SINGAPORE - Singapore's media on Saturday hailed the Shanghai World Expo for its grand opening ceremony on Friday night and its far-reaching significance to China and the world as a whole.

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Besides speedy reports by Singapore's Radio and TV stations of the excellent opening ceremony of the Shanghai World Expo on Friday night, the key English and Chinese language newspapers in the city state on Saturday also commented positively on the great event with beautiful pictures and stories.

The Straits Times, a leading English language newspaper in Singapore, used "Shanghai Shines","Trio of Grand Events Mark China 's Rise"and "Dazzling Start to World Expo" as the titles of its stories about the opening ceremony. ?

One of its stories said that the Shanghai World Expo, the Beijing Olympics and the 60th anniversary bash signal its coming of China age. ?

Meanwhile, Lianhe Zaobao, a leading Chinese language newspaper in the city state, also said in a commentary that the Shanghai World Expo, believed to be the largest in history, is not only very important to Shanghai and China, but also to the whole world.

The Shanghai World Expo, carrying a theme of "Better City, Better Life", reflects the crystallization of wisdom about urban construction and vision of a better future life.

Covering an area of 5.28 square kilometers along both sides of the Huangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, the six-month Expo is expected to attract 70 million visitors from both home and abroad.