SHANGHAI, May 12 (AP) -- Forget Milan. Shanghai is the place for expensive footware.

Shoes that Chinese sprinter Liu Xiang wore in his gold medal run at last year's Athens Olympics are going on the block for 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million; €944,000), a local children's charity said Thursday.

The Shanghai branch of Project Hope plans to auction the red and white Nikes bearing Liu's signature sometime after June 5, group official Zheng Zhiyong said in a telephone interview.

"Liu's sneakers are not the only item to be auctioned, although they are the most important ones of course," Zheng said.

Zheng said 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million; €944,000) was the target price, but that could go higher in competitive bidding.

The Shanghai Daily newspaper said overseas collectors, including the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, have expressed interest in buying the shoes. Zheng said no auction house has yet been picked. Project Hope builds schools in poor regions, but Zheng didn't say how profits from the sale would be used.

Liu became a national hero and one of China's best-known sports stars after winning the 110 meter hurdles -- the first Olympic gold medal ever won by a Chinese athlete in a sprint event.

Along with Houston Rockets star center Yao Ming, Liu was earlier this month named a national model worker, an honor that for decades has turned unknown miners, teachers and factory workers into celebrities.

Liu's celebrity status has also led to numerous endorsement contracts, including one with the country's largest cigarette maker that some Chinese media called inappropriate.

"We're proud of Liu Xiang, especially as he's decided to devote his fame to public charity," director of Project Hope's Shanghai office Wu Renjie was quoted as saying by the Shanghai Daily.