In four month, the World Expo (世博) 2010 will open in Shanghai (上海). Located on both sides of the Huangpu (黄浦) river and organised under the slogan “Better City, Better Life”, the expo is thus linking together the older and the newer parts of Shanghai.

If you can’t wait to get a glimpse at what the site and the several pavilions will look like, you can visit Expo Shanghai Online. Described as “a revolutionary solution to innovate the traditional way of presenting a world exposition”, the English version of this virtual expo is now open for online visitors.

 When you visit the website, you get the possibility to create an account or login with your QQ ID, if you have one. QQ is a series of online services (email, instant messaging, social networks, etc) by Shenzhen (深圳) based company Tencent (腾讯), which is a technological partner of the expo.

Right now, Expo Shanghai Online looks like a street view map, where one can walk by the different pavilions and get a short audio introduction for each of them by expo mascot Haibao (海宝). There are also night view, panorama and bird’s eye view options.

But in future the website should get much more interactive. Exposing countries or organisations will be able to offer 3d versions of their pavilions. This will give online visitors the possibility not only to walk by the pavilions, but also to enter them and visit them like “real” visitors. France for example has announced, that its virtual pavilion will open on the first of May, the official opening day of the Shanghai World Expo 2010.

Visitors will be able to create their own character and interact with each other; events will be broadcasted live on the website; etc.

Another important aspect is that the online expo will continue to exist even after the expo on the ground closes.