Expo volunteers have received much recognition from the event's organizers and visitors for their excellent performance over the past three months.

Green-uniformed volunteers in the Expo Garden were praised for good preparations and for successfully easing the visitors' flow during peak hours, especially in the hot season.

Some 6,000 to 8,000 volunteers are stationed in the Expo Garden every day, and every volunteer needs to serve some 500 visitors in a single day, Expo organizers said.

"Expo volunteers have taken an important role in and around the Expo Garden in assisting the visitors," said Ma Chunlei, a senior publicity official in Shanghai. "They are learning social responsibilities before they graduate from universities."

To award the efforts made by Expo volunteers, Ma revealed that every volunteer will receive a certificate signed by Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, secretary general of the Bureau of International Exposition, and Wang Qishan, chairman of the National Organizing Committee of the Shanghai 2010 World Exposition.

Ma also disclosed that a movie aimed at prompting positive attitudes from those volunteers will be produced soon, and the main characters will be selected from the volunteers.

Expo volunteers faced some criticism for poor preparation at the very beginning of the Expo. The pageant's organizers have taken a host of actions to improve service quality, including providing on-site training to volunteers before they start work. New volunteers have also been trained to effectively communicate with experienced volunteers to learn from them and get used to work as quickly as possible.

"Most volunteers can give the right answers right away," said Li Jichun, a visitor who visited the Expo Garden in April and revisited in July.

Some 38,000 on-site volunteers have served Expo visitors since the opening of the event.

(China Daily August 19, 2010)