By Duan Wuning

It was a bitter-sweet 97th birthday celebration for Denmark's Little Mermaid statue at the Expo Park Monday, with Danish officials saying that they are mulling over plans to have her legacy at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai remembered in the city long after the six-month gala is over.

Although it was her first birthday spent overseas, it was also to be the last in Shanghai for the iconic Danish figure, which will be returned home once the curtain falls on the event at the end of October.

"The Danes miss her," Christopher Bo Bramsen, commissioner general of the Denmark Pavilion, told the Global Times Monday. "But we don't want her presence here to be forgotten, so we are considering making a replica of her to leave behind permanently."

Bramsen said that if made, the replica would add to the some 20 other Little Mermaid models around the world, most of which are about 70 percent of the 1.25-meter-high original.

At the park, the birthday festivities strayed from the usual course taken in Denmark, where tradition sees 100 girls jump into the sea and form the number of her birthday.

"Unfortunately, it just wasn't possible for us to do that here because of spacing issues," said Bramsen.

The birthday of the statue based on a story by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen was more than enough to draw visitors to the party, which included a chance for tourists to pose in front of the camera with the statue. Special Little Mermaid stamps were also gifted to visitors Monday.

Zhang Keying, who celebrated her fourth birthday Monday, marked the special occasion by gifting flowers to the Little Mermaid.

Until the statue returns back home, an interactive installation created by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei set up inside the pavilion allows people in Copenhagen to follow the Little Mermaid's stay in Shanghai.

Since the Expo began in May, 3 million visitors have seen the Little Mermaid on display at the Denmark Pavilion.