Within a simple QR code is the infinite potential to store and calculate anything from cooking instructions to the price of materials to build the steam engine. An increasing number of Chinese shoppers in recent times have become accustomed to using QR codes to make their payments for any and everything on an average day as seamless as possible. Xilinshui village-based coding experts utilized Chinese junipers to open up a brand new level of QR code innovation.
Cashless smartphone payments in China have been facilitated through high-tech barcodes with increasing frequency, and now, coders in the northern Hebei province have taken this familiar barcode functionality and figured out a way to cultivate it from trees.
Xilinshui village’s tree-based QR code isn’t carved into any individual tree itself but collectively composed of over 100,000 junipers that are simply arranged into a large QR code shape from above. Every side of the Juniper tree QR code is 227m (744ft), which each of the trees within the arrangements being anywhere from 80cm to 2.5m tall.
This high-profile landscaping project falls in line with a string of renovations made possible through a generous development grant Xilinshui earned in 2015 for its recognition as the most beautiful village in Hebei. In addition to falling in line with the trend of Xilinshui’s aesthetic village developments, this Juniper tree QR code is also in line with the increasing amount of QR code integration for business stimulation seen across the province in recent years. Past QR code-based business endeavors have included things as minor as scannable badges on employees to thousand meter-tall QR codes built to attract the attention of homeowners.
At this point in time, there hasn’t yet been a concrete way established for a person to access the QR code from above unless they happen to be flying above it. Those who do scan the tree-based code can connect to Xilinshui’s WeChat tourism account.
