From the empowerment of intelligent technology to the landing of key health and wellness projects, and further to the diversified integration of the all-region health & wellness ecosystem, Qingdao is accelerating its pace to build "A Famous Mountain-Sea Health & Wellness City, A Dynamic Health Bay Area"—
"China Kangwan" Accelerating from Vision to Reality
In early summer, the tide surges in the bay area. A transformation concerning the concepts that the "Elderly Are Properly Cared For" and the "Elderly Enjoy Quality Care and Fulfilling Lives" is accelerating in Qingdao.
Not long ago, a recruitment announcement triggered widespread attention in the national health and wellness circles. The Qingdao Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, the Qingdao Municipal Health Commission, and the Qingdao Municipal Disabled Persons' Federation jointly issued a second-round recruitment, calling on nationwide R&D and manufacturing enterprises, as well as scientific research institutions for embodied AI robots, intelligent rehabilitation equipment, and age-friendly products—or entities possessing robots and intelligent products (including prototypes) related to elderly care, rehabilitation, and assisting the disabled—to station themselves in the Qingdao Training and Validation Center for Embodied Robots and Intelligent Rehabilitation Products in the Health & Elderly Care Field.
This means that the country's first public training and validation platform dedicated to health and elderly care scenarios has officially entered a new phase of large-scale and normalized operation. Behind it is Qingdao's master plan, based on the Qingdao Three-Year Action Plan for Accelerating the Construction of “China Kangwan” (2025–2027), which anchors on the goal of building "A Famous Mountain-Sea Health & Wellness City, A Dynamic Health Bay Area" and constructing a globally influential "China Kangwan" (China Health & Wellness Bay). On this brand-new blueprint, Qingdao is comprehensively pressing the "accelerator button" for the construction of "China Kangwan," leveraging Technology Empowerment, Project Support, and All-Region Integration as three major fulcrums.
Robot "Training Ground" Gains Popularity, Two Products in Trial Operation
"It climbs stairs quite steadily, how fast can it walk?" "What can it do? Are those cameras on its body?"… Recently, at the Qingdao Fucai Nursing Home, a black robotic dog conducting a safety patrol validation caused a stir. Tasked with patrolling inside and outside the facility, it attracted many seniors who stopped to watch. Robots need not only training in simulated environments but also validation in real scenarios to collect "sim-to-real gap data"—which happens to be the daily work of the Qingdao Training and Validation Center for Embodied Robots and Intelligent Rehabilitation Products in the Health & Elderly Care Field.
The robotic dog can carry out safety patrols in nursing homes. (Photo by Liang Chao)
Since its launch at the beginning of this year, the Center has become a "necessary checkpoint" for health and wellness technology to transition from the laboratory to the bedside. In just a few months, the "highland effect" of the Center has begun to show. Currently, it has attracted 45 enterprises and 217 (sets of) products to settle in, bringing together domestic and international high-quality companies such as Haier, Hisense, BrainCo, and HIT Tianyu.
Inside the Qingdao Training and Validation Center for Embodied Robots and Intelligent Rehabilitation Products in the Health & Elderly Care Field, technicians conduct daily training on stationed robotic products. (Photo by Liang Chao)
"The Center has successfully incubated two products, an intelligent companion robot and an all-in-one safety device for elderly care institutions, which are currently in trial operation," introduced Yu Heng, Deputy Director of the Network and Digital Affairs Office of Qingdao Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau. The former solves the rigid demand for emotional companionship and health management for elderly living alone, while the latter achieves 24-hour proactive safety protection for elderly care institutions.
More importantly, the "Technology + Industry + Scenario Collaborative Platform" established by the Center has promoted cooperation among enterprises: Zhongkang and HIT Tianyu have signed an agreement. Through the "Verification – Recommendation – Procurement" closed loop, since the Center went into operation, multiple intelligent assistive devices have been upgraded, realizing transactions of over 3 million yuan, and public welfare services have benefited special groups more than 800 times.
At the same time, the Center's influence is expanding from local to nationwide. "We have organized some stationed enterprises to participate in the drafting and formulating of national standards for health & elderly care robots. Qingdao's validation data is continuously providing support for industry rules," Yu Heng stated.
Gao Shizheng, Chairman of Beijing Xianxian Artificial Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd., frankly admitted: "Conducting stress tests in a real environment with dense crowds and complex interactions at the Center provided us with invaluable first-hand data. We found that fully active robots still have a relatively high abnormal intervention rate when facing uncontrollable complex crowds. This prompted us to switch our strategy—fully active robots need at least another one to two years of data accumulation; meanwhile, we will develop semi-active products combining programmed commands and active perception tailored for specific health and wellness scenarios to improve stability and safety."
Achievements coexist with issues: some products on the supply side cannot truly meet health and wellness needs, and on the demand side, many elderly care institutions have a vague understanding of "what robots can do." Between supply and demand, there still lacks a "translation bridge." This exactly portrays the next proposition the Center aims to conquer—not only making the robots "run," but also enabling elderly care institutions to be "able, capable, and willing to use" them.
Based on this, the secondary recruitment emerged, opening Seven Major Application Scenarios covering institutional elderly care, community health and wellness, home-based elderly care, pediatric rehabilitation, disabled person rehabilitation, collaborative medical rehabilitation, and comprehensive rehabilitation training. The biggest difference from the first recruitment is that this time, the Qingdao Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, the Qingdao Municipal Health Commission, and the Qingdao Municipal Disabled Persons' Federation participated jointly, injecting their respective scenario resources. This signifies that the product training and validation for stationed enterprises are no longer confined to nursing homes but oriented towards a broader real "great health and wellness" scenario.
Citizens selecting health and wellness products at the Qingdao Experience Center for Rehabilitation Assistive Devices and Innovative Elderly Care Technology Products. (Photo by Liang Chao)
From a robotic dog's post validation to the convergence of dozens of enterprises, the co-building by three departments, and participation in national standards… This training and validation center is consolidating the most critical technology foundation for "China Kangwan." It uses real scenarios to validate technology, real needs to drive innovation, and real transactions to accelerate implementation—on this new track of "technology empowering health and wellness," Qingdao is running with its own accelerating speed.
Planning 15 Key Projects, "Connecting North and South" for Health & Wellness Elderly Living
Looking globally, developed regions in the health and wellness industry invariably rely on major projects as their backbone. Using the "Fuji Medical Valley Plan" as an anchor, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, spent over 20 years to build a world-class health industry base; Singapore Novena Health City spanned a 17-year construction cycle to integrate acute care, medium- to long-term care, and education and training. Qingdao's advancement of "China Kangwan" similarly requires a solid physical foundation.
Following a rolling strategy of "negotiating a batch, signing a batch, and constructing a batch," Qingdao is continually advancing key health and wellness projects. Reporters learned from the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau that in 2026 it will primarily plan 15 key health and wellness projects with a total investment exceeding 8.7 billion yuan. Among them are 10 key construction projects, 7 of which have already started; and 5 reserve projects, all of which are advancing in preliminary work.
In Laoshan District, the Fuyue Nursing Home opened in January this year. As the district's first publicly-owned and publicly-operated elderly care institution, it operates 136 beds and features the integration of medical and elderly care, as well as smart elderly care. In the West Coast New Area, the West Coast New Area Zhongkang Elderly Care Center Phase II and the Lingzhushan Elderly Care Center projects are progressing smoothly, with the former striving to innovatively build a smart health and wellness demonstration facility based on "Medical Protection + Cultural Enrichment + Intergenerational Symbiosis." In Jimo District, the ongoing Run’an Elderly Care Service Center project will center on the integration of medical and elderly care, day care, and culture-enriched elderly care to establish a professional institution, meeting seniors' needs for daily life, rehabilitative exercises, and professional nursing.
The pace of insurance funds entering Qingdao to design health and elderly care communities is also accelerating. Companies like China Life Insurance (Group) Company, China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd. (CPIC), and Taikang Insurance Group have poured over 1.4 billion yuan into building elderly care communities in Qingdao, marking the initial formation of the "Insurance + Medical, Rehabilitation and Elderly Care" ecosystem.
Located in Shibei District, Taikang Community · Haiqin Mansion, which has been in trial operation since March 18 this year, serves as an urban-core health & wellness project with an above-ground construction area of about 13,000 square meters and 298 planned beds. It has already welcomed over 40 older adult residents. "The park constructs a comprehensive health monitoring and management system, with 24-hour medical and nursing duty, daily health monitoring, and precision chronic disease management. Coupled with the green referral channel with nearby Grade-A tertiary hospitals, it has established a medical guarantee network where 'minor illnesses are treated within the community, emergencies are responded to swiftly, and major illnesses are directly connected via green channel'," introduced Lyu Ziping, an official at Taikang Community · Haiqin Mansion. Officially opened on April 29, the project operates as a "sister work" to Taikang Community · Qin Garden; the two will rely on the "urban elderly care alliance" model to accomplish resource flow and mutually complement their advantages.
Taikang Community · Haiqin Mansion officially opened on April 29. (Photo by Liang Chao)
The continuous deployment of mega-projects has sketched out the solid framework of Qingdao's health and wellness industry. However, the essence of health and wellness has never merely been hardware; it represents a lifestyle. In the territory of "China Kangwan," health & wellness elderly living is becoming a pivotal breakthrough interconnecting the North and the South and activating the silver economy.
The Qingdao Three-Year Action Plan for Accelerating High-Quality Development of the Health, Wellness and Elderly Living Industry (2025–2027) explicitly states that by 2027, it shall foster 5 leading enterprises with regional competitiveness, establish 15 health & wellness elderly living demonstration bases, and create 10 high-quality characteristic products. From April 18 to 24, a group of over 20 seniors on a Harbin Health & Wellness Elderly Living tour under the theme "Bonding Qingdao-Harbin, Enjoying Kangwan" spent a seven-day and six-night health and wellness trip in Qingdao. Led by the Qingdao Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, alongside resources such as Ruiyuan Zhongkang and Genertec Health & Elderly Care, the initiative melded elderly care services, health management, humanistic care, local life, and cultural tourism, allowing seniors to enjoy full-cycle health protection. As early as December 2025, Qingdao traveled to Harbin to host the "China Kangwan" Health & Wellness Elderly Living and Sweet Economy Promotion Conference to release customized health & wellness itineraries for clients from Northeast China, aligning with high-quality elderly living resources.
"Qingdao's landscapes of mountains and seas, mild climate, and impeccable health and wellness services allowed us to feel the happiness of 'enjoying aging'," declared Zheng Zhihong, President of the Harbin Silver Economy Industry and Elderly Care Development Promotion Association. This trip fulfilled the promise of two-way health & wellness elderly living between Qingdao and Harbin; going forward, they will consistently drive resource alignment and project landing, collectively establishing a national benchmark for health & wellness elderly living collaboration.
The health and wellness elderly living tour group from Harbin visiting the Qingdao Movie Museum. (Photo by Liang Chao)
A two-way rush from the South and the North. To date, Qingdao has jointly built a health & wellness elderly living community with 24 cities across the country, cooperating with over 40 countries along the "Belt and Road" to integrate resources. In 2025, the city received 610,000 visitors engaging in health & wellness elderly living.
Relevant officials from the Qingdao Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau revealed that this year, centered around the broader strategy of "China Kangwan," and based on the resources of "Mountains, Sea, Hot Springs, City, Bay, Islands", Qingdao will concentrate efforts on cultivating the core brand "Mountain-Sea Health & Wellness · Dynamic Qingdao", designing unique characteristics of health & wellness elderly living products, and nurturing highly competitive regional leading enterprises. Furthermore, by constructing a government-enterprise joint promotion matrix, the city guides enterprises to function bi-directionally by promoting "going out" combined with "bringing in" high-quality tourists, shaping a domestically prominent and internationally renowned coastal health & wellness tourism & residence destination.
Building a Multi-Dimensional Health & Wellness Service System, Constructing an All-Region Ecosystem
As technological innovation and project constructing march hand in hand, a grander outlook for "China Kangwan" is unfurling—a full-scenario multi-dimensional health & wellness service system that breaks industry barriers is rapidly materializing in Qingdao.
In July 2025, the Qingdao Three-Year Action Plan for Accelerating the Construction of “China Kangwan” (2025–2027) was issued, engaging nearly 30 departments in a linked promotion. The plan proposed clearly: Target "A Famous Mountain-Sea Health & Wellness City, A Dynamic Health Bay Area," emphasize "All-Region Health & Wellness, All-Age Health," accelerate the deep integration of real estate, medical care, health & wellness, culture and tourism, and construct a globally influential "China Kangwan."
