Fresh-cut flowers from southwest China's Yunnan Province are making their way nearly 4,000 kilometers northwest to Kazakhstan, thanks to enhanced infrastructure which has led to flourishing trade in a variety of goods and products among the nations.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has strengthened economic and cultural exchanges between China and Central Asian countries.
In Kunming, Yunnan's provincial capital, workers at a flower-packing facility are still working even at 22:00, carefully packaging rose stems destined for the Kazakh market.
"We usually work from 20:00 until 6:00 or 7:00 the next morning," said Kong Weimang, an employee at Yunnan Huashengjin Network Technology.
Known as China's "Kingdom of Flowers," Yunnan is a floral powerhouse, with flower fields, especially roses, stretching widely across the landscape. Its blossoms are now reaching far beyond domestic borders, with Central Asia one of the most vibrant markets.
"We started exporting to the Kazakh market in March this year. Back then, we sent about eight or nine truckloads that month. But volumes kept rising in April, and by May, we had the average of one truckload a day," said Shen Chunling, general manager of Yunnan Huashengjin Network Technology.
According to Kunming Customs, in the first five months of this year, Yunnan exported fresh-cut flowers worth nearly 60 million yuan (about 8.3 million U.S. dollars) to Central Asian countries, marking a nearly tenfold increase year on year.
The boom is not limited to flowers. Traders from Central Asia are also relocating to Yunnan to tap into the growing market.
"Yunnan produces a huge variety of flowers. They’re very competitive in our markets, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, (other markets in) Central Asia and Belarus. We are even developing supply lines to Azerbaijan," said Turapov Rafat, a flower businessman from Kazakhstan.
Thanks to BRI infrastructure upgrades and enhanced cold-chain logistics, Yunnan's blooms now reach Kazakh cities like Almaty and Astana in just five days, arriving fresh for sale.The surge in demand is also transforming local farming.
Zhou Yulian, a veteran flower grower in this business for 25 years, now partners with the local government to manage six modern greenhouses. These facilities are expected to yield around 7 million stems annually -- most destined for clients in Kazakhstan.
"The foreign buyers require what's called order-based planting -- whatever variety they need, I grow. They also commit to buying everything and even set the price. I’m thrilled and relieved as I can focus entirely on growing without having to worry about sales," she said.
With ongoing improvements in quality and logistics, growers and exporters are optimistic that Yunnan's fresh-cut flowers will continue to bloom on the international stage -- especially in Central Asia.
Yunnan’s fresh-cut flowers find fertile ground in Central Asia
Multinational executives at the just‑concluded 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai reaffirmed China as a leading hub for artificial intelligence (AI) investment, highlighting its complete ecosystem and unmatched industrial base.
The 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, which ran from Friday to Monday, brought together official representatives, business leaders, scholars and researchers from more than 100 countries and international organizations.
The conference included 140 forum sessions, with a total exhibition area exceeding 100,000 square meters. More than 1,100 enterprises presented over 3,000 products at the event.
First-time participant Achim Peltz, CEO of Digital Industries Automation China of Siemens, said he was impressed by China's complete AI ecosystem and hoped to establish partnerships with local firms for AI manufacturing innovation.
"I have to say it's the first time that I am at this WAIC, and it's very impressive. It's not only impressive because it's an AI exhibition, it's also impressive because you meet here the entire ecosystem. In order to be successful in a very manufacturing-strong country like China, you have to have a local contact, you have to understand the specific needs of manufacturing in China. And therefore, we would like to do this together. We want to do this in a partnership and we want to create real value for the manufacturing industry," Peltz said.
Xiong Yi, senior vice president of Schneider Electric, highlighted China's strong industrial base as a key driver of AI development.
"In AI-related industries, China's supply chain capability is extremely strong, including semiconductors in the upstream and robotics. And in terms of energy facilities tied to our industry, the supply chain and industrial foundation are excellent. China has a strong and resilient grid and distributed energy resources. This power foundation can underpin AI computing and enable the whole ecosystem to work in synergy," Xiong said.
Han Chen, president of ABB Robotics China, cited China's status as the world's leader in industrial robotics, saying the unmatched scale of installations can help accelerate the development of AI models.
"China now has the largest number of installed robots in the world. And Chinese customers are highly receptive to AI and are actively embracing it, which provides us with massive application scenarios that other markets simply cannot match. In this process, vast amounts of data are generated, allowing us to rapidly develop AI models. This is absolutely a globally unique market opportunity," Han said.
Lan Zhenzhen, president of public affairs of L'Oreal North Asia and China, stressed the need of using human creativity to leverage AI technologies.
"We will continue our efforts in this area to make good use of AI and give play to human innovation to integrate the technology into various ecosystems, so that our breakthroughs in local innovation scenarios can improve our services not only for Chinese customers in this market but also for global customers," Lan said.
Miguel Faustino, president of Thermo Fisher China, underscored AI as a strategic priority for investment in China and reaffirmed his firm's enduring presence.
"AI has been identified as one of these really critically important and strategically important areas of investment focus for China. China's innovation ecosystem has also reached a new level of global relevance. We've been in China for over 40 years here and we continue to really invest in and are as committed as we have been," Faustino said.
Global firms spotlight China as AI hub at Shanghai conference
