The annual Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival in Shanghai is in full swing, lighting up the city with dazzling displays and intricate lanterns that bring a festive spirit to life and kicking off a month of celebrations.
This year's event, themed "All Creatures Wonderful," showcases beautifully crafted lanterns inspired by ancient Chinese mythology, such as "The Classic of Mountains and Seas". One of the most popular and eye-catching decorations is a giant snake-shaped lantern titled "Golden Snake Offering Auspiciousness" -- echoing this year's zodiac animal, the Chinese Year of the Snake.
In addition to the dazzling lantern displays, the festival includes a retrospective exhibition celebrating its 30-year history, cultural markets, and interactive activities, giving visitors a richer understanding of Chinese culture.
Visitors can also explore the bustling night market and savor traditional Shanghai delicacies such as butterfly pastries and glutinous rice balls.
Yuyuan Garden's traditional charm contrasts beautifully with the modern skyline of the nearby Lujiazui area, making it a must-visit destination for the upcoming Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan 29 this year.
Shanghai's annual Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival in full swing with dazzling displays
Artificial intelligence and robotics, both major topics of discussion at the ongoing Boao Forum this year, are also being widely adopted at the event as ways to improve the service inside and outside the venue.
The BFA Annual Conference 2026 is being held in Boao, south China's Hainan Province. Running from March 24 to 27, this year's conference is themed "Shaping a Shared Future: New Dynamics, New Opportunities, New Cooperation."
A water generator at the venue cools and condenses moisture from the air into water, then filters and sterilizes it. It can also run on solar power for a completely off-grid, zero-carbon operation.
Meanwhile, a special robot barista operates a coffee stand where guests can order a drink with the press of a button, prompting the robotic arm to get to work -- grabbing a cup, brewing, and frothing -- all in one smooth motion.
The venue has also adopted an AI-based management system, which can automatically adjust a range of factors based on current conditions and detect and respond to anomalies when they occur.
These sorts of systems are already being adopted at a wider scale across Hainan.
"This is our operational management center for the zero-carbon demonstration zone. It’s powered by an AI-driven system that manages all energy consumption and carbon emissions. From here, we can remotely control over three thousand devices across the island with a click, including air conditioners and lighting. It's smart management, done remotely," said Zeng Youwen, chief general engineer of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design Hainan Branch.
Outside the venue, some smart equipment is also sharing the workload. On Boao's coastline, a beach-cleaning robot moves along the shore, sweeping up cigarette butts, debris, and coconut shells.
The robots can work before visitors arrive or after sunset, cleaning up to 3,000 square meters of beach per hour. In the water, a diving robot that clears debris and even has emergency rescue capabilities.
These on-site applications of emerging technologies have helped spur discussions at the forum on how the deep integration of technology and industry is gaining momentum as China enters the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
"Industries can only be upgraded by applying the new technologies, by applying AI, by applying other innovative technology, science and technology, there should all be injected into industries. And that's how the industries are going to produce high quality products. And you will have high quality productive forces that will change the lifestyle, the living standard of the Chinese people and the people living beyond," said Sohail Khan, deputy secretary-general of Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Founded in 2001, the BFA is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals.
Robots, AI facilitate guest services at Boao Forum venue
