GUANGZHOU, China, Oct. 18, 2026 /CNW/ — Phase 1 of the 140th Canton Fair, themed “Advanced Manufacturing,” opened on October 15 and will run through October 19. As one of the event’s most closely watched sections, the Consumer Electronics and Information Products zone once again serves as a showcase for the latest achievements in China’s manufacturing and technology industries.

Smart Life Solutions Address an Aging and Globalized Market

A highlight of this section is the focus on smart living, which brings together smart solutions designed to support healthier, safer, and more independent lifestyles.

For example, wearable devices and continuous glucose monitoring systems enable convenient tracking of key health indicators such as heart rate and blood glucose levels. Meanwhile, wearable exoskeletons and other AI-powered devices support mobility training and functional recovery. For home and elderly care, companion robots, electric nursing beds and home-use hyperbaric oxygen chambers, offer a combination of daily care, wellness support and lifestyle assistance. All these solutions highlight a growing shift toward technology-enabled living, where health management, personal care, and independent living are becoming more accessible and connected.

Service Robots Demonstrate Expanding Real-World Applications

The Service Robot Zone remains one of the fair’s most popular attractions in this edition.

Among the crowd favorites is a humanoid robot standing roughly 70–80 centimeters tall. With its expressive movements and playful appearance, the robot draws constant attention as it dances, approaches visitors and occasionally performs flips to the delight of onlookers. Behind the product is a company that has overcome key challenges in compact joint modules and modular humanoid robot development. Its independently developed high-power-density joints deliver remarkable agility and explosive movement, while modular architecture provides flexibility for a wide range of future applications.

More broadly, the Service Robot Zone features exhibits spanning a wide range of application areas, including embodied intelligence, specialized operations, urban services, and smart living. Full-size humanoid robots, dexterous hands with multimodal sensing capabilities and wheeled robots highlight the latest advances in artificial intelligence, perception technologies and motion control. For demanding industrial and emergency environments, exhibitors are presenting robotic inspection systems, live-line maintenance robots and underwater propulsion robots designed to improve safety and operational efficiency.

The commercial services sector is also well represented through reception robots, façade-cleaning robots and fully automated coffee kiosks, while everyday life applications include wearable exoskeletons, robotic lawn mowers and educational robots for home use. Together, these exhibits demonstrate how China’s robotics industry is accelerating its transition from technological innovation to large-scale commercialization.

As the 140th Canton Fair gets underway, the showcased innovations highlight China’s growing strength in advanced manufacturing, turning cutting-edge technologies into practical, market-ready solutions for global customers.

For more convenient attendance, please click here for pre-registration:
https://buyer.cantonfair.org.cn/register/buyer/email?source_type=16

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SOURCE Canton Fair

Asia’s first dedicated B2B Pre-Owned Mobile Devices focus pavilion 
Tencent Brings AI Ecosystem Products to the Show

HONG KONG, Oct. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Phase II of the October 2026 Global Sources Hong Kong Shows opened today at AsiaWorld-Expo, running from October 18 to 21. The four-day event focuses on four core tracks — mobile electronics, smart home security and appliances, lifestyle electronics, and sports and outdoor — bringing together more than 2,100 quality Asian suppliers across more than 4,000 booths, showcasing approximately 160,000 new products including mobile devices, smart wearables, AR/VR, smart home, energy storage and charging, personal health care, pet products, and sports and outdoor equipment.

John Kao, Vice President of Hong Kong Shows & Overseas Shows at Global Sources, said: “Hong Kong possesses a regulatory framework aligned with international standards, efficient intellectual property protection, and proximity to the Greater Bay Area’s manufacturing heartland — enabling it to meet buyers’ dual demands for compliance and efficiency. Buyers no longer need to travel to multiple locations: right here in Hong Kong, they can assess Asian manufacturing supply, complete compliance reviews, and place orders — all in a single visit. The trust established between buyers and sellers on site is often difficult to achieve through months of email exchanges. We aim to continuously strengthen Hong Kong’s role as an international trade hub, enabling genuinely capable suppliers and serious buyers to connect efficiently on this platform.”

Asia’s First B2B Phone Trade Focus Pavilion Officially Debuts

Hong Kong has long been an important transit hub for the global second-hand phone trade. According to IDC data, global used smartphone shipments reached 225.7 million units in 2024 and are projected to maintain a compound annual growth rate of 4.9% through 2029. While the market continues to expand, compliant distribution capability remains the key threshold for entering this space.

For the first time, the show has partnered with the Hong Kong International Communications Electronic Chamber (HKICEC) to unveil the “HKICEC Global Mobile Exchange Pavilion,” Asia’s first dedicated B2B pavilion for Pre-Owned Mobile Devices. The pavilion brings together nearly 60 leading companies from Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong SAR, India, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, the United Kingdom, and beyond — including Zhuan Zhuan, ATRenew, US Mobile Phones Inc., Belong Inc., and ecoATM LLC — exhibits and services span new mobile devices, professionally tested and data-sanitized refurbished smart devices compliant with EU WEEE standards, intelligent testing technologies, recycling solutions, and compliant export services. The pavilion offers buyers from Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia a trusted and comprehensive sourcing platform, creating a green trade corridor that connects Chinese Mainland’s manufacturing strengths, Hong Kong SAR’s international platform, and global markets.

Tencent AI Makes Show Debut; AI Mass Production Enters the Delivery Phase

The product selection logic for AI products has undergone a marked shift in the second half of the year. The focus has moved entirely from “What new AI products are available?” to deployment capability and delivery efficiency — no longer chasing feature gimmicks alone, buyers place greater emphasis on whether products can effectively address real needs and ship reliably on schedule. Suppliers’ overall fulfillment capability has surpassed mere product highlights to become the primary assessment criterion in sourcing decisions. The Phase II “AI+ Theme Zone” features over 1,200 booths spanning seven segments: AI terminal devices, AI wearables, AI glasses, AI toys, AI pet products, AI personal health devices, and AI-integrated products, showcasing suppliers’ proven ability to move from concept to mass production. The zone also extends to lifestyle electronics including wearable electronics, smart pet products, personal care and beauty tech, sports, outdoor and fitness tech, gifts, and smart living, covering a wide range of real-world application scenarios.

Tencent joins forces with its ecosystem partners to exhibit under the theme “AI-Empowered Business Growth,” showcasing Tencent’s AI office assistant WorkBuddy alongside enterprise-grade AI solutions from ecosystem partners, including the AI-powered business growth tool Buda.im and Busabase. Running concurrently with the fair, the “AI Agent Summit” brings together over 100 industry, investment and technology leaders to explore how AI Agents are moving beyond demos into real-world deployment and revenue generation, with in-depth discussions on commercialisation pathways, industry standardisation and emerging opportunities across the AI Agent ecosystem. In addition, the show has partnered with the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA) to launch a Taiwan AI Supply Chain Theme Pavilion, showcasing the region’s established industrial cluster strengths in AI modules, components, and contract manufacturing.

Vietnamese Manufacturing and Mobile Accessories Take Center Stage; Diverse Sourcing Zones Debut

Phase II features a dedicated “Vietnam Sourcing Fair” zone, bringing together approximately 50 Vietnamese manufacturers with mature export capabilities, covering three product categories: fashion products and apparel, home and kitchenware, and gifts and packaging. For buyers seeking to diversify sourcing risks, the zone enables them to simultaneously access China’s main supply chain and Vietnam’s emerging production capacity at the same show, and negotiate directly face-to-face with Vietnamese factories.

With new-generation flagship smartphones from major brands hitting the market, demand for compatible mobile accessories is ramping up. The show floor features over 2,000 mobile-accessory booths showcasing new offerings including phone cases, charging gear, stands, and data cables, providing global buyers with an extensive range of options. The event also hosts the “Global Buyer’s Top Picks” creative phone-case contest to identify case designs with strong market potential.

The concurrent Hong Kong Security Tech Show, supported by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME), showcases products and solutions spanning security surveillance, smart access control, and cybersecurity.

Best of Innovation Awards Recognize Outstanding Products; Global New Product Launches Converge in Hong Kong

The Phase II Best of Innovation Awards focus on products across mobile electronics, smart home, security and appliances, lifestyle electronics, and sports and outdoor categories, with judging criteria emphasizing practicality, cost-effectiveness, technological maturity, and market relevance — identifying innovative products with genuine commercial deployment potential. Phase II also introduces a dedicated “AI Innovation Award” to recognize exhibits with outstanding applications of AI technology. The awards program continues its partnership with the internationally renowned European Product Design Award (EPDA)™ to present the “Best Product Design Award,” honoring products that combine innovative thinking with exceptional design. The show also serves as the preferred launch platform for multiple exhibitors’ annual new products, featuring heavyweight global and Asia premieres that further consolidate Hong Kong’s position as the world’s premier stage for consumer electronics product debuts.

About Global Sources

Global Sources is an internationally recognized multi-channel trade platform, connecting Asia with the world for 55 years. The company has been dedicated to facilitating global trade by connecting verified suppliers with qualified buyers worldwide. To date, it has successfully served more than 14 million registered buyers and users globally, providing efficient and convenient trade solutions.

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SOURCE Global Sources

BEIJING, Oct. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — “Building an ecological civilization concerns the well-being of the people and the future of the nation.” 

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, pointed out: “Respecting, adapting to, and protecting nature is essential for building China into a modern socialist country in all respects.”

As outlined in the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development, securing major breakthroughs in strategic tasks of overall importance to Chinese modernization and making major new progress in the Beautiful China Initiative are set as key objectives.

The Global Times is launching a series of articles titled “BeautifulChinaING.” From the perspectives of the beauty of nature, the beauty of system and the beauty of lifestyle, the series uses both Chinese and international cases as entry points. Through field reporting and video storytelling, it explores how green development has become a defining feature of Chinese modernization while showcasing China’s role as a responsible major country providing global public goods. 

In this installment, we turn our focus to the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, where engineers, scientists and conservationists are working together to explore a new balance between hydropower development and ecological protection, ensuring the free migration of rare fish species in the Yarlung Zangbo River.

In the deep canyon in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, a hydropower station about 400 meters long and more than 100 meters high has released the tremendous force of the upstream river water. As the dam opened to discharge floodwaters, the surging water dropped by more than 60 meters, providing a solution to nearly 26 percent of electricity demand in Southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region. This mega hydropower station, known as the Huaneng Zangmu Hydropower Station, ended the history of Xizang region relying on diesel for large-scale power supply.

Standing in front of the dam, design engineer Zhang Lianming was filled with pride. For him, this hydropower station not only benefits people’s livelihoods, but also carries a special mission: in order to help the fish move freely between the upstream and downstream sections of the dam, a fishway was designed beside this mega-project. Since the hydropower station began operation in 2015, the fishway has helped about 570,000 fish “swim upstream.”

“The environment means well-being, the green mountains mean beauty and blue sky also represents happiness.” Zhang said in an interview with the Global Times, adding that when he saw that this water conservancy project not only delivers “green electricity” to thousands of households, but also makes the surrounding mountains greener, waters clearer, and fish and birds gather in the area, he has increasingly felt the meaning of this saying.

Swim back happily

Sun Chao, who is in charge of the Zangmu Hydropower Station, often goes to the fishway monitoring room to check the records of fish “crossing” the dam. When he sees fish successfully migrating back upstream through the glass curtain wall, a smile spreads across his face. “We feel about fish the same way fishing enthusiasts do,” Sun said. “The difference is that their happiness comes from catching fish, while ours comes from seeing fish swim back.”

Xizang region is an important ecological security barrier for the country and is also known as a “gene bank of species.” Its natural environment is unique, highly sensitive and fragile – a fact clearly reflected in the fish populations of the Yarlung Zangbo River. The seven fish species that pass through the fishway at the station are unique. Two of these species, the black-spotted catfish and the Lhasa schizothoracin, are protected as nationally second-class protected animals.

“Preventing hydropower stations from becoming barriers to the free movement of rare fish has special ecological significance,” Zhang said. When a dam blocks a river, the channels through which fish communicate are also cut off. Their living environment becomes more fragmented, which is detrimental to the integrity of aquatic ecosystems and to genetic exchange among fish populations.

However, fish native to the Yarlung Zangbo River are not typical migratory species; some are only semi-migratory. Once a hydropower station is built, they may simply adapt to their new surroundings and no longer return to their birthplace, Zhang pointed out. 

The characteristics of fish in Yarlung Zangbo River made the design engineer realize that ensuring unobstructed fish migration had to be a key objective of the station. Only in this way could the fish mate freely, preserving the genetic strength of the river’s rare fish populations.

Moreover, to help ensure that the Yarlung Zangbo River is filled with more high-quality fish species, a stock enhancement and release project for breeding rare fish seedlings from the river has also been implemented at the Zangmu Hydropower Station.

“The project has continued for 12 years, and so far, 1.97 million fish have been released,” Sun calculated. “The construction of this large-scale fast-flowing fish stock enhancement and release station cost 48 million yuan ($7.10 million), the construction of the fishway cost about 360 million yuan ($53.27 million), and annual fry-breeding costs are nearly 7 million yuan ($1.04 million).”

“This hydropower station not only provides energy security, but also continues to invest heavily in taking on the vital responsibility of protecting the ecology of the plateau,” he stressed.

‘Leap over the dragon gate’

At the station, which stands more than 100 meters high, it is already difficult for an ordinary person to climb from the foot of the dam to the top. For fish in the Yarlung Zangbo River, swimming upstream across it is an even greater challenge. Relying on ingenious design, the builders have helped the fish successfully “leap over the dragon gate.”

From the outside, the station’s fishway looks no different from an ordinary diversion canal. The zigzagging artificial channel resembles a “hanging river,” connecting the upstream and downstream sides of the dam. But a closer look reveals many hidden features inside: cement walls are arranged in alternating patterns to create a winding waterway effect.

According to Zhang, the fishway consists of an inlet, an open-channel section crossing the dam, an outlet, and an observation and research room. Inside the open channel are fishway pools with a gradient of 2 percent. Every time the fishway rises 10 meters, a rest pool is provided for the fish, with the water speed in the pool controlled between 0.9 and 1.2 meters per second. A water-supply branch pipe is installed at the inlet, along with a flow-regulating valve, to create the optimal flow speed for attracting fish.

“Fish enjoy the sensory stimulation brought by flowing water, and suitable water flow can attract them into the fishway,” said Zhang. In his view, the key to the fishway’s success lies in respecting the fish’s natural instincts. 

To this end, the design team built a scale-model fishway and captured fish from the river to conduct multiple flow-velocity tests. After six years of repeated experiments, the team finally determined that an inlet flow velocity of 0.92 to 1.2 meters per second was the “comfort zone” for the upstream migration of fish.

During the research and development process, members of the design team traveled to the US and Canada to learn from mature fishway projects.

During their research, they found that most fish in overseas rivers are carnivorous migratory fish, which are stronger and can migrate in rivers with steeper gradients. As a result, fishways overseas generally have a larger lifting angle, which means they can be built over a shorter distance. 

In the Yarlung Zangbo River, however, the fish are mostly cold-water species with slow growth cycles and weaker swimming ability. Therefore, fishways built in the river need a smaller lifting angle.

This entire cross-disciplinary study of the ecology and behavior of fish in the Yarlung Zangbo River was compiled by the dam design team into a monograph. The project also won first prize in the 2023 Science and Technology Award in Xizang. 

“When the fishway at Zangmu Hydropower Station was completed, it was the highest-altitude and largest fish-passage ecological and environmental protection project in China, breaking the long-standing convention that fish passes would no longer be considered for dams over 40 meters high,” Zhang said. 

He believes the successful application of the fishway in Zangmu station has very important guiding significance for the future construction of fishways at high-altitude hydropower stations and for the protection of rare aquatic organisms, and it also plays a positive role in protecting fragile ecological environment in Xizang.

‘Fish face recognition’

Now, the fishway at Zangmu station has not only become a “distribution hub” for fish in the Yarlung Zangbo River, but also a “research station” for monitoring the river’s ecological condition.

In the fishway observation room, a smart monitoring system works like an “electronic toll station” on a highway, constantly and accurately collecting information on migrating fish as they pass through.

“The fact that 570,000 fish have passed upstream through the fishway is backed by data,” said Yang Xiaocheng, director of the safety and environmental protection department at the station. He specially showed Global Times reporters video footage recorded by the station on a day in May, in which large numbers of fish were seen racing upstream along the fishway toward the dam. 

The scene was truly spectacular. “Every year from March to June is the spawning season for fish in the Yarlung Zangbo River, and it is also the peak period for migration.”

Since the station began operation, visualizing and quantifying changes in ecosystem in the Yarlung Zangbo River has been an important task for the station. 

“At first, we assigned staff on fixed duty,” Yang said. Later, an AI system developed based on years of footage from the fishway was put into operation. According to the introduction, this system uses optical and sonar technologies to identify key features of migrating fish, such as fin characteristics and swimming posture, thereby recognizing and recording the fish’s “identity information,” with an accuracy rate of 95 percent, according to Yang. 

In addition, this “fish face recognition” system also records information such as migration time and fishway water temperature. By combining and analyzing these data, it evaluates the effectiveness of the fishway under different conditions. These data are also shared with domestic research institutions for studies on fish behavior, and are eventually fed back to other hydropower stations in China. 

In recent years, tagged fish released in previous years have been found in the section where the Nyang River and the Yarlung Zangbo River meet, about 200 kilometers downstream of the Zangmu Hydropower Station. This fully proves that the fry artificially released by the station have successfully adapted to the wild environment.

“From the monitoring results, the fish population in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo is very stable, and has not decreased, because of the construction of the hydropower station. On the contrary, the aquatic ecology and animal-plant life in the entire middle gorge section of the Yarlung Zangbo River have shown positive changes,” Yang said.

At the same time, monitoring has shown that animals that live alongside water, such as otters and mergansers, are appearing more and more around the Zangmu Hydropower Station. 

Harmony between humans and water, and coexistence among all things, is not impossible. Such a beautiful picture of ecological civilization is taking shape on the Yarlung Zangbo River, Zhang added.

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SOURCE Global Times