Stunning aerial footage was captured recently, showing fascinating natural spectacle of sea of clouds in some parts of China.
Endless clouds rolled over the urban area of Yantai City of east China's Shandong Province on Sunday after a bout of rain, transforming the city into a fairyland, as skyscrapers were shrouded in clouds and mist, creating spectacular scenes.
Known for its beautiful and high-altitude grasslands and diverse terrain, the Qianba Pastureland in northwest China's Gansu Province was also enveloped by drifting clouds and cascading mists on Wednesday.
Mist and peaks intertwined, creating dreamy scenes that feel otherworldly and serene.
Breathtaking sea of clouds roll over buildings, mountains in China's Shandong, Gansu
Teams attending the 2026 humanoid robot half-marathon are racing to fine-tune every detail before hitting the course on Sunday.
As the world's first humanoid robot marathon, this year's event will see a record 112 teams taking part, including five international teams from countries including Germany, France and Brazil.
Co-hosted by the Beijing Municipal People's Government and China Media Group, the event covers two main categories – autonomous navigation and remote control – with autonomous navigation teams accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total.
One week ago, a full-scale test of the event has already been conducted in Beijing's E-Town Economic and Technological Development Area.
"Really impressive! When I see what they've done in the first marathon that happened last year and what we saw this year, I'm impressed by the advancements that have been made. Last year, some robots had some hard time to just stay standing, but now this year almost every robot is able to stand. And they all focus on performances and that's very exciting," said Etienne, a member of Paris-Saclay University Team.
The 21-kilometer race route covers more than 10 types of terrain including flat ground, slopes, curves, and narrow sections. It features 12 left turns and 10 right turns, including several near-90-degree curves, providing complex environment for robots to test their adaptation and decision-making capabilities.
"This event requires robots to achieve such high mobility autonomously on the course, which poses a significant test of their agility. Even for humans, executing sharp turns under such complex conditions is quite challenging. For robots, this setup further increases the technical difficulty and challenge," said Zhao Mingguo, a researcher at the Department of Automation of Tsinghua University.
Humanoid robots gear up for Beijing half-marathon
