2024 China Automation Congress opens in Qingdao

Leading Chinese experts and academics gathered in the coastal city of Qingdao in east China on Friday for the 2024 Chinese Automation Congress, highlighting emerging technologies including embodied artificial intelligence (AI).

The congress, sponsored by the Chinese Association of Automation (CAA), brings together nearly 20 academicians and 300 experts to discuss topics covering embodied AI, industrial internet, brain-computer interfaces, and intelligent robotics.

The event features 10 keynote speeches and 46 parallel sessions on industrial large models, smart manufacturing, optimization of unmanned systems, and intelligent healthcare.

"The combination of automation and AI is forming a new type of productivity. Our future is being reshaped by AI and automation at a speed and complexity never seen before," said Zheng Nanning, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the Chinese Association of Automation. The Intelligent Science Achievement Exhibition at the conference displays domestic innovation achievements, including intelligent production lines, robotic dogs, humanoid robots, and motion capture drones, demonstrating China's latest advances in automation technology.

Middle school and primary school students also take a part in the congress, presenting their works on extending science. "Among the top participants of the congress, the most cutting-edge or the most challenging subject now should extend to what we call embodied intelligence, which covers a comprehensive ability of us humans to handle complex problems, including various abilities, perceptions, responses and adaptabilities," said Li Shaoyuan, vice president of Qingdao University of Science and Technology.

2024 China Automation Congress opens in Qingdao

Retail sales of consumer goods in China hit 50.1 trillion (about 7.2 trillion U.S. dollars) yuan last year, with a year-on-year growth of 3.7 percent, commerce ministry spokesperson He Yongqian said Thursday at a press conference in Beijing.

"In 2025, China's consumer market maintained stable development, achieving improvements in both scale and quality, with the advantages of its super-large consumer market continue to emerge. The total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 50 trillion yuan for the first time, reaching 50.1 trillion yuan (about 7.2 trillion U.S. dollars), a growth of 3.7 percent compared to the previous year. The contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to economic growth was 52 percent," she said.

He said the ministry expanded its trade-in programs for consumer goods last year, which supported 366 million purchases amounting to 2.61 trillion yuan (about 375 billion U.S. dollars). The programs also promoted a consumption upgrade characterized by consumer preference for green and intelligent products.

"Green and smart consumption, among other new forms of consumption, flourished in 2025. Last year, retail sales of new energy vehicles increased by 17.6 percent. The number of consumers purchasing top-tier energy efficiency or water efficiency home appliances grew by 20 percent compared to the previous year, while sales of smart glasses, smartwatches, and smart wristbands all increased by over 40 percent," said the spokeswoman.

The ministry will continue its efforts to invigorate consumer spending and will ensure that promotion programs benefit the people, she added.

China's 2025 retail sales exceed 50 trillion yuan: spokesperson