The Shanghai World Expo China Pavilion will be turned into a museum of Chinese modern arts, a senior Shanghai official announced Sunday.

Zong Ming, a ranking publicity official in Shanghai, said that the museum will take full advantage of the original building's facilities and also add another 12,000 square meters of exhibiting space.

This means the museum, slated for opening on Oct. 1, 2012, will have a floor space of 160,000 square meters and an exhibiting space of 70,000 square meters, 10 times that of the existing Shanghai Art Museum, he said.

Teng Junjie, chief art director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film and TV, said the museum will house art works of famous Chinese artists including Lin Fengmian, Wu Guanzhong, Guan Liang and Cheng Shifa. It will also host collections from world recognized museums.

He said the curator of the museum will be recruited from around the world.

The Shanghai World Expo was the first event of its kind to be held in a developing country. It attracted more than 200 participating countries, regions and international organizations, as well as 73 million visits.

One year after the Expo concluded on Oct. 31, 2010, there has been much speculation about the post-Expo development of the 5.28-square kilometers expo park, and complaints that it was not being utilized efficiently.

Shanghai authorities said the park would continue to be used for cultural purposes.