With Chongqing a regional center of the motor industry industries, other companies at the exhibition showcased their hybrid or pure electrical cars and latest motorcycle models.

Industry leaders like Changan and Lifan displayed hybrid or pure electrical cars, yet a lesser-known company in a totally different industry stole the limelight.

An apparently ordinary exercise bicycle was surrounded by visitors awaiting a trial run.

An apparently ordinary exercise bicycle is exhibited to convey a low-carbon lifestyle to visitors. Cycling an hour generates about 1 kilowatt.

The cycle displayed near an air conditioner at the company's exhibition booth was so popular that even children joined the queue.

Tu Bin was one of the keen cyclers. The 7-year-old could barely reach the pedals, but still struggled to make it work for a few minutes.

"When I was riding the bicycle, I was generating electricity," he said, still with a sweat on his face.

"This is to convey a low-carbon lifestyle to visitors," said Tan Lijun, a representative of the company. Cycling an hour generates about 1 kilowatt, she said.

Behind the popular cycle is the company's real products - energy-saving air conditioners and control systems.

At another exhibition booth, for Chongqing University, PhD candidate Zhou Shijie and three schoolmates explained their school's technological projects.

Among them is an open car on display that has no fuel or storage capacity, but it is powered by electricity transmitted through a rail on the ground, Zhou said.

More than 300 companies, institutions and individual inventors showcased their energy-efficient and eco-friendly technologies and products at the Chongqing exhibition.