SHANGHAI – All eyes on China. All attention on the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Exposed: China’s “Expo Diplomacy.’’

With 20 heads of state attending and a VIP crowd of 8,000 watching, President Hu Jintao and eight of his top officials festively opened Friday night the greatest show on earth – a colossal production costing US$45 billion that ranks it as the show worthy to follow the tough act that was the 2008 Olympic games opening.

As everything done or made in China must be big, there’s another opening on Saturday, the official, formal opening to follow the Friday gala. It’s the gala night that the visitors are excited about: fireworks, laser and audio shows, music, cultural entertainment. As a visiting show man from America noted, the first Disneyland theme park was only 60 acres, but this Shanghai Expo covers 1,300 acres: “Oh, my!’’

Organizers were quick to point out that the gala ceremonies are more a symbol and ritual signifying solidarity, than a mere spectacle of special effects.

But in China, nobody does things in half measures.

Not after then President Jiang Zemin, applying to host the 2010 event with the Bureau of Int’l Expositions promised to make it “the most unforgettable’’ ever. That was in 1999.

Eleven years later, Shanghai has put its best foot forward. Lights everywhere.

The international airport, brand-new, was opened last month, its pushcarts so spic’n-span they bear no nicks and scratches. China’s National Pavilion at the exposition site took three years to build. It’s the grandest way to show off, putting a new spin on expos with the largest land area reserved for pavilions, promenades and boulevards, parks and elevated pedestrian walkways; not to mention the expected crush of visitors (70 million up to Oct. 31). It’s also an expensive, elegant, PR tool to win the world.

To “embrace the world’’ by “building bridges,’’ the Beijing government appointed 30 ambassadors to look after its guests, including French President Sarkozy, EU President Jose Barroso, leaders, and journalists from developing nations around the world.

Shanghai Expo 2010’s emblem shows three figures with their arms on one another’s shoulders to represent you, me, and he/she. Its mascot is a humanized drop of water, water being the world’s most important resource in the cities. The theme, after all, is “Better City, Better Life.’’

China will use Expo 2010 to “announce its unique status in the 21st century, “According to a foreign observer.

The show is “future-oriented,’’ focus on the quality of life, said a commentator.

Conventional wisdom teaches that the effects of a World Expo are expected to be felt6 and linger 50 years after the event. The Philippines’ “Performing Cities’’ pavilion – showcasing guitar players, dancers, caregivers and call-center agents on its façade – joins 190 other nations in proving that some dreams are doable.