Chinese people from across the world will be invited to submit design ideas for the China Pavilion, the Shanghai Expo organizer said.

The global recruitment for the design will start next month.

According to the China News Agency, the blueprint of the China Pavilion will be finalized by the end of June and infrastructure construction is set begin later this year.

The theme of the China Pavilion is "the Chinese wisdom of urban development" and "harmony" is the main concept.

Wu Zhiqiang, the main planner of the expo site, said the China Pavilion will offer "a retrospective of China's urbanization in the past 5,000 years with its special ethnic soul" represented in the theme.

The entire 48,000-square meter-structure is to be completed by the end of 2009.

The agency also said the China Pavilion will consist of a national hall and other exhibition halls to be used by different regions in the country. Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan will be also invited to set up exhibitions at the China Pavilion.

The expo organizer said that 128 countries and international organizations have confirmed their participation at the Shanghai World Expo by April 10, some 20 of which intend to build their individual pavilions on the expo site.

(China Daily April 12, 2007)