Hangzhou, China: Then and Now, 16 Years Later Hangzhou is one of the clearest examples of the rapid urban transformation that has reshaped many Chinese cities in the 21st century. In the 2009 image, the area appears relatively undeveloped, with low-rise buildings, open riverbanks, and a hazy skyline. By 2025, the same view has been transformed into a dense modern cityscape featuring high-rise towers, landscaped waterfronts, pedestrian promenades, and prominent civic buildings. Despite its modern growth, Hangzhou has been one of China’s most celebrated cities for centuries. It is best known for West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has inspired generations of Chinese poets, painters, and writers. In recent decades, Hangzhou has also emerged as one of China’s leading technology and business centers. As the home of Alibaba, the city has invested heavily in public transit, high-speed rail, parks, and waterfront redevelopment. The contrast between these images reflects more than new construction. It illustrates a broader shift in urban planning, transforming once-industrial or underdeveloped riverfronts into vibrant public spaces designed for recreation, tourism, commerce, and everyday life. Preparations for the 2023 Asian Games further accelerated infrastructure upgrades and beautification projects, helping shape the modern Hangzhou seen today.

From Lab to Life: Hangzhou Base Accelerates Embodied Intelligence Training A national mid-test base for embodied intelligence in Hangzhou is tackling a key industry bottleneck: a shortage of training scenarios for robots. The 5,000-square-meter facility houses over 140 robots across 40 application scenes, from farming to food service and boxing. Since its launch in May 2026, the base has brought together leading academic societies, top universities, and industry players such as Unitree, Huawei and Alibaba. It offers public tech services covering computing power, data, model validation and scenario testing. “We extend our services throughout China, and even globally, providing comprehensive ecosystem services for the embodied intelligence industry,” says Li Xingteng, whose aim is to turn new tech into good products. #Robotics# #AI# #Hangzhou# #ChinaTech#

A statue in Hangzhou Library dedicated to an extraordinary soul: Wei Sihao韦思浩, the "scavenger" scholar. By day, he collected recyclables on the streets of Hangzhou. By night, he buried his head in books at the Hangzhou Library. Every single time before he touched a page, he would carefully wash his hands out of sheer respect for knowledge. When critics questioned why a scavenger was allowed inside, the library gave a beautiful reply: "We are a public institution. Knowledge belongs to everyone, without tiers or classes." The moving truth only unfolded after he tragically passed away in a car accident in 2015. Wei wasn’t just a scavenger—he was a retired school teacher who chose this humble life to quietly donate every penny he made to support underprivileged students. In 2018, the public crowdfunded this bronze statue inside the library to honor his memory.

The Wenling-Yuhuan section of Hangzhou-Taizhou high-speed railway officially opened on Saturday in Taizhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. Designed for speeds of up to 350 km/h, the 37-km new line will help shorten the travel time between Hangzhou and Yuhuan to one hour and 47 minutes.