In June, a group of international youths from diverse professional backgrounds embarked on a journey to explore China's AI technology hubs in Shenyang and Xiong'an.

This enlightening expedition, conducted under the theme of "China's new quality productive forces", was a component of the 2024 Future Close-Up event. The program was jointly hosted by the China International Communications Group (CICG) Center for the Americas, the Marketing and Public Relations Department of Tencent, and the Hong Kong Federation of Liaoning Associations.

Simon Büschges, consultant at Capgemini Invent, lauded China's AI developments, remarking that China's strides in this realm are very impressive, adding that the country “is really building a great network with different countries and working together to move things into the future.”

Stacey Ann Person, head of Web3-APAC at Amazon Web Services, marveled at the growth of China's digital economy. She said, "The growth and evolution of the technology that powers the digital economy in China has been world leading. It's been very interesting to experience an ecosystem where you can pay, play, learn and socialize all within digitized apps. That will connect each other peer-to-peer as well as business-to-consumer."

Arnav Varshney, a participant from India and team lead at Talent Co-Op, recounted an incident during his stay at a hotel. "China's developments in the field of technology are excellent, especially AI. I was in a hotel and wanted to brush my teeth. I just called reception, and two minutes later, there was a robot standing in front of my door with a toothbrush," he said.