Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and People's Government issued the guidance to development and implementation of a "600-day action plan" in May, which will help to define in further detail the specific tasks, responsibilities and requirements in making a better preparation for the Expo.

The theme of the guidance put emphasis on the preparation for the Expo, to better serve the Yangtze River Delta Region, the regions along the Yangtze River and the whole nation, to improve people's living environment and the quality of city life, under the leadership of the Party Center Committee, State Council and Shanghai 2010 World Exposition National Organizing Committee. The guidance calls on the citywide mobilization and participation in preparation for the Expo, as well as the development and implementation of the "600-day action plan"; the guidance calls for improving the preparatory works and services to a higher level, to make city dwellers really recognize the Expo theme "Better City, Better Life". By implementing the "600-day action plan", the city intends to achieve five striking improvements, the major task of the action plan; they are the improvement of city image, the improvement of services, the improvement of city management, the improvement of urban civilization, and the improvement of spiritual civilization.

The guidance also defines the guiding principle -- integrated planning, phased implementation; coordination between municipality and district governments, with focus on district level activities; definite responsibilities and close cooperation; citywide mobilization and participation; parallel implementation with breakthrough in key points.

According to the guidance, fulfillment of the "600-day action plan" will be a three-stage effort. During the first stage (April -- the end of August 2008), the overall plan and task breakdown will be developed. Major efforts for implementation will be made in the second stage (September 2008 -- December 2009). Further improvements in detail and trial operations will be made in the third stage (January -- the end of April 2010).

The guidance also defines the safeguard measures to support the preparatory works for Expo 2010, to speed up the construction of infrastructures, to allow district level entities to play an important role in urban construction, to gather and allocate all resources available, to satisfy the demands in preparation for the Expo, to improve relevant laws and regulations as well as the legal environment, to beef up government organization and leadership, and to improve the working mechanism. The city will set up a specific leading group to guide the implementation of the "600-day action plan", headed by Han Zheng (chief), Wang Zhongwei (deputy chief) and Yang Xiong (deputy chief). The leading group consists of three command centers -- the social mobilization command center led by Wang Zhongwei, the service command center led by Ai Baojun, and the city management command center led by Shen Jun. The leading group has a subordinate office, as its regular administrative body, to take charge of the promotion and implementation of specific tasks, supervision and inspection of operations, and collection and summary of relevant information. The office will be led by Yin Hong (director), and the heads of relevant authorities, including the general office of Shanghai Municipal Government, construction commission, transportation commission, economic commission, and spiritual civilization office.

The guidance requires to building up a district level coordinating mechanism, which shall clarify the specific responsibilities, tasks, responsible persons and contact persons. District level governments, departments and entities shall develop their respective action plans and work plans in accordance with the guidance, thus, to complete the citywide "600-day action plan".