SHANGHAI — The ninth China International Import Expo ran from Nov. 5 to 10, with 4,142 overseas exhibitors from 162 countries, regions and international organizations.

More than 480 exhibits made global, Asian or Chinese debuts. Qualcomm brought a 6G terminal prototype out of the lab. Medtronic’s China-developed Kanghui orthopedic surgical robot had its world premiere. And a rare type of durian tree fruit, the Malaysian white durian, made its global debut.

Robots at the expo could be found working hotel front desks, taking photos for visitors, and running booth demos on their own — visibly more advanced than in past years. In place of the mechanical arm designed to play ping-pong featured last year, at this year’s expo, a company debuted an entire humanoid robot playing the sport. At the forum held alongside the expo, Xiong Jijun, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said humanoid robots must be upgraded from performing simple actions to being “able to think and work.”

Sixth Tone photographers spent the week in the halls, capturing the new products, technologies and services on display.