A bouquet is presented to the statue of Denmark's iconic "Little Mermaid" at the Denmark Pavilion in the World Expo Park in Shanghai, east China, Aug. 23, 2010.

Once upon a time, there was a bronze mermaid keeping watch over the harbor of Copenhagen. Beloved by the Danish city's inhabitants, she was an icon not just of Copenhagen but of the entire kingdom of Denmark.

The Little Mermaid sculpture, created by Edvard Eriksen in 1913 after the character in Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, had been admired by tourists from all over the world. This spring, she was brought to the Shanghai World Expo 2010 as a token of friendship between Denmark and China.

Now the mermaid is the centerpiece of the Danish Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo. So far the Danish Pavilion has drawn more than 5.55 million visitors, tantamount to the total population of Denmark. This far exceeds the original expectation of 3 million visitors by the Danish organizers, Christopher Bo Bramsen, Denmark's commissioner general to the Shanghai Expo, said.

To see the mermaid "in person" was a highlight for many visitors.

"I never dreamed of seeing the Little Mermaid myself," said Zha, a 72-year-old retired teacher from Jiangsu Province in east China, who used to tell his middle school students the tale of the Little Mermaid.

In August, 15-year-old Wei Yangchen headed straight to the Danish Pavilion to witness the 97th birthday celebration of the Little Mermaid.

"I admire her for her sacrifice and so I wanted to say happy birthday to her," Wei told Xinhua.

"I felt sad for the Little Mermaid when I first heard the story from my mother. But now I understand that she sacrificed herself for love and therefore she would not have regretted it."

In Andersen's tale, when faced with a choice between killing a prince she loved, or dying a gruesome death herself, the Little Mermaid chooses death.

Maybe it was exactly such a quality that made her the best symbol of her country. Denmark is not a big country. However, what the country lacks in hard numbers, it makes up in terms of high moral standards of its people and their easygoing nature.

Denmark has been constantly ranked as one of the least corrupt places in the world in international surveys.

"The Little Mermaid is the best ambassador that we could have. The Chinese really appreciate Hans Christian Andersen. So it is a big deal that we send the real Little Mermaid to China. It has been noted by China and the world," Bramsen said.