HANGZHOU, China — Chinese tech giant Alibaba's global headquarters in Hangzhou is more than an office or corporate campus. It's an incubator for all things tech, testing everything from self-driving cars to automated hotels.

One hour away by train from Shanghai, Alibaba boasts six campuses around Hangzhou. It also has other offices across China, and globally, including Silicon Valley.

CNBC recently took a tour of the company's main Hangzhou headquarters — Xixi campus, which is home to about 22,000 of its 100,000 global employees. Its main campus is also where its corporate office, as well as its major e-commerce brands Tmall, Taobao, and AliExpress, are at.