Manzhouli, a border city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has witnessed significant growth in foreign tourist visits during the current ice-snow season, as a result of the country's visa-free policies.
In the border inspection hall of the Manzhouli Port on China's border with Russia, foreign tourists are queuing to clear customs. To improve the efficiency of customs clearance, the Manzhouli Entry and Exit Border Inspection Station has set up equipment such as facial recognition and intelligent inspection devices.
By the end of July this year, China had introduced unilateral visa-free entry or mutual visa exemption agreements with 75 other countries as part of its efforts to streamline visa rules and promote international exchange. The visa-free policy has also contributed to invigorating the local consumer market. Many supermarkets in Manzhouli are seeing a surge in the number of foreign customers eager to shop.
"Normally, our sales volume is around 250,000 yuan (35,500 U.S. dollars). If more foreign tourists visit this year, we expect it to reach 350,000 yuan (49,700 U.S. dollars). Normally, we will in advance stock up on the goods that foreign tourists typically prefer. Compared to the same period of last year, our sales volume has increased by approximately 50 to 70 percent," said Zhang Shuai, manager at the supermarket.
The seats at many Russian restaurants in Manzhouli are nearly fully occupied by diners, with most customers being foreign tourists. In addition to preserving traditional Russian dishes, the restaurants have also added a range of Chinese culinary delights to their menus.
"Our store serves over 500 customers daily. Russian customers can use the ruble to pay the bill," said Wang Hongyu, the restaurant manager.
"All rooms in the star-rated hotels have been fully booked two weeks in advance. The number of inbound passenger visits has reached 410,000, up approximately 7 percent year on year," said Huang Jinkai, deputy director of the Bureau of Culture, Sports, Tourism, Radio, Film and Television of Manzhouli City.
Visa-free policy boosts inbound tourism in north China border city
The recent 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) Annual Conference in Beijing has impressed international guests with its focus on deeper integration of technological and industrial innovation, highlighting how China's innovative advances are reshaping daily life.
The five-day forum, themed "Full Integration Between Technological and Industrial Innovation," wrapped up in Chinese capital on Sunday after bringing together more than 1,000 participants from over 100 countries and regions around the world.
More than 560 cutting-edge achievements were unveiled at the event, ranging from embodied intelligent robots and brain-computer interfaces to breakthroughs in quantum applications and 6G research and development.
The venue for the forum also showcased a number of these innovative creations to visitors, who were able to enjoy a fresh cup of coffee prepared by a humanoid barista, as well as be throughly entertained by robots performing dances or even playing piano.
Given the presence of these advanced humanoid robots, international participants shared the common view that innovation is no longer confined to laboratories but is now permeating every aspect of daily life.
"The deepest impression is actually to see how much AI is across everywhere," said Anders Karlsson, vice president of Elsevier, a global leader providing advanced information and decision support to accelerate progress in science and healthcare worldwide.
"The Zhongguancun Forum has become a very international window on innovation. We can find out annually how innovation is driving [and a key] component of growth of this wonderful country," said Vincenzo Lipardi, president and co-founder of SPICI, an Italian company assisting businesses and startups with strategic consulting services.
"As a scientist and as a worker of the United Nations system, I'm really pleased to see integration of science, technology and sustainability," said Shahbaz Khan, director of the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia.
One of the forum's key themes was around opening up and striving for greater cooperation, which demonstrated to the wider world that China's innovation aims to break down barriers and share opportunities, so as to enable the global community to advance together.
"It's my first time attending the forum. And I'm very surprised that you have a very high level of innovation. China is open to ideas. Openness is the way to make innovations," said Prof. Hussein Sherief, a member of the International Committee for Scientific and Technical Data (CODATA).
Int'l guests hail integration of technology, innovation at Beijing forum
