Chinese developer Vanke unveils grand pavilion in Milan Expo

ROME - Chinese real estate developer Vanke unveiled its pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015 on Tuesday.

The pavilion, for which construction began in June 2014, carries the theme "building community through food."

The daring, visionary construction is covered with 4,000 glistening red tiles, and contains 310 square meters wide bamboo forest. Inside the pavilion, there are 200 screens showing projecting scenes related to nature, food and culture of China.

A representation of the "shitang," a Chinese word meaning "dining hall," the pavilion represents traditional Chinese social structure co-existing in contemporary society.

Some 150 tons of steel structures, 19 km of linear rods, 2.5 km of optical fiber, and 1,200 bamboo vertices were used to create the structure. At the end of the Expo, all the steel elements will be collected and reused.

Milan Expo, scheduled to take place in the Italian business capital from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2015, is expected to attract over 20 million visitors.