Some 424,500 people entered the Expo site by 7pm yesterday.

Among yesterday's visitors, 128,100 came in tour groups and 65,400 were local residents with complimentary tickets offered by the Shanghai government. A total of 61,543 tickets were sold at the gates, 22,048 of them for evening visit.

As of 6pm, 86,000 visitors had passed through Houtan entrance, compared with 60,000 at Shangnan Road entrance, 74,000 at Changqing Road entrance and 51,000 at Gaoke Road entrance.

As many as 64 shows were performed at Expo venues from morning to 5pm yesterday, attracting 34,600 spectators.

Five on-site health clinics treated 361 visitors yesterday by 4pm.

The Expo Organizer expects some 120,000 group visitors today.

The expiration date for complimentary Expo tickets reserved for August has been extended to September 5 (Sunday).

The decision came in the wake of Shanghai's record-high temperature that grilled the city many days in August, causing many local residents to delay their visit to the Expo.

As a form of thanks for their sacrifice and contribution to the event, the Municipal Government gave each Shanghai family a gift pack that contained one complimentary Expo ticket, a thank-you letter, an Expo map and a souvenir pin.

Editor: Hu Min