My decade in the future

In China, innovation rarely stays inside laboratories for long and quickly becomes part of everyday life.

A robot spread batter across a hot griddle, cracked an egg, sprinkled scallions, added sauce, and folded the pancake with steady precision. A small crowd stood watching in fascination. I watched too, amused but puzzled. "How can a robot make something so thin and crispy?" I wondered. "It looks exactly like the crispy dosa my mother used to make back home."

It was in 2022, and in that quiet moment beside a street-side machine, I realized something unexpected: the future had already arrived. It hadn't come with dramatic announcements or science-fiction spectacles. Instead, it appeared quietly, in the most ordinary way possible, through a simple breakfast pancake.

A life measured in scans

When I first landed in China in 2012, I had a pocket full of crumpled cash and a few hesitant phrases of Mandarin. I was just a curious student with a suitcase, unaware that the decade ahead would place me in the middle of one of the fastest technological transformations of modern times.

My early days were marked by the construction site outside my apartment window in Beijing. Every morning before sunrise, I would hear cranes humming as workers began their day. Slowly, the structure began to rise: steel frames, concrete floors, and eventually glass walls reflecting the Beijing sky. For months, I watched the building grow taller. Looking back now, it feels symbolic. "In many ways," I often tell friends, "that building was growing alongside the country."

But the real magic wasn't the skyscrapers. It was the scans.

I will never forget the afternoon my wallet suddenly felt like a relic. I was standing at a tiny fruit stall when I watched an elderly woman buy apples by scanning a QR code taped to a wooden crate. No coins. No searching for change. I just stood there staring. "Did she really just pay with her phone?" I asked myself.

I remember the first time I used a translation app to bridge the language barrier with a new neighbor. Suddenly, a screen was helping me make friends. By now, my leather wallet has been empty for years. It has even become a small joke with local vendors. "It's just easier," one auntie once said to me with a laugh. "Now everyone can buy from me, cash or not."

Looking back, what strikes me most is how quietly these changes appeared. I did not encounter them first in newspaper headlines or technology documentaries. They were unfolding quietly in everyday life.

My first encounter with a service robot took place during a morning walk in a public park. This small machine was surrounded by curious visitors as it prepared drinks and snacks like coffee, fresh juice, and even cotton candy. "That's something I never expected to see during a morning walk," I thought.

But food service was only the beginning. Living in China, the future often appears in the most ordinary places. A robot delivers meals to your hotel room. Another cleans the floors in office buildings. Some machines even offer manicures in shopping malls. In Shougang Park, a modern comprehensive zone in Beijing, driverless taxis navigate traffic. "China never runs out of ways to surprise me," I often tell friends abroad.

Technology exhibitions in China offer even clearer glimpses of what lies ahead. At events such as the China International Fair for Trade in Services, visitors gather to watch humanoid robots mimic human movement, robotic dogs respond to voice commands, and artificial intelligence systems designed to help cities manage traffic. Crowds often form around these machines, using their phones to record every movement. "Technology has become entertainment," someone once joked. Yet, the deeper story lies beyond the spectacle. In China, innovation rarely stays inside laboratories for long before becoming part of everyday life.

Hospitals now use robots to deliver meals and medicines to patients. UV-disinfection robots sanitize hospital corridors. Drones carry packages to remote areas, while office buildings use facial recognition systems for entry. Today, my smartphone has completely replaced my wallet. I use it to buy breakfast, pay rent, book train tickets, order groceries, and even send digital red envelopes during festivals.

Watching the future become daily life

Looking back, I sometimes realize that my own journey mirrors the transformations I witnessed. Translation apps help me communicate. Digital platforms connect me with friends and colleagues, and video calls keep me close to my family abroad.

Sometimes I think about how it all began. I came to China to study the language, but I ended up witnessing the future unfold.

China has experienced tremendous changes since I first arrived in this country in 2012. Yet, what impresses me most is not only the speed of technological progress, but also the openness with which people embrace change. Somewhere along the way, China stopped feeling like a foreign country—It became my second home.

And perhaps one day when my grandchildren gather to ask about the "good old days," I will begin with a simple story. I will tell them about when robots first performed Kung Fu during the Spring Festival Gala, my first purchase from a public park pancake machine, driverless taxis starting to wade through busy streets, and the shift from paper money to a simple scan of a phone.

They might smile and find it hard to believe. But I saw the first hints of our future take shape in those moments.

The author is an Indian journalist with China Pictorial who has lived and worked in Beijing for more than 10 years.