The first section of the Great Wall of China to open to tourism in 1957 has become the site of another world debut, involving drone deliveries of supplies to visitors.
The Badaling Great Wall, originally built during the Ming Dynasty in the early 16th century and since extended, has become the most popular part of the world famous monument to visit, drawing millions of tourists a year, partly thanks to its relative proximity to Beijing.
Despite its location near the Chinese capital, the Badaling section has long been poorly served in terms of amenities like food and drink outlets or pharmacies selling suncream, something vital in an area where summer temperatures can reach around 30°C.
Deliveries to the Wall
But now, a drone service offered by Chinese delivery giant Meituan allows visitors caught out by hunger or other needs to order supplies directly to the Wall. Costing the regular four-yuan (51-eurocent) delivery fee, state news outlet Beijing Youth Daily has reported, the drones operate between 10:00am and 4:00pm and can carry packages of up to 2.3kg per trip.
They are supplied by human workers, who bring the order to a designated hotel rooftop in the capital. From there, the drones follow a set route on autopilot, arriving at a watchtower in the Wall’s southern extension where they are collected by a worker before final handover to the client.
The drone journeys take just a few minutes, according to Yan Yan, Meituan’s director of public affairs, and can go ahead even in moderately windy or rainy conditions. “Through drones,” she said, “we can make trips that take 50 minutes on foot in 5 minutes and deliver heat relief items and emergency supplies to visitors.”
Growth in drone routes and economy
Though it is the first drone delivery service in the capital since the first Meituan service was developed in tech centre Shenzhen in 2021, it is part of a 30-strong Meituan drone route operation across the nation, which now includes special pick-up kiosks. The firm, which is also the world’s biggest manufacturer and exporter of consumer level drones, has delivered over 300,000 orders by drone so far.
It is not only consumers in cities who benefit; the service is set to revolutionise how people who live in rural and remote communities are able to receive essential supplies. Indeed, e-retailer JD has been using drones to take up to 15 kilograms of goods to customers who live along tricky to drive mountainous roads since 2016.
What’s more, the government said in March 2024 such services are a key to growth as part of what it calls the “low-altitude economy,” dependent on manned and unmanned civil aviation below 1,000 meters.
