Artistic rendition of the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion.

All the corporations of Shanghai will showcase their common spirit in a joint pavilion at the 2010 World Expo.

The Shanghai Guosheng Group, a state-owned investment company, on Friday signed a participation contract with Expo Organizers on behalf of the local corporations, and revealed the joint pavilion would be a huge "magic cube."

The pavilion will use "abstract ways" to highlight the spirits of local corporations, such as positive, forward-looking and innovative, rather than exhibit their products, said Gu Shuhang, president of the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion.

The pavilion has secured a 4,000-square-meter plot for the environmentally friendly transparent structure made from recyclable materials.

The pavilion will offer a "dream-like travel" to all the visitors, in which "butterflies" will fly around and guide the visitors, said Edwin Schlossberg, principal of ESI Design, a United States-based firm, and the pavilion's chief designer.

The transformation of butterfly is one of the most miraculous and beautiful natural processes, and that is a metaphor for the transformation of local corporations from small to giant, Schlossberg said.

The concept is from "Zhuang Zhou's dream with butterfly," or "Zhuang Zhou Meng Die," an ancient Chinese story with philosophical meanings.

The pavilion will be jointly built by 38 medium and large corporations under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shanghai Municipal Government, the city's financial authority. Guosheng Group is the sponsor of the pavilion.

The cost of the pavilion was not yet known but the global financial crisis would not affect the budget, Gu said.