More Than an Expo: A "Borderless Mini Journey" in Kunming

For many, getting to know a country begins with its everyday rhythms and cultural textures. Walking through the Expo in Kunming feels like taking a mini world tour—no long-haul flight, no visa required.

Step into the 2025 expo, and this "mini world tour" unfolds before you: In the morning, you're in the India Pavilion—spices in the air, bargaining with vendors in traditional attire. By midday, a quick stop at the Thailand Pavilion for authentic tom yum soup, followed by a Thai massage that melts the stress away. In the afternoon, you may find yourself at the Nepal Pavilion, sitting quietly as the resonant tones of a singing bowl fill the air—or maybe you're getting intricate henna designs applied to your hand by a skilled artisan.

This kind of immersive cultural experience transforms the expo from a trade show into a global gathering—where cultures meet naturally on the shores of Dianchi Lake. And technology makes it effortless. With AI translation readily available, you can speak with exhibitors in your own language, and digital yuan enables instant payments.

The Expo has long outgrown its early image as a marketplace for spices, wood carvings, and handicrafts. In recent years, it has been reshaping perceptions of regional cooperation—at remarkable speed.

At the 2025 Expo, subtle shifts began to surface. Sri Lanka showcased globally recognized ERP solutions for apparel manufacturing. Pakistan introduced IT solutions designed for cross-border payments. Thailand's pavilion highlighted its electric vehicle industry. Our neighbors are showing a new side of themselves—digital, industrial, no longer just offering local goods, but solutions and technology.

Here, what unfolds before you is more than a dazzling array of goods—it is the deepening integration of regional industrial and supply chains between China and its South and Southeast Asian neighbors. From digital trade to green energy, from biomedicine to modern agriculture, what you witness is not a vision, but collaboration already in motion. This is the deeper value of Kunming as host city—not just providing a venue, but building an efficient platform for targeted industrial matchmaking. The 10th Expo in 2026 will take this mission even further.

Ten Years On: Kunming Is Ready

This year marks the 10th edition of the Expo—coinciding with the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan, with Bangladesh serving as the Guest Country of Honor. The 2026 Expo promises to be its most compelling yet: a debut Service Trade Pavilion spotlighting AI and the digital corridor; a Green Energy Pavilion showcasing solar, hydro, and other cutting-edge technologies; and a full lineup of events including the South Asian Tea Festival, live-streamed shopping with ambassadors, and the inaugural Expo International Photography Exhibition.

More than that, Kunming, as the host city, is welcoming the world with a more open embrace and services built for impact. China Eastern Airlines is adding new routes to South Asia and rolling out dedicated check-in counters for Expo participants. For businesses, a comprehensive support system is in place: pre-event matchmaking to bring together the right partners, one-on-one consultations during the Expo, and post-event follow-through to help turn conversations into concrete projects. The goal is simple: make every connection count.

Ten years on, the Expo stands as a landmark in an ongoing regional conversation. Yet the richer story reveals itself after the crowds have gone—in the everyday: a piece of foreign decor that quietly found its place in a Kunming home, the growing rhythm of emails exchanged between businesses across borders, the faint trail of a newly opened flight route traced across the sky.

These echoes, settling into daily life, now flow into the next chapter of Kunming's journey toward the world.