The France Pavilion has a very special welcome awaiting its 8,888,888th visitor - a trip to France and a place at a state banquet French President Nicolas Sarkozy is hosting for Chinese President Hu Jintao.
With the World Expo closing at the end of the month, many pavilions are offering special prizes. But instead of singling out their "millionth visitor," some are turning to Chinese traditional lucky numbers 8 and 6 to find their "lucky visitor."
The number 8 sounds like "rich" in Chinese while, the 6 means "things will go smoothly," in a Chinese proverb.
"The France Pavilion hopes to use the lucky number to thank the long-lasting enthusiasm of visitors to the pavilion," a pavilion official said.
The lucky visitor - who is expected around 2pm?on October 15?- will win a free trip for two people to France from November 3-8.
They will spend the first three days in Paris, followed by two days in Nice and a night in Antibes. At the end of their stay, the winners will be invited to the state banquet.
The Taiwan Pavilion?Thursday presented a gift pack to its 660,000th visitor that included a 52-inch LED television, luxury women's shoes and bags and necklaces. The lucky visitor was 28-year-old Zhang Haining, a university student from northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province.
The pavilion has already presented prizes to every 100,000th visitor it has received.
The Turkey Pavilion was the first among foreign pavilions to select visitors according to the Chinese lucky number of 8.
It provided free tours to Turkey on the 8th, 18th and 28th day of every month.
Pavilions that have already welcomed several million visitors during the Expo are also taking their final chance to present gifts to lucky visitors.
The Denmark Pavilion presented a bicycle to its 5 millionth visitor, a Shanghai teacher, while the 6 millionth visitor to the Pacific Pavilion yesterday received a flight ticket to Samoa.
This month more than 10 pavilions celebrated receiving their millionth visitors, including South Korea, Hungary, Australia and Norway.
The China Pavilion received its 8 millionth visitor on Saturday, and presented her with a model of the pavilion.