Reporter's Diary: Robots, SCO and a spot of marketing

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‍We are finally here. After weeks of planning, of writing preview stories and filming explainer videos, we are in Qingdao for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, to be held this weekend.

I have covered a few international conferences in China, but the preparations for this one have surpassed what I’ve seen elsewhere.

Last Friday – eight days before world leaders were due to arrive – the streets around the city center were already decked out in banners advertising the SCO Summit, easily noticeable from the Cyrillic letters spelling out the organization’s name in Russian, the other official language besides Chinese.

Flags of SCO member states are pictured in Qingdao, China, June 6, 2018. /VCG Photo

Lampposts flew the flags of each SCO member state alongside the Chinese one – a rainbow of colors not often displayed with such prominence: the SCO not only includes world powers like China, Russia, India and Pakistan, but also Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Not just decorations were up early. As we checked in to our hotel on June 1, metal detectors and uniformed ladies with security wands were already in place to check each person walking in, luggage and all.

A letter greeted us in our rooms telling us a security sweep would happen the next evening and we should remain in the hotel for the duration.

Security measures are to be expected at any big conference welcoming the likes of Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi. The fact they were implemented so far in advance was what surprised me. But better safe than sorry, right?

SCO Media Center in Qingdao, China, June 7, 2018. /CGTN Photo

Meanwhile, an army of about 2,000 young volunteers in white and blue tracksuits fanned out around the city, manning information booths and ensuring the summit and all the activities surrounding it would run like clockwork.

Fast forward almost a week and now journalists have started converging on the media center.

Media centers the world over look the same: you have the working area where journalists can set down their laptops, the broadcasting booths, the press conference rooms, etc…

An artist shows how he makes dough figurines at the SCO Media Center in Qingdao, China, June 7, 2018. /Photo by Sim Sim Wissgott

But in Qingdao, a handful of artists were also busy showing off their skills on Thursday, making colorful dough figurines, paper-cutting silhouettes and doing Chinese calligraphy. In a leafy courtyard in the middle of the building, children in traditional costumes performed classical Chinese music.

SCO members have been keen to show that their cooperation extends beyond efforts to combat drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime: economic and cultural cooperation are just as important and China knows it has a lot to offer in those areas.

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Having so many journalists gathered in one place has meanwhile turned into a perfect marketing opportunity for some of China’s leading brands, which happen to come from Qingdao.

Haier – maker of air-conditioners and fridges sold from Nigeria to the UAE, Spain, and New Zealand – is actually housing the media center in its Global Creative Research Center and has a small display of appliances near the press conference room, alongside Hisense TVs and a model train by CRRC Qingdao Sifang, which manufactures China’s bullet trains.

Weaving through the crowd, a cute-looking robot on wheels advertises local company Krund, while the most popular booth in a building full of journalists is bound to be the mini-bar held by Tsingtao Beer – official sponsor of the SCO.

Just a reminder of Qingdao’s global ambitions and the ways in which it can contribute to SCO – and other – partners around the world.

(Top picture: A Krund robot greets journalists at the SCO Media Center in Qingdao, China, June 7, 2018. Photo by Sim Sim Wissgott)

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