an artist's rendition of the UK Pavilion (day-time)

an artist's rendition of the UK Pavilion (night-time)

The United Kingdom will build a virtual pavilion to match its real pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo.

The United Kingdom handed over the participation documents to the Expo organizer to participate in Expo Shanghai Online, a Shanghai Expo innovation that will provide virtual visits to the Expo.

Expo Shanghai Online will offer visitors a virtual tour of the Expo pavilions in Shanghai.

The real UK Pavilion - "A Pavilion of Ideas" - will look like a huge "light box" with 60,000 spines tipped with tiny, colored lights to display images.

Trees will shade the pavilion and shelter waiting queues. Gardens and lawns will offer comfortable places for visitors to rest. They can sit in a typical British garden, sip a cup of English tea and chat with friends, just like a relaxing sunny afternoon in a traditional country garden.

UK will embed more than 60,000 seeds, which can be planted after the World Expo 2010, into the structure of its pavilion to urge people to protect natural species from extinction, said Carma Elliot, British consul general in Shanghai.

The seeds demonstrate the concept of sustainability, the diversity of nature and urge people to protect the environment for future generations, Elliot said.

The UK team is choosing seeds for the pavilion from a seed bank in Kunming, Yunnan Province, which is the Chinese branch of the project, Elliot said, adding they are still considering how to use the seeds after the Expo ends.

The 6,000-square-meter structure is one of the largest pavilions at the Expo.

The six-story structure is a huge gift box from the UK to China, said Ian McCartney, the country's commissioner general for the Expo.

Inside the pavilion there will be an exhibition about "bringing nature back into the city."

Construction on the pavilion began in March.