For a city about to receive an esti-mated 70 million visitors, Shanghai is remarkably composed as it nears the opening of the World Expo. Walking along the Bund and strolling through the former French Concession on a Saturday afternoon in spring, it would be easy for a foreign visitor not to realize what is going on. There are notices in hotels apologizing in advance to guests for any inconvenience caused by enhanced security measures. Taxis advertise hotlines for visitors having trouble in communicating with their driv-ers in English. But the air of suppressed hysteria which characterized Beijing in the run-up to the Olympics is absent. Shanghai is looking forward to a party, but is far too sophisticated for any display of overexcite-ment.