By Cheng Yuanzhou, People’s Daily

Walking into the operations and control center of Shenzhen Customs, one can see on a large screen the bustling movement of vehicles and vessels at ports across the city. Meanwhile, the day’s customs clearance overview records in each declaration the trade links and industrial cooperation between Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong province, and other Asia-Pacific economies.

At 11 a.m., at Shenzhen Bay Port, customs officers completed final inspections and cleared an export shipment of 144 mini personal computers. The goods were headed overseas via Hong Kong International Airport. Manufactured by CTOne Group, these compact smart computing terminals are no larger than a dictionary yet pack high-performance computing power. Capable of supporting local deployment of large AI models, they are designed for a broad range of applications — from industrial control and smart offices to home entertainment and edge computing. 

“We used to compete on price; now we compete on computing power and user experience,” said Dai Yuanjun, president of the company. As artificial intelligence (AI) applications continue to develop rapidly worldwide, other Asia-Pacific economies are seeing strong demand for high-performance, portable smart terminals. The company’s proprietary brands, including CYX and ACEMAGIC, are gradually gaining recognition.

The company recently established a production base in Mexico, integrating further into the Asia-Pacific AI supply chain and now holding nearly 20 percent of the global mini PC market.

Many components used in these mini PCs are sourced from other Asia-Pacific economies. As a hub for processing trade, Shenzhen’s manufacturing sector draws on highly responsive supply chains to export processed products across the region, promoting deeper integration of industrial chains.

That afternoon, at DaChan Bay Terminal in Shenzhen, an ocean-going vessel loaded with lithium battery energy storage cabinets made by Chinese automaker BYD departed for Chile. The new equipment will support local photovoltaic power projects, contributing to the country’s green energy transition.

“Overseas orders for energy storage products are growing strongly, and exports are increasingly shifting toward long-term supply agreements,” said Liu Feng, manager of customs affairs at BYD. Chinese-made energy storage cabinets are seeing a surge in orders in overseas wind and photovoltaic power markets thanks to their competitive prices and high reliability, Liu said.

“We have made comprehensive use of trade facilitation measures, including advance declarations, direct loading upon arrival and 24/7 appointment-based inspections, significantly shortening customs clearance times,” said Yang Nan, a first-level administrative law enforcement officer with the terminal supervision section of DaChan Bay Customs, under Shenzhen Customs.

From January to July this year, DaChan Bay Customs handled 1,674 export shipments of the so-called “new trio” products, worth 5.385 billion yuan (about $803 million), up 31.71 percent and 33.82 percent year on year, respectively. The “New trio” refers to electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar products

According to Shenzhen Customs, the city’s exports to other Asia-Pacific economies are shifting rapidly toward emerging, high-value products. In the first half of this year, “new trio” products, AI-enabled products, medical instruments and equipment, and other such products accounted for 29.5 percent of Shenzhen’s exports to other Asia-Pacific economies.

At 6 p.m., at Shekou container terminal in Shenzhen, temperature-controlled containers carrying 36 tonnes of fresh apples from New Zealand were unloaded. This order from across the ocean was handled by Shenzhen Yuanxing Fruit Co., Ltd.

“Since mid-August, we have seen an increasingly diverse range of imported fruits, including dragon fruit from Vietnam, and fresh coconuts from Thailand,” said Zheng Jingsen, an executive at the company.

“Thanks to the tariff concessions and customs clearance facilitation brought by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), high-quality fruits from across the Asia-Pacific are entering the Chinese market at a much faster pace,” Zheng said. He added that the company has long cooperated with countries such as ASEAN countries, Australia, New Zealand and Chile. It has also established a fruit and vegetable processing base in Vietnam, connecting Asia-Pacific orchards with China’s vast consumer market.

As night falls and the city lights up, Shenzhen’s customs clearance overview continues to update. Data from Shenzhen Customs show that the city’s imports and exports with other APEC economies rose from 267.5 billion yuan in 1996 to 3.13 trillion yuan in 2025, an average annual growth rate of 8.5 percent and an increase of more than tenfold. Through trade, China and other Asia-Pacific economies are jointly writing a new chapter of shared opportunities and mutual benefit.

By Wang Donghui, Qi Zhiming, Xiao Fei, People’s Daily

The 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) officially opened on September 9 at Beijing’s Shougang Park. This year’s event brings together exhibitors from more than 90 countries and international organizations, with over 1,800 companies exhibiting on-site, including over 400 Fortune Global 500 firms and industry leaders. A prominent theme across all exhibition areas is the integration of digital and intelligent technologies.

AI makes services smarter

At the booth of Chinese online local services provider Meituan, visitors can see how large models and AI agents are being applied in consumption, merchant operations, and on-demand delivery. 

“Help me choose a restaurant near Shougang Park with a rating of 4.5 or above and an average spending of around 100 yuan ($14.91) per person,” a People’s Daily reporter told Xiaotuan, an AI assistant in the Meituan app. Within two seconds, a detailed list featuring restaurant ratings and recommended dishes appeared on the screen.

According to a Meituan employee, the platform’s AI agent can account for factors such as time, location, budget, companions, and personal preferences. Combined with merchants’ service offerings, operating conditions, and reviews, it delivers personalized recommendations. Covering 12 categories of local services, the Xiaotuan AI assistant has responded to over 700 million user requests to date.

In the education services exhibition area, many visitors stopped to try out products from Feixiang Xingqiu, an education technology company and subsidiary of Beijing Yuanli Education Science and Technology Co., Ltd. The company showcased three foundational large models designed for basic education.  

After a staff member described a teaching need aloud, “Feixiang Teacher 3.0” completed the task and instantly generated an educational application called “English Adventure Island,” complete with a course map and a series of challenges that allow students to learn independently in a gamified environment.

Technology makes industries smarter

Innovations in physical AI were among the highlights of the fair. The booth of Lightwheel.ai, a physical AI infrastructure company based in Beijing, drew a steady stream of technology enthusiasts.

Visitors put on first-person-view headbands, while their full-body movements were captured in real time and turned into “training material” for robots to learn from. Over the past three months, the company has provided services to more than 30 leading large-model companies.

“This is a ‘continuous learning system’ built for robots, helping them evolve from being able to ‘see and talk’ to being able to ‘do and act,'” a staff member said.

In the road freight sector, FOR-U Smart Freight, a Chinese technology-enabled platform specializing in truckload transportation, showcased an AI agent that assists dispatchers with order assignment, truck sourcing, and shipment tracking, enabling seamless human-machine collaboration. 

Dispatchers simply describe their requirements by voice or text, and the AI agent analyzes them within milliseconds, generating standardized instructions for locating a truck. During transit, it can also provide round-the-clock route tracking and alerts for abnormalities.

Openness and cooperation broaden the horizons for innovation

“This model is so lifelike,” exclaimed a visitor upon seeing a 3D model of Lin Chong, a hero from the classic Chinese novel Water Margin, depicting the iconic scene “Lin Chong Takes Refuge in the Snowbound Mountain God Temple,” at the booth of Chinese network technology company Shumei Wanwu (Beijing) Network Technology Co., Ltd.

On a nearby computer, the company’s “Hi3D” AI-powered 3D creation platform was demonstrating how a 2D image of Lin Chong could be transformed into a 3D model. By entering text or an image, users can generate a high-definition 3D model in five to ten minutes. After fine-tuning details and adapting the model for printing, they can export it and produce a physical replica.

Ren Lifeng, the company’s founder and CEO, said the platform can generate 3D models from images and videos, significantly lowering the barrier to 3D modeling and improving efficiency. 

The product is now used in a wide range of applications, including industrial design, cultural tourism, museums, trendy toys, creative products, gaming, and film and television production. It has also entered markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Germany, amassing more than 1 million users.

Innovation extends to quality consumption

Norway, this year’s guest of honor at CIFTIS, has set up a national pavilion covering about 260 square meters at Shougang Park. Inside, the signature glass bottles of Norwegian bottled water brand VOSS stand out under the lights, drawing many visitors. 

By leveraging a digital supply chain and targeted marketing, VOSS has maintained double-digit growth in its business in China, providing a vivid example of China-Norway economic and trade cooperation and the upgrading of quality consumption.

At this year’s CIFTIS, more than 90 companies and institutions unveiled new achievements, while over 200 new products and solutions made their debuts. These new technologies, products and solutions are making life, study and work more convenient and efficient, while bringing greater digitalization and intelligence to the services sector. 

An increasing number of “China services” are reaching global markets from CIFTIS, putting into practice the fair’s vision of “Global Services, Shared Prosperity.”

By Yuan Quan, Yan Ke, Yang Xun, People’s Daily

Changsha, the capital of central China’s Hunan province, has kept both its name and its urban site unchanged for more than 3,000 years. Its streets and lanes carry centuries of history. In recent years, the city has worked to protect, preserve, and creatively revitalize its cultural heritage, finding new ways to integrate its rich legacy into modern urban life.

This distinctive cultural appeal has drawn people from around the world. Some come to study at its thousand-year-old academy; others experience how traditional culture has become part of  everyday life; still others find fresh ways to tell Changsha’s story to young audiences overseas. Their experiences offer fresh perspectives on how the ancient city preserves and passes on its cultural heritage.

Keeping tradition alive, Yuelu Academy continues its scholarly legacy

American scholar Peter Brian Ditmanson began teaching at Yuelu Academy of Hunan University in 2017, where he studies the history of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) and leads a team translating historical texts related to the academy. 

When translating inscriptions such as “Xue Da Xing Tian,” he often weighed each phrase carefully, striving to convey their philosophical depth to readers from different cultural backgrounds. 

In his view, Yuelu Academy is not a museum to be admired from afar, because its tradition of learning, teaching, and scholarship has never been interrupted. Its historical buildings retain their original character, while modern education continues the academy’s ancient mission.

How can a living history be preserved? Ditmanson has taken part in an oral history project of Yuelu Academy, organizing nearly 200,000 Chinese characters of oral records from faculty and staff. This effort captures aspects of the academy’s history that cannot be seen from its buildings alone. 

This idea of “letting history continue to tell its story” also runs through Changsha’s broader cultural initiatives. The city is developing itself as a “city of museums” and promoting public archaeology and hands-on experiences in cultural relic restoration, bringing history closer to the public.

Ditmanson believes history should always be approached with reverence. “We should not flatten a rich and profound history just to make it seem easy and entertaining to visitors,” he said. In his view, the fact that people still study and pursue knowledge at a thousand-year-old academy, while ancient texts reach readers in different languages, means that history has never been confined to the past. He still sees himself as a “student”: only after understanding the cultural spirit of the academy can he share it with more people and foster genuine exchange.

Sustaining living heritage, weaving traditional culture into everyday life

Canadian Martin Haase has lived in Changsha for nearly 20 years. Practicing tai chi daily is his routine. For him, culture’s integration into modern life requires no elaborate ceremonies. “The true vitality of traditional culture lies precisely in these ordinary moments that unfold each day,” he said.

Tai chi led Haase to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and he went on to study at Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, progressing from undergraduate to a master’s and doctoral degrees. He now researches the international communication of TCM.

When Haase first arrived in Changsha, foreigners had limited access to systematic learning of TCM and tai chi. Now the situation has greatly improved: universities host tai chi workshops: associations run community classes, grassroots groups set up learning platforms, and districts showcase intangible cultural heritage. Fueled by short videos, it has become easier than ever for ordinary people to experience traditional culture. 

Haase has evolved from a Tai Chi novice into a cultural narrator. When foreign friends ask where they can learn tai chi in Changsha, he not only translates for them but also manages social media accounts, explaining to global audiences the lifestyles and worldviews embedded in TCM.

To him, Changsha’s greatest strength is its ability to turn esoteric practices — once limited to close-knit communities of heritage bearers — into everyday urban experiences open to all. “Savor a cup of tea, practice a tai chi routine, wander down an old lane — traditional culture resides in the simple rhythms of daily living,” he said.

Diverse forms of expression bring more people into storytelling

Standing beneath the ancient city wall at Tianxin Pavilion, Malaysian student Samviontha (Wong Pek Hwa) was reminded of her hometown, Malacca. “When you start with something people are already familiar with, history becomes easier to understand,” she said.

In 2025, she came to study at Central South University of Forestry & Technology. Changsha’s rich historical and cultural heritage and its youthful urban character soon became subjects for her videos, through which she introduces the city to audiences in Malaysia in the Malay language.

“Effective communication is not simply translating a piece of Chinese into another language,” Samviontha said. Starting from her own experiences, she connects distinctive aspects of Changsha with things familiar to her audience. When introducing Changsha stinky tofu, for example, she draws a comparison with fermented stink beans in Malaysia, using a shared memory of taste to bridge the cultural distance. After visiting a museum of Hunan embroidery, she used Malay to describe the vivid, lifelike embroidery techniques, giving audiences in Southeast Asia a closer look at this form of Hunan intangible cultural heritage.

As a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts, Changsha keeps broadening its avenues for international outreach. Samviontha and other young foreigners have been named “international communication ambassadors.” A tiny shop, a local custom, or a traditional craft enjoying renewed popularity among young people — to Samviontha, what makes Changsha captivating is how antiquity and innovation often land within the same frame. History does not fade amid the city’s development.

Beneath lamplight, some pore over books; on street corners, others practice tai chi; still others relay tales of these humdrum lanes to friends afar. Though hailing from different nations, they all draw nourishment from the ancient city’s cultural legacy and breathe fresh vitality into it. It is within these quiet, everyday moments that time-honored cultural traditions gain wider recognition, affection, and care.