Lithuania’s pavillion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai today received its one-millionth visitor: 35-year-old Che Lili from nearby Zhejiang Province. The one-millionth visitor was welcomed in just over one month since the pavillion’s opening. Visitor traffic to Lithuania’s pavillion has exceeded earlier predictions, and organisers have now nearly doubled the number of expected visitors.

 

The Chinese woman became the one-millionth visitor to Lithuania’s pavilion after she and her husband along with their two-year-old son joined friends for a visit to Expo. Having bought a one-day ticket to the exhibition, she was informed of her special guest status while waiting patiently in the queue in front of our country’s pavilion. The woman said she and her husband are craftspeople who make decorations and household items from crystal. Asked how much she knows about Lithuania, Che Lili admitted that her knowledge of the country was scanty; however, she and her husband had previously watched and admired Lithuania’s basketball players.

 

As a special guest, she received a symbolic gift and a personal guided tour of Lithuania’s pavilion. She was most pleased by her visit to the pavilion’s stylized hot-air balloon, where she showed an interest in the subtleties of ballooning, and she also made a secret wish as she spun round on the “Miracle Tile”, which was brought specially to Expo from Cathedral Square in Vilnius. The family wrote in the pavilion guestbook: “We wish prosperity for the Lithuanian state, happiness, tranquility and health for Lithuania’s people, and a long and robust friendship for Lithuania and China.”

 

Lithuania’s pavilion has been getting 37,000 visitors per day. So far the largest number of visitors in a single day was 47,500. Earlier estimates put the total number of anticipated visitors at 3-4 million for the six months that the pavilion will be open, but this figure has been revised upwards almost twofold to 5-6 million.