​Foreign visitors get a close look at Hefei's emerging tech sector

Before French blogger Mylene Mathieu visited Hefei, the capital of eastern China's Anhui province, she pictured a city known for Hui-style architecture and traditional culture. 

"Artificial intelligence technology, robots, and drones — I never expected Hefei to have such impressive innovation," she spoke of her recent visit to the city.

In June, Mathieu joined a group of eight foreign experts, bloggers and international students from countries including the U.S., France, Belarus, Brazil, and Vietnam to visit Hefei, a city increasingly known in China for scientific and technological innovation.

During the three-day trip, the visitors flew over Luogang Park in an autonomous "air taxi," interacted with service robots, tried real-time AI translation, got a feel for the quick acceleration of Chinese new energy vehicles (NEVs) on a test track, and joined more than 100 local residents in a choir performance.

A panoramic view of Hefei, the capital of eastern China's Anhui province. [Photo/China.org.cn]

Once an inland city with an economy heavily tied to agriculture, Hefei is now becoming an innovation science and technology innovation hub with global influence, supported by growing industrial clusters in NEVs, AI, and the low-altitude economy.

At Zerith Robotics, the visitors watched robotics demonstrations and used VR equipment to remotely control a humanoid robot, Zerith-H1, as it collected motion data.

Cooley Gavin Andrew, a U.S. blogger, demonstrates Zerith-H1's motion-capture function at Zerith Robotics on in Hefei, Anhui province, June 23, 2026. [Photo/China.org.cn]

"I knew China's robotics industry was advanced, but this visit showed me that it has gone far beyond what I expected," said Rafael Henrique Zerbetto, a Brazilian Esperanto expert with China International Communications Group (CICG). "These robots have both a brain and a body. Hefei is showing how productivity can be redefined."

Kaligaeva Ekaterina, a Belarusian blogger, watches a robot clear items from a table at Zerith Robotics in Hefei, Anhui province, June 23, 2026. [Photo/China.org.cn]

At BYD's racetrack in Hefei, the visitors tried the company's driving simulator before test-driving NEV models on an all-terrain course, where the vehicles climbed steep inclines, crossed waterbodies, and performed drift maneuvers. In a water test pool, one NEV equipped with four-wheel independent drive stayed afloat as it moved forward and made turns.

Visitors from the U.S., Belarus, and Indonesia test BYD's emergency floating function for NEVs in Hefei, Anhui province, June 24, 2026. [Photo/China.org.cn]

"Although the NEVs we experienced today drifted at high speed, they were also very comfortable and smooth," said Kaligaeva Ekaterina, a blogger from Belarus. 

Alexander William, an Indonesian student, said, "I used to hear more about 'made in China.' Today in Hefei, I saw 'intelligent manufacturing in China.'"

At an air traffic operations center in Hefei's Luogang Park, Cooley Gavin Andrew, a U.S. blogger, sat inside the cockpit of an EH216-S autonomous passenger aircraft. The aircraft has no pilot seat or control stick and is operated by an intelligent ground dispatch system.

The group also visited iFLYTEK Town, where they tried AI applications including iFLYTEK's Dual-Screen AI Translator 2.0, AI glasses, a multilingual transparent display, a smart blackboard, and a Go-playing robot. The Dual-Screen AI Translator supports online translation in 60 languages and real-time interpretation among 19 languages.

Mathieu spoke French to the screen as Chinese subtitles appeared in real time. She said her husband is Chinese, and language barriers had long been a challenge in their life together. "In Hefei, I saw how AI can help people communicate better," she said. "Technology is no longer just cold code. It can listen to you, understand what you need, and become a companion."

Mylene Mathieu, a French blogger, tries iFLYTEK's Dual-Screen AI Translator at the exhibition hall of the iFLYTEK Town in Hefei, Anhui province, June 25, 2026. [Photo/China.org.cn]

Lee Fook Cheung, an expert from the Center for Asia-Pacific under CICG, said Indonesia is paying close attention to China's innovation and technology, and Hefei's experience offers a useful example for emulating.

Beyond technology, the visitors said Hefei's urban culture also left a strong impression. 

At Hefei Grand Theatre, they joined more than 100 residents in a group performance. "Hefei is not only about technology," Mathieu said. "It also has a warmth that touches people."