipality, said Sun Weimin with the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination.

The 2-month training includes three stages, namely military training, etiquette training and real time practices, with the first and the third practices held in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang, and the second held in Shanghai, Sun said.

"The purpose of the training is to prepare the Miss Etiquettes in knowledge, etiquette and ability so that they can properly and fully represent China," Sun said.

The women, most of them college students, were selected from over 10,000 contestants in a nationwide competition over a span of eight months. More than 30 million people voted for the contestants over the Internet.

The training will be broadcasted on TV. At the end of the training, the top ten Miss Etiquettes will be awarded, and assigned major tasks during the Expo.

Shanghai Expo will be the biggest ever of its kind with 192 countries and 50 international organizations participating. The 184-day Expo is expected to have 70 million visitors. So far, over 60 heads of state are scheduled to come.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2010)