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The huge international show-and-tell will showcase China's status as a world industrial power, giving Shanghai -- its biggest city -- a long-awaited chance to show off its stunning transformation from crumbling factory town into modern global metropolis.

In this age of virtual reality and round-the-clock information overload, visitors to the Shanghai World Expo are unlikely to find here the kinds of brand new technologies, such as television, that debuted at world's fairs decades ago.

But governments, groups and corporate sponsors, spread over 2 square miles (5.28 square kilometers) along both sides of the concrete banks of the Huangpu River, will be offering myriad ideas for sustainable urban living.

In Pudong, on the east side of the river, where the national pavilions and most big facilities are located, giant white funnels will provide shade, channel sunlight to underground walkways and collect rainwater for recycling.

In Puxi, on the west side, a collection of local and corporate pavilions will demonstrate "urban best practices" focused on sustainable urban technologies and heritage preservation.

Solar panels installed in various Expo buildings will create a 5-megawatt solar power system -- China's largest. Zero-emission electric vehicles will be used within the Expo grounds.

Expo organizers say most of the materials used to make the pavilions will be recycled, and they have pledged to eventually end with a "carbon-neutral" impact.

The business jet sized craft is designed to carry four passengers 100 km up into space giving more than three minutes of "zero G" or weightlessness.