MILAN, Feb. 27 -- Chinese national and corporate pavilions will highlight China's crucial presence at the Milan Expo scheduled to take place in the Italian business capital from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2015, officials said on Thursday.

"We can say without any doubt that China is the country mainly present in the Expo site," Participant Division General Manager at Milan Expo 2015 Stefano Gatti told Xinhua, commenting on a press conference held in Beijing on Thursday to introduce the design and construction of China Pavilion.

"Following the success of Shanghai Expo 2010, China has had a lead role in world expositions. The China Pavilion project for the Milan Expo is really splendid," Gatti said.

"We had asked participants to portray the Expo theme 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life' in their projects, but the beauty of what China did has left us speechless," he said.

Gatti said China has time-honored food history and is one of the few reference food cultures at the global level.

China Pavilion will convey the core design concept of "Heaven, Earth, Human and Harmony". The design scheme was fully integrated with Chinese traditional architecture structures and forms, as well as the modern technologies.

"China will be a key country for Milan Expo 2015 and a crucial contributor to the development of the theme and to the success of our exposition," Commissioner of Italian Government for Milan Expo 2015 Giuseppe Sala said.

Sala underlined that the world exposition will be an opportunity to consolidate the commercial relations between Italy and China and will give China a strategic opportunity to share its own culture, traditions and innovations.

The energy and resources that China was investing with its presence, Sala pointed out, were "an important indication" of the Chinese active collaboration for the global challenge that the Milan Expo has launched focusing on agriculture and food and conveying the concepts of sustainability and innovation.

"We are sure that the China Pavilion will attract millions of visitors," Gatti said, also stressing the importance of China's legacy after the six-month event.

"We are totally open to possibility of conserving the China Pavilion and will start a dialogue with Chinese authorities to explore this chance," he said.

Currently, 142 countries and regions including China have confirmed their participation in the Milan Expo that is expected to attract over 20 million visitors.