NY Times article with mind blowing stats about Shanghai’s preparation for the 2010 expo.  The killer quotes…

the city is planning to spend $45 billion, more than was spent on the Beijing Olympics, to upgrade Shanghai’s infrastructure, build new transportation links and create what organizers promise will be the biggest and most extravagant Expo ever

By the time the six-month-long exposition opens next May, Shanghai will have two new airport terminals, a subway system that is nearly as large as New York’s and a $700 million promenade in its historic riverfront district. New parks, roads and bridges are already opening.

Following Beijing’s example, Shanghai is asking residents to study English and vowing to teach etiquette to one million local families. The city also plans to ban smoking in public places and curtail pollution during the event.

The city says that to clear a huge site along the Huangpu River, which snakes through the heart of Shanghai, it relocated 18,000 families and about 270 factories, including the colossal Jiang Nan Shipyard, which employs 10,000 workers.

Officials have also approved a plan to go ahead with the Shanghai Tower, a 2,073-foot-tall building that, when completed in 2014, will stand about 70 percent taller than the Empire State Building.