The World Expo 2010, which will take place in Shanghai, China, will be the first registered World Exposition in a developing country and yet another opportunity for China to showcase its rise to superpower.

Authorities have set aside an area twice the size of Monaco for the expo, which is expected to attract 70 million visitors - 95 percent of them domestic - to the bustling financial center starting May 1 of next year. For those measuring, that is 20 times the size of the site used for the last expo in Zaragoza, Spain.

China’s goals are indeed to use the event as another showcase, another opportunity to shine on the global stage, following last year’s rather awe-inspiring Beijing Olympics.

The number of workers at the expo site - straddling the Huangpu River that flows through the city’s center - is set to double over the next two months, organizers said.

China is powering forward with expo-related investments despite the global economic gloom, with about $44 billion earmarked for extending subway lines, upgrading railways and roads and expanding airport capacity. So far, a total of 18,000 Shanghai households, formerly located in the expo area, have been relocated, doubling their average household living area to 75 sq m from the previous 30 sq m.

Xu Bo, director of the international participation for the expo, stated that the event would help create jobs and generate revenue for Shanghai but acknowledged some of the 187 countries and regions committed to participating in the event may have to scale back their plans because of economic troubles at home. So far, he said, none have backed out.

Authorities in Shanghai hope a vibrant expo will help boost confidence in the mainland economy at home and abroad, as the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago did for the United States during the Great Depression, Xu said. 

It certainly will be another interesting test of the nation’s financial mettle, another opportunity for human rights advocates to speak out (if possible) about the nation’s ongoing travesties (which have conveniently taken a back-seat to the global recession) and another way for China to cast a looming geopolitical shadow from their newfound position as superpower -in-training.