Empowered with artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and automation, the "Asia No.1" smart logistics center in Beijing is redefining its efficiency during the Spring Festival holiday, from storage, packaging, sorting to last mile delivery.
The 2026 Spring Festival, which is also known as Chinese New Year, fell on Feb 17 and marked the start of the Year of the Horse -- the seventh of the 12 zodiac animals in the Chinese zodiac. The official holiday lasts for nine days which began on Feb 15.
To meet the surging demand during the holiday, the center has deployed a combination of robot clusters and AI-powered systems, significantly improving the storage, soring and and delivery efficiency of the Chinese New Year goods.
During the holiday, the warehouse has handled peak daily outbound volume of 12,000 orders, with an average of three items dispatched every second.
The entire logistics covers a vast area with one apparel warehouse alone spanning more than 3,000 square meters, roughly the size of seven standard basketball courts. Inside the warehouse, the most striking feature is the rows of shelves towering 12 meters high, stacked layer upon layer like giant LEGO walls. The shelves hold tens of thousands of boxes of goods, equivalent to the annual inventory of a small supermarket. Therefore, the high-density shelving layout maximizes space utilization, laying the foundation for efficient outbound processing.
In addition to space utilization, robots of different kinds work are playing a key role in enhancing efficiency. In the warehouse, climbing robots are seen retrieving items from between the racks, while ground robots are taking over to transport them onward, accelerating the sorting and dispatch of festive orders.
A total of 87 transport robots are operating on the warehouse floor, moving swiftly and flexibly. Equipped with sensors, the robots can accurately detect their surroundings, avoid collisions, and read QR codes on the floor for precise positioning, allowing them to navigate orderly through the warehouse. Compared with traditional manual handling, coordinated robot operations have boosted transfer efficiency by 73 percent.
The robots' onboard systems are synced with cloud-based data. With predictive models and scheduling algorithms, the picking routes are optimized so the robots can pick more items while traveling shorter distances, significantly improving efficiency.
Enhanced efficiency is also associated with the sci-tech. An "AI New Year Goods Map" helps predict regional demand through intelligent, full-process management, enabling smart inventory allocation, pre-positioning of goods and flexible coordination between multiple warehouses. As a result, orders for festive goods across multiple platforms have surged.
Moreover, automated packaging also improves efficiency. In the past, workers had to press buttons to seal parcels. Now, with a simple hand gesture from a worker, the packaging system can automatically seal packages. While the time saved per parcel is minimal, but across tens of thousands of orders, the gains in shipping speed and efficiency are significant.
AI-powered major logistics center in Beijing redefines efficiency in Chinese New Year goods delivery
American singer John Legend expressed his astonishment at the scale and quality of the China Media Group (CMG)'s 2026 Spring Festival Gala and his honor at being a part of the grand television spectacle which has been recognized as the world's most-watched annual TV show.
The hours-long gala was aired on Monday evening on the eve of the Chinese New Year, with a carefully curated line-up of performances, high-tech special effects, and entertaining variety acts guiding viewers towards the new year -- which this year ushered in the Year of the Horse.
As the clock ticked past midnight on Tuesday, Legend took to the stage to perform his chart-topping hit "All of Me", before teaming up with French actress and singer Helene Rolles to deliver a touching rendition of the main theme song of the classic Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast".
In an exclusive interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Legend said he was delighted to participate in the TV extravaganza.
"Wow, I've been so amazed by all the other artists that I've seen. The dancers, the singers, the performers. It's such a beautiful, festive show and I'm so honored to be a part of it," said Legend.
While China's Spring Festival is the most cherished time for celebrating family reunions and making people-to-people connections, Legend felt the message of love in his hit song 'All of Me' was especially fitting for the occasion, and shared the story behind how the classic 2013 hit was born.
"These songs are all about love, and I think music is really in a lot of ways about celebrating love and celebrating connection and celebrating our shared humanity. And I think it's a great, great way to bring in the new year here in China. I'm doing 'All of Me' at this performance. And no matter where I perform 'All of Me' around the world, people sing along. People feel connected to the song, people have memories associated with the song, whether it's their wedding or their first date or whatever feelings they have about love and relationships, that song has meant a lot to a lot of people all around the world, and it just shows you that deep down, we're all the same," he said.
"I wrote it right before I got married to my wife and she did cry the first time she heard it, and the first time I sang it in front of an audience was at our wedding. And we filmed the music video that same week in Italy during the week of our wedding. And so it will always be really meaningful to me, but I'm grateful that it's so meaningful to other people as well," he added.
In addition to Legend, Irish pop group Westlife also performed during the gala, as they gave an entertaining version of their iconic ballad, "My Love", while veteran U.S. singer Lionel Ritchie was among the other international stars who appeared in an earlier segment.
The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, is the most important traditional holiday for the Chinese people, and watching the Spring Festival Gala, also known as "Chunwan", is a cherished part of the celebrations every year in hundreds of millions of Chinese homes.
Since first being broadcast in 1983, the gala has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the most-watched annual television program on the planet.
US singing star John Legend shares honor at being part of 2026 Spring Festival Gala
