Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday that Shanghai's World Expo had given the fast-developing country the confidence to keep pushing reform, as visitors flooded the exhibition on its final day. More than 73 million people - a record for the extravaganza - visited displays by 189 countries during the half-year culture and technology showcase that brought snapshots of the world to ordinary Chinese.
"The success of the Expo has strengthened China's confidence and resolve to pursue reform and opening up," Wen told a forum at the Expo attended by Chinese and international officials on the final day.
"China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development and stay open and inclusive. We will learn from the fine achievements of all civilisations," he said.
Wen singled out several national pavilions for praise as he expressed his admiration for the architectural ingenuity seen at the Expo, including the British pavilion, which he compared to a dandelion in the breeze.
Wen declared the end of the Expo on Sunday night at a closing ceremony featuring Hong Kong actor and singer Andy Lau and three Chinese opera tenors who were surrounded by models wearing hats shaped like Expo pavilions.
The World's Fair offered China an opportunity to showcase its growing economic and political clout and has been seen in the country as an event on a par with its successful hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the final major leader to visit following a long line of foreign dignitaries, said that Shanghai had "secured its reputation as one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities".
Ban said he hoped the world would benefit from the openness at China's World Expo - the first in a developing country - and that the ideas and technology for improving the environment showcased at the fair would be applied.
"I look forward to working more closely with China on a sustainable development agenda," he said.
Ban follows Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in visiting the 5.3-square-kilometre (two-square-mile) site.
Fewer than five percent of Chinese have opportunities to travel abroad, and the Expo - the theme of which was "Better City, Better Life" - allowed them to connect first hand with the world like never before, organisers said.
The Expo was "a huge diplomatic opportunity", US pavilion president Martin Alintuck said, adding that 7.3 million people had toured the US exhibit - more than the US embassy and five consulates in China will see in a decade.
International Expositions Bureau Secretary General Vicente Loscertales told a closing news conference that the event was the most remarkable "in the history of Expos" and made him optimistic about the future of World's Fairs.
"China's Expo has been the largest the world has ever seen - it's a milestone," he said.
Nations brought old and new treasures to woo the Chinese over the six months. Copenhagen's prized Little Mermaid statue moved to Shanghai for the summer while the Musee d'Orsay in Paris sent seven Impressionist masterpieces.
Spain brought its newly won World Cup trophy and a model of the capsule used in this month's dramatic rescue of 33 miners in Chile went on display toward the end of Expo.
China built two-decades' worth of infrastructure projects to prepare for the event, leaving Shanghai with hundreds of kilometres of new and expanded subway lines, a new domestic airport and several high-speed rail lines.
The city's neo-classical Bund was also restored to its 1930s glory, with the riverfront park widened by 40 percent and three-quarters of the traffic re-routed underground.
But renovations came at a price - historic buildings were razed and activists claim thousands of people were forcibly evicted, though Shanghai officials insist all relocations were conducted according to the law.
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