SHANGHAI: China's main national pavilion for the upcoming Shanghai Expo was ushered in with fireworks and traditional drum performances at its completion yesterday.

After about 26 months of hard work, the Oriental Crown - a large, inverted red pyramid that stands as one of the biggest structures in the 5.28-sq-km Expo garden - has started inner decoration and is due for trial runs in April.

Its completion comes on heels of work being finished on three other permanent structures - Expo Center, Theme Pavilion and Expo Boulevard.