A total of 4, 000 visitors, natives and foreigners, flocked to the Shanghai World Financial Center on its first opening day to have a sightseeing on Saturday, the Oriental Morning Post reported.

The Thursday-inaugurated Center stands aloof at 492 meters in the city's Pudong District, and is so far the biggest skyscraper in Chinese mainland and the third-tallest in the world after Burj Dubai and Taipei 101.

Chen Yin, a 46-year-old local man, said he was the first one to arrive at the Center at 6 in the morning, though the open time started at 2 p.m.

This middle-aged man said he had heard of the opening news and was fully prepared.

As a local, Chen had many firsts in his life in Shanghai. He was the first to visit the city-iconic Oriental Pearl TV Tower Revolving Restaurant, the first passenger of the city's No.1 Subway Line, and the first to visit the Shanghai Museum after it was open free to the public.

Around 800 people were already waiting in the hugely long queue at around 2 p.m when the museum was open, but only 88 people were allowed in once at a time.

The people were taken by elevators to the observatory at a daunting height of around 500 meters in the air.

The building had 101 floors above ground and three floors underground. The 94th to 100th floors were an observatory for sightseeing, according to its builder, the Shanghai Construction Group.

According to the Post report, the first 2, 008 visitors were given badge souvenirs.

(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2008)