A delegation of government representatives, financial executives, and business leaders participating in the 2026 Global South Financiers Forum recently visited Ningbo, in the Zhejiang province of eastern China, to explore the city’s cutting-edge technological facilities and intangible cultural heritage sites.
The group first visited the National Graphene Innovation Center, a research hub for strategic new materials in China. Staff members showcased the latest applications of graphene technology in energy efficiency, healthcare, and industrial equipment fields.
A graphene-based cooling vest designed to reduce thermal stress for workers operating outdoors or in factories particularly caught the delegates’ attention, prompting them to closely examine it.
“This is what technology should be used for: producing something that actually improves the working conditions of ordinary people, not just data in a laboratory,” said Luis René Fernández Tabo, a professor at the University of Havana.
Carlos Huerta, director of the Nogales Industrial Park in Mexico, shared that the visit allowed him to better understand Ningbo’s capabilities. “I didn’t expect Ningbo to have progressed so much in the field of new materials. This opens up new opportunities to deepen cooperation between our two countries in this sector,” he added.
The delegation also visited the International Red Peony Home, where participants painted peony patterns using traditional brush techniques, an activity many found very meditative.
“Just like a culture, a flower has multiple layers,” commented Luz María García, director of the Chilean Association of Technological Information. “This activity made me slow down. I think it is in line with the artisanal mindset.”
In an artisan village in the Zhenhai district, delegates made traditional Ningbo glutinous rice dumplings and tried their hand at bamboo weaving alongside local artisans. They then visited the Ningbobang Museum, which showcases the city’s history as a major port since antiquity and the rise of the influential “Ningbo merchants” community worldwide.
