Clockwise from top: Members of the GYLD tour pose for a photo on Sept 7 after attending a symposium. Tour members visit Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group on Sept 6. Tour members visit a laboratory at Xinyuan Coal Mine on Sept 7. [Photo by Su Hang for China Daily]

On the sidelines of the 2023 Taiyuan Energy Low Carbon Development Forum, 16 foreign youth representative from 11 countries took a tour of Shanxi, to learn about the province's latest in low-carbon transformation.

The event, organized by the Global Young Leaders Dialogue program, is a part of the 2023 GYLD China Tour. The program was jointly initiated by the Center for China and Globalization and the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies.

The members of the GYLD Shanxi tour were young people from various countries who are based in China.

They arrived in Taiyuan, capital city of Shanxi province, on Sept 5.After attending the Taiyuan Energy Low Carbon Development Forum's opening ceremony and summit forum on the morning of Sept 6, they embarked on a journey that covered cities like Taiyuan, Jinzhong and Yangquan.

The energy industry was the focus of this four-day tour.

At the forum, they got an initial glimpse into the latest developments of the industry in Shanxi and of the wider world.

"At the forum, we were offered an opportunity to learn about the latest dynamics and technologies in this industry in Shanxi and the world," said Mohammad Asraful Alam from Bangladesh. He is currently an associate professor at the School of Chemical Engineering at Zhengzhou University in Henan province and co-founder of the Bangladesh Junior Academy of Sciences.

During the afternoon tour they were able to look in detail at some of the technologies on offer.

They visited a photovoltaic panel plant at Jinneng Clean Energy Technologies, a company in Jinzhong city.

Jennifer Courtney Holstein from the United States said the level of automation and intelligent operations at this plant were beyond her expectations. And she noted that Shanxi has played an important role in promoting China's low-carbon development.

Holstein is the head of human resources at Pingo Space, an innovative educational institute based in Beijing.

In the county of Shouyang, they visited Xinyuan Coal Mine, a subsidiary of coal-mining giant Lu'an Group, to see how coal mines in Shanxi are going smart.

With the use of such digital technologies as cloud computing, 5G and the internet of things, mining in Xinyuan has basically become automated, with such operations as coal-cutting and conveying remotely controlled at the company's coordination center.

At the center, workers showed them how to use a push button to start and control a heavy-duty coal-cutting machine.

"It was definitely a shock to me when I saw the heavy machine could be operated remotely and automatically," said Atchike Desire Wade from Benin. He is now a lecturer at the School of Civil Engineering and Architecture at Taizhou University in Zhejiang province.

"Such technologies and machines mean greater safety and efficiency for coal mines," he said. "I hope the equipment can be exported to my home country."

When sharing his impression of Shanxi's energy industry with other members, Yasir Masood from Pakistan said: "In Shanxi, and in China, the energy industry is now totally different from what we thought.

"The transformation is still going on, and China will continue to bring us surprises."

Masood is a doctoral candidate at Beijing's University of International Business and Economics.

In addition to visiting energy-related enterprises, the group also visited famed Shanxi tourist destinations like the ancient city of Pingyao, to better understand the culture and history of Shanxi province.

Zhang Qi contributed to this story.