IT is the biggest and most expensive party to which you have ever been invited, and almost certainly the oddest – with buildings shaped like rabbits and apples, Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid on show, and violin-playing robots to serenade you.

From next Saturday Shanghai will welcome an estimated 70 million visitors to the six-month event expected to cost $4.3 billion. Wen Jiabao, the country’s premier, has described it as the fulfilment of a 100-year-old dream.