A high-tech modular "smart house" was unveiled on Saturday at the 2025 China International Green, Smart, and Healthy Building Conference in Gaobeidian City, north China's Hebei Province, reflecting the potential of Chinese innovation to improve sustainable living.
The smart house, created by Chinese green industry company Orient Sundar Group, is meant to withstand super typhoons and major earthquakes, while offering a controlled, self-sufficient living environment powered by renewable energy.
International experts were impressed with the design, saying it could transform the way people live in the face of environmental challenges.
"In a small space, it actually provides a lot of comfort, and in fact this is because of the moving walls and the really convertible spaces. This is the equivalent of at least twice the size of a dwelling. And one of the most unsustainable processes that we are having -- or tenant trends that we are having -- is that dwellings and per capita floor spaces are constantly increasing. So if you can solve a lot of your spatial needs in an actually small confined space, that will have very profound environmental benefits," said Diana Urge-Vorsatz, Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The 2025 China International Green, Smart, and Healthy Building Conference, which opened on Saturday and features the global launch of new products in green building technologies, has attracted more than 2,500 participants from over 20 countries.
At the event, representatives from industry associations, design institutes, research academies, and universities in municipalities and provinces including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, and Henan engaged in thematic discussions on green building technologies and their applications.
High-tech "smart house" unveiled at int'l green building conference in north China
A Chinese couple residing in Venezuela's capital Caracas who lost their home in the powerful earthquakes capital last week have recounted their harrowing escape, as search and rescue operations continue across the affected areas.
Wu, a Chinese national from Guangdong Province, told China Media Group (CMG) on Sunday that she and her husband were at their small grocery store when the quake hit, sparing them from the collapse of their five-story residential building in the Altamira district of Chacao Municipality in eastern Caracas.
"The building had five floors and I lived on the second floor. We were at the store when it happened. When we came back, I never expected the building had collapsed. We were lucky no one was home," Wu said.
Wu said many residents were at home on the day of the earthquake as it was a holiday, thus causing heavy casualties.
A military official at the scene, speaking via text message, said about 30 civil defense rescue personnel and 50 military personnel were involved in the search operation, with firefighters working in rotating shifts. In the first 72 hours, rescue teams worked around the clock and saved seven survivors on the first day.
A private company manager involved in rescue efforts said that while the earthquake caused some damage to Chacao, most infrastructure remained largely intact as buildings were generally constructed to seismic standards. The collapsed residential building, however, was built earlier and may not have met subsequent code updates.
Despite the rain, rescue operations continued at the site.
"We expect to find between 12 and 20 more people. Hope is always the last to disappear, and we still believe survivors are out there. We have heavy equipment and excavators on site, but we urgently need more dump trucks to continue the operation," said Maiko, a rescue volunteer.
Quake survivor recounts horror moment as rescue efforts continue in Venezuela
