The Solomon Islands is a Pacific Ocean country consisting of over one thousand islands. The country is well known for its wealth of rain forests, beautiful coastlines as well as its age-old customs and fine cultural traditions.

The 2010 Shanghai World Expo welcomes the National Pavilion Day of the Solomon Islands on Tuesday. Let's step closer to the venue to discover more about this archipelago country and its hospitable people.

The Solomon Islands Pavilion is located inside the Pacific Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, which features 14 Pacific island nations, such as Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga.

Welcoming visitors are artists from the Solomon Islands, who perform their traditional dance backed by the rhythmic music of panpipes.

The traditional panpipes of the Solomon Islands have a history of nearly six-thousand years. Usually a panpipes ensemble is comprised of a dozen performers with different panpipe instruments, each bearing a unique tuning.

The panpipe is made by open-ended bamboo tubes of varying sizes. The bamboo music is extremely popular in the Solomon Islands, gaining a following for its unvarnished yet passionate tones.

Apart from the indigenous song and dance performances, folk artists and handicraftsmen from the Solomon Islands Pavilion are also on hand to create their works for visitors, such as necklaces, and accessories.

The Solomon Islands Pavilion also features exhibitions of sculptures, paintings and weapons used in different tribes of the country, which reflect the distinctive characteristics of the Solomon Islands culture and the unrestrained imagination of the Solomon Islands people.

The country of Solomon Islands covers an area of around 27-thousand square kilometers. It is said that the first European to visit the islands was the Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendana de Neira in 1568, and named the place the Solomon Islands because he thought he had discovered the treasure trove of the King of Solomon.

The Solomon Islands has a population of only around 400-thousand people. The nation's beautiful landscape, well preserved rain forests as well as its convenient transportation combine to make the Solomon Islands one of the hottest tourist destinations around the world, drawing countless visitors every year.

The Solomon Islands is also a paradise for diving enthusiasts around the globe. They are fascinated by the marvelous underwater adventures provided by the country's water areas, where they not only discover the rich variety of the marine life, but also feel the amazing tranquility of another world.

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