Shanghai Daily news

Shanghai's Luwan District is planning a facelift for 43 downtown villas in Sinan Road which will become venues to receive VIPs during World Expo Shanghai 2010.

Most of the villas on Sinan Road, in the former French Concession, were built in 1930s. Some were homes to the famous, including Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang, philosopher Feng Youlan and Chinese patriot Zhang Xueliang.

Thirty-seven of the villas are among Shanghai's 632 protected historic buildings.

Luwan is also planning to turn its southern part - along the west bank of Huangpu River - to a sub-center of the city in three to five years as the area is the home to corporation pavilions in the World Expo site.

The district government said it will invest 2.4 billion yuan (US$330 million) in an 80-hectare area near Jiangnan shipyard to create a business center.

Luwan District is already a popular area, containing the shopping center Huaihai Road, the historic architecture of the former French Concession and Xintiandi with its bars and restaurants.

More than 2,000 enterprises in the service industry have their regional offices in Luwan District.