The Republic of Uzbekistan celebrated its National Pavilion Day on Tuesday at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

Themed "Uzbekistan: the Crossroad of Civilizations," the country's first independent pavilion at a world expo boasts a unique design.

It is enclosed by traditional stacked wooden fences with lattice windows, whose colors will change from time to time under the sunshine. Colorful ribbons and knots, symbolizing the intertwining of time, traditions, culture and history of Uzbekistan, connect different sections of the pavilion.

Videos and songs performed with national musical instruments are displayed throughout, representing the diversified culture, prosperous economy, vigorous development of science and technology and harmonious progress in urban and rural areas of Uzbekistan.

The pavilion has an exhibition on Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan, featuring its city life, religion, ethnicity, folk culture and historic legacy.

The 2,200-year-old city used to be one of the most prominent business hubs along the Silk Road, an ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean Sea extending some 6,440 km and linking China with the Roman Empire.

Though ravaged by the 1966 earthquake that left tens of thousands homeless, the city has manifested great confidence and courage in its restoration, which are memorialized by the Monument of Courage there.

Today's Tashkent, a brand new city with more than 150 hectares of greenbelt and over 100 fountains, has evolved into a world-renowned resort for tourists who are captivated by its perfect integration of history and modernity.

As Asiya Almyasheva, director of the Uzbekistan pavilion, said in an interview with Xinhua, Uzbekistan has brought to the Shanghai Expo not only its yesterday, but more importantly, its dynamic and progressive today.

Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south.

It was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century and in 1924 became a constituent republic of the former Soviet Union, known as the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. It has been an independent republic since December 1991.