A free showing of high-tech products that opened Saturday at the Beijing International Exhibition Center has drawn tens of thousands of visitors. The international event not only showcases the achievements of Chinese high-tech institutions and enterprises, but also tells ordinary people how high-tech is changing their lives. 

In Hall No.1, people can see all kinds of household electric appliances, such as refrigerators, color televisions and mobile phones. They are much more advanced than the ones we currently use: Electronic induction helps a refrigerator adjust temperature automatically; intelligent transportation tells us when the next bus will arrive at the bus stop; a module solves problems in clean energy sources for automobiles ...

One visitor is very fond of a new mobile phone that can convert freely between GSM and CDMA.

"When I go on business to South Korea and Japan, where the CDMA mode is well-developed, I can using this kind of mobile phone to convert GSM signal to CDMA, instead of changing my phone. It will be much more convenient for me."

The manufacturer says the new phone will be put on the market in two months, so those who are wondering which mode to buy will have another choice.

In the exhibition hall, you can also see the biggest TV in the world -- an 80-inch plasma TV. Though most Chinese families can't have such a huge TV, they have seen their future life style:

"It's impossible now to buy such a big TV. But I believe in the near future we will make it possible."

In the international housing exhibition, people can see eight full size European-style houses. All these houses have intelligent devices installed. One device recognizes the residents' fingerprints: the door won't open if it's not the right fingerprint. And if there's a gas leak, a high-tech nose will turn off the valve and sound an alarm.

According to the development company, the intelligent devices can also look after the house when the people are out:

"The system can set up a defense area around the house. When someone is trying to break in, the electromagnetic sensor on the gate detects him, so do infrared sensors in the house, and the system will sound the alarm."

Most of us are familiar with central air-conditioners. But few have ever heard of central vacuum. With central vacuum, you don't need to lug a cumbersome vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs, because there's a vacuum pipe buried in the wall and a jack in every room. You just have to carry a light piece of tube and the cleaning head around. To clean up the mess, simply connect the tube to the jack and it's all sucked in to the central unit. After being pulverized and filtered, it goes out through the sewer system. Many visitors like the idea of living in such a house:

"I hope this kind of conceptional house can soon be put on the market, and we ordinary people can live in beautiful, comfortable and environment-friendly houses with high-tech conveniences."

The state-of-the-art high-tech house might seem to be a thing of the future for most of us, but when you visit the expo, you find that high-tech is changing almost every aspect of our lives, and in many ways the future is already here.

Pick up the mobile phone, say "Hi, House. Coffee in five minutes, feed the cat, vacuum the mat" and, hey presto, it's as good as done. Just hope the fingerprint reader doesn't refuse to let you in, and that the computer doesn't confuse 'cat' with 'mat'!

(CRI May 24, 2004)