Third trial run may make visiting China Pavilion easier

Visitors taking part in the third trial run of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai today may get a chance to tour the China Pavilion - if they're lucky enough, that is.

Volunteers will disperse themselves around the park to hand out booking tickets to the nation's structure, saving visitors the time of waiting at the machine to get them.

Organizers have asked volunteers to give them out directly after finding that visitors enduring hours in line to book their trip to the China Pavilion at earlier trial runs this week caused unnecessary traffic congestion.

Many hopefuls were turned away early in the day this week once the Crown of the East hit capacity at 50,000 daily visitors.

Amid complaints of long lineups and chaos, the third trial run today will test how far organizers have come from the trials on Tuesday and Wednesday, which saw roughly 200,000 and 50,000 attendees, respectively.

In an effort to calm crowds and reduce wait times, volunteers will offer complimentary site maps and stand on guard across the park to direct lost or confused visitors.

All of this is hoped to encourage smoother operations and an easier flow of traffic ahead of the fourth and fifth trial runs this weekend - originally supposed to welcome up to 500,000 people - amid rumors that some groups and individuals have been asked to give up their spots due to capacity challenges.

"My company gave me a ticket but asked me to return it Thursday, and I wasn't told why," a man surnamed Zhou who works for a state-owned company in the city told the Global Times Thursday.

Similar cases were raised by others, from universities in particular. Representatives from Jiao Tong University and Shanghai International Studies University Thursday told the Global Times that students have been asked to return their tickets to the trial runs.

Authorities could not be reached to confirm whether or not they were reducing the number of visitors during the weekend trials.

But limiting visitors now will be better for the ultimate cause, which starts in eight days, said Peng Zizhe, a professor of sociology at Fudan University.

"It is understandable that the authorities may be making some adjustments to control the visitor flow inside the park during the trials," he said. "The end goal of these runs is to give them a means to address problems before the Expo begins."