New look Tianjin lures world focus

TIANJIN, China – Belonging to a state where government is yet to shift its focus on Artificial Intelligence and when you just have an idea of robots because of Hollywood movies, it was a dream come true!

Yes it was so. On May 20, I woke up at my apartment in Beijing while dreaming to move to a place of robots, a new journey to the city known for Artificial Intelligence (AI).

30 foreign journalists from the Asia Pacific Region and some Central Asian countries came to China this year for learning. We have had visited dozens of sites, its provinces, cities, and model villages but nothing can match Binhai, Tianjin. Once known as hit by an accident, Tianjin wears a new look for visitors who can not even think how fast the city had recovered from an accident which struck the Binhai New Area Tianjin.

On 12 August 2015, a series of explosions had killed around 165 people and injured hundreds of others when a series of explosions rocked a container storage station at the Binhai New Area.  However, it was a totally transformed Binhai as there was a total transformation and the city wore a new look.

The trip, arranged by People’s Daily in collaboration with Local Government of Tianjin and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China, proved to be a new experience for all the visitors.  Though, China has transformed into the most advanced state within a short span of a mere thirty years’ time, one can only imagine this progress and hard work once visiting the wonderland called China. When we entered Tianjin, a 1.5 hour’s drive from Beijing, it was an unprecedented experience. We visited multiple places. What we were seeing was one only could dream of!

Whenever there will be a talk or debate on latest technology, particularly an artificial intelligence, the first name which will come to my mind will be Binhai New Area of Tianjin. It is located on the eastern coast of Tianjin, with an administrative area of 2,270 square kilometers with a coastline of 153 kilometers. Officials told this scribe that the population of the city is around 3 million. In addition, people from across the globe come here due to the trade juncture.

Curiously, the newly-developed Binhai became the first Free Trade Pilot Zone in northern China, the second National Comprehensive Reform Pilot Area and a National Innovation Demonstration Zone for the country. We also had a chance to visit Tianjin Port. It trades with 500 plus ports in 180 countries and regions in the world.

However, what attracts me the most was the Tianjin Binhai-Zhongguancun Science Park. The science-theme was tremendous, it is built by Beijing and Tianjin. Zhongguancun Science Park is also known as “Silicon Valley of the China”.

This science park focuses on latest technologies and innovations.

Director General of the Management and Services of Tianjin Zhongguancun Science Park, Mr Zheng Yi said, “Artificial intelligence is transforming industries on a global scale. Learn to build systems and apply AI and machine learning techniques to solve an endless range of real-world problems”.

Likewise, National Maritime Museum dubbed as the “Ocean Palace Museum” is a marine museum compared to the Forbidden City located at the capital of China, Beijing. China’s first National Maritime Museum will open in June 2019. Museum cover 150,000 square meter and consist on three stories. The architect of museum is looks like a Fish. The museum attracts marine lovers from worldwide. Museum is built by latest technologies and countless life size models of ancient marine animals, precious fossils and cultural relics.

During the two-day trip, we had a chance to visit the China-Singapore Friendship Library, a smart library with more than 400,000 books and other state-of-the-arts facilities to the readers.

The officials there briefed us that there is space of 20,000 readers in the aforementioned library. Moreover, the ultimate collection of the library will contain 1.5 million books and one million archives in near future. At present, there are 110,000 archives.

The library was opened for public in late 2018, it covers an area of 35,000 square meters and a building area of 67,000 square meters. An outsized ball like eye is installed showcasing eye’s power to the world.

Libraries are ubiquitous though, what makes a difference in this library is the excessive use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots which provides a better reading experience to the readers. It is now attracting readers from across the globe.

We visited Tianjin Julong Jiahua Investment Group and came to know that the enterprise was engaged in oil trade and processing.

Last but not the least, we have visited X-cafe restaurant, a first smart robot restaurant in China. This restaurant has no man-power. Robots are working instead. It reminds me that once I read an article in New York Times that is automation dangerous?  I vividly remember the crux, it stated that soon man will be replaced by robots. When we entered this Café, from order to serving and billing, all things were being done by robots. At once, I was amazed, but the other moment I started thinking that robots could replace human jobs.