安徒生小美人鱼前往参加上海世博

Denmark's iconic Little Mermaid statue left her spot in the Copenhagen harbor for the first time Thursday to begin a journey to the Shanghai World Expo.

"Our loan of the Little Mermaid to China shows that we Danes are interested in other cultures and want to share our art and cultural treasures with them," Brian Mikkelsen, Danmark's minister for economic and business affairs, said during a departure ceremony.

The 1.5-meter landmark, which honors the memory of Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, was lifted by a crane and lowered onto the back of a truck during the ceremony.

Lord Mayor Frank Jensen said Copenhagen was proud to lend the Little Mermaid to China.

"I am convinced that she will be an excellent ambassador of Denmark, particularly since the Chinese already are very fond of Hans Christian Andersen and his fairy tales," he said.

The statue will arrive in China in April for a six-month stay during the Shanghai expo. The Little Mermaid will sit in a pool filled with water from the Copenhagen harbor at the Denmark Pavilion.

Her presence in the pavilion will showcase a fairy tale world to an estimated 70 million visitors from around the globe.

Mikkelsen said the theme of EXPO 2010 "Better City, Better Life" was about the creation of better cities in the future.

"The Danish Pavilion offers visitors an authentic experience of being in a real Danish town, and it is the Little Mermaid that binds together the tales about Denmark," he said.

Andersen's works were introduced to China in the early 1900s and are still widely read by Chinese children.

The fishtailed bronze is Denmark's most popular tourist attraction. Created by Danish sculpture Edvard Eriksen, the mermaid has not moved from the Copenhagen harbor since she was unveiled there in 1913.

A video installation by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will replace the Little Mermaid until she returns in November. The multimedia artwork will include a live broadcast of the statue in Shanghai.

In Andersen's tale, the mermaid is a sea king's daughter who falls in love with a prince and must wait 300 years to become human. It was turned into a Disney film in 1989.