ANCHOR: Today marks the UK national day at the Shanghai Expo. As well as an official flagraising ceremony and a couple of stunning ballet performances, there was also a surprise for one young guest. CRI's Dominic Swire has the story.

The unmistakable tones of the British national anthem echo across the grounds of the Shanghai Expo marking the beginning of the UK national day. A solem looking Prince Andrew stood alongside China's Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying as three imacculately dressed guards raised Britain's Union Flag.

Onlookers were then guided to a large auditorium where they were addressed by both Madam Fu Ying and His Royal Highness Prince Andrew. The Chinese Vice Foreign Minister spoke highly of Shanghai Expo's educational benefit for Chinese people.

The Shanghai Expo is a window for Chinese people to see the world. Coming here is like coming to a world classroom where new knowledge and ideas are in abundance.

His Royal Highness Prince Andrew echoed these views, keen to stress the role the Shanghai Expo has had in strengthening Britain's relationship with China.

"Over the last few years links between our people have increased rapidly. and this Shanghai Expo has played an important role in promoting greater knowledge of the UK to many Chinese. Expo highlights how the flow of knowledge and experience and the building of trust and understanding through close and direct links often repeated are the basis of an effective and strong partnership."

Following the formalities the audience was treated to two collaborative ballet performances.The first, entitled The Weight of Love was the world premiere of a new work by the English National Ballet First Artist Van Le Ngoc. The work was developed with British dancers working alongside counterparts from Shanghai Ballet.

The second performance was the culmination of a year-long project between students from the UK and China. In 2008 Five British schools were teamed up with five groups of young dancers in China to work on the ambitious ballet entitled 'Swanning Around'. With help from the online learning charity WebPlay, the students were able to work together using the internet despite being located 5,000 miles apart.

Along with the visiting dignitaries, there was another special guest. 13 year old Wu Ying from east China's Yang Zhou city was flown in to Shanghai by the UK pavilion organisers especially for the British national day. The event was her prize for being the 4 millionth visitor to the UK pavilion at the Shanghai Expo. Wu Ying said she couldn't believe her luck.

The UK national day only lasts 24 hours. But organisers from both Britain and the Shanghai Expo will be hoping it can boost relations between Britain and China to even higher levels.

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire