Taobao Maker Festival kicks off in Hangzhou on Thursday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

People can head to food stalls to have a taste of some 200 creative gourmet offerings, like Moutai-flavored ice-cream, hot pot lollipops and robotic arm-prepared tea and braised pork. Facial recognition technologies are widely applied to smooth the entire payment process.

New products include a vegan meat launched by Hong Kong social enterprise Green Monday, powered exoskeletons launched by C-Exoskeleton, a virtual-reality headset launched by HTC and simultaneous translation technology launched by iFlytek.

Visitors flocked to the Omnipork booth, a brand owned by Green Monday, where braised "meatballs" and hamburgers made from artificial meat were served. Its founder, David Yeung, was optimistic that the younger generation in China stands poised to embrace a new and healthier diet.