Beijing's Robot Mall becomes summer hit as curious visitors flock to tech-themed tours

Beijing's Robot Mall, a 4,000-square-meter showroom dedicated to embodied AI robots, is pulling in crowds of domestic and international visitors this summer.

The surge coincides with a broader trend as technology-focused tourism becomes a go-to option for family outings and study tours during the peak holiday season, making it a premier stop for scientifically curious travelers in the Chinese capital.

Beneath the tourism buzz lies a highly functional commercial hub. The mall, situated in southeast Beijing's tech-heavy Yizhuang Area, operates like a full-service robot dealership, offering sales, maintenance, spare parts, and technical support.

The opportunity to interact with robots up close remains the key draw for most of the visitors. More than 100 types of robots are on showcase, and around 20 allow visitors to touch or operate them.

"It feels even better than I imagined. It's pretty high-tech," said a primary school student on a study tour.

"I was very impressed by the robot. It's like you see the face, the impression and if you see just the lips of the robot in even gleaming, like, it would wet its lips. So, it looks quite similar (to a real human)," said a visitor from Germany.

The mall actively encourages public interest, especially from youth. Since the start of this summer, the number of family visitors has risen notably, while the scale of school field trips and study tours has doubled from a year earlier.

"During the summer holiday season, our number of inquiries, the number of reception sessions we host, and the number of visitors have all increased by more than 50 percent compared with last quarter. On weekends, for study-tour groups, we run about five to six sessions a day in general. Our total monthly visitor volume has also remained steadily above 8,000," said Qi Qi, head of the industrial tourism and sci-tech education project at the Beijing Yizhuang Robotics Technology Industry Development Company.

Beyond robotics, the mall's autonomous driving educational tours are also a major draw, running an average of four sessions per day. It has seen a year-on-year increase of 13 percent in summer visitors for the self-driving experience this year, which are attracting students from all across the country.

"The car drove very safely and gave me peace of mind. I think this study tour actually made me realize that artificial intelligence could be a future career path [for me]," said a high school student from east China's Jiangxi Province.

At present, Yizhuang, also known as the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, is home to over 300 robotics and smart manufacturing enterprises, while boasting around 20 scientific innovation venues. It has launched six premium industrial tourism routes covering such themes as robotics, smart manufacturing, commercial aerospace and autonomous driving.

The mall's popularity has fueled this commercial ecosystem. Surrounding businesses have joined in on the tech trend, including a robot-themed experience restaurant and interactive market.

"The sci-tech tourism ecosystem cluster brings in travel agencies, hotels, and even professional venue operators and study-tour institutions. This provides some specialized support for the development of the entire industrial sci-tech tourism ecosystem," said Li Tiankai, Deputy Director of Publicity and Culture Department of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.

Beijing's Robot Mall becomes summer hit as curious visitors flock to tech-themed tours

Beijing's Robot Mall becomes summer hit as curious visitors flock to tech-themed tours

Beijing's Robot Mall becomes summer hit as curious visitors flock to tech-themed tours

Thailand's rural tradition of elephant stewardship is rapidly vanishing as livelihoods change and younger people pursue opportunities elsewhere, threatening centuries of irreplaceable elephant-care knowledge.

For generations, mahouts in the region have passed on their tradition of closely bonding with the elephants they care for. Taweesuk Lapsan is one of a dwindling number of mahouts who diligently carry on the practice.

Long before the sun rises over the fields, he was already at work, gathering bundles of food for an animal that had been part of his family for generations.

"We've had elephants since our grandparents' and great-grandparents' generations. We've been around elephants our whole lives, so we have a strong connection and experience in raising them. That's how we've been able to live with them like this," the mahout said.

Caring for his elephant was not merely a job, but an inherited way of life. Years of daily coexistence forged an intimate bond defined by an intuitive understanding of subtle movements, sounds, and hesitations that take a lifetime to master.

"We live together like this. It's like a family. We're like family; we always go through things together. Until we breathe our last, it just depends on who lives longer," said Taweesuk.

Mahouts and elephants have been woven into parts of Thailand's cultural landscape, from rural livelihoods and traditional practices. However, the tradition has been upended by the collapse of the commercial logging industry and the rapid expansion of tourism.

As fewer young people follow in their families' footsteps, conservationists warned that an intricate system of animal care, refined over centuries, faces gradual extinction.

"When a mahout disappears, they are replaced by people who simply come in to take care of the elephants, essentially, elephant keepers. There are differences in terms of the bond between the keeper and the elephant, the cultural aspects, and the passing down of knowledge and traditions from one generation to the next. So we are concerned about the quality," said Parntep Ratanakorn, Secretary General of the Asian Elephant Foundation of Thailand.

Taweesuk said that his daughters may choose paths far removed from the stables, a decision he fully respects. As the practice fades, experts warn the loss extends far beyond a vanishing cultural heritage, threatening the daily welfare safety nets upon which captive elephants rely.

Thailand's centuries-old elephant care tradition face extinction as livelihoods change