Elektor International Media organised an international study trip to China from 9–18 November 2008. Participants from different countries traveled and explored China. An outstanding opportunity to get acquainted with this country. Naturally, the main focus was electronics, but there was also room for culture... Here you can read the travel journal of this unique trip!
Tuesday, 18 November
After a smooth flight our plane landed in time at 6.30 am. Glad to have undergone the China experience, but at the same time happy that the Elektor Trip ended without any problems. Preparations for the next China trip scheduled for April 2009 will start in a few weeks. If you are interested to join us, just let us know!
Monday, 17 November
Today is our final day in China. We kick off with a visit to the company RIGOL in Beijing.
RIGOL Technologies is an emerging test and measurement company. RIGOL’s current products include digital storage oscilloscopes, Digital function/arbitrary waveform generators, virtual Instruments and more. RIGOL was founded by three students in 1998. Currently they have more than 400 employees.
After a visit to the exhibition hall, we were informed about the company’s activities and products through a presentation by Mrs. Panying. We were also able to visit the manufacturing department where we were able to view the assembling of several RIGOL products.
We had a great typical Beijing lunch – then we went to visit the last item on the programme: the Electronic Market Halls. Several buildings, shoulder-to-shoulder, jam packed with electronic components, measurement equipment, wires, displays, etc. European & US electronic enthusiasts can only dream of such huge market halls for all things electronic!
Our farewell diner was in a the nice restaurant called Renaat Morel’s in Rue Tintin, where we concluded Elektor’s second Study trip to China. It was an interesting study trip with participants from five countries who shared the same interest: electronics!
Sunday, 16 november
At the time of writing our trip started exactly one week ago. After an early breakfast we leave the hotel at 8 am. It’s cold in Beijing — just 3 degrees Celsius! Quite a difference with Shanghai with 20 Celsius on average. A fair number of the group are not prepared for the low temperatures and street traders do brisk business. Caps, gloves and shawls are in popular demand.
On the Tianmen square (44 hectares equal to European 60 football fields) it is very crowded already. After a picture stop we went to the Forbidden City – it is now called the Palace Museum. It was the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Its construction began in 1406. 24 emperors ruled the whole country from here for nearly 500 years. It occupies an area of over 720,000 square meters with more than 9,000 rooms.
The Forbidden City is the most magnificent ancient architectural complex in China and the largest and most intact architectural complex of palaces in the world. Since 1987 it is on the World Heritage List. For lunch we had Peking Duck. We were really hungry after spending almost 4 hours outside. Lunch was delicious, we really enjoyed the food. After a quick stop at the Birds Nest we went to visit the Great Wall!
We visited the Great Wall in Mutiienyu. This should be one of the most beautiful parts of the Great Wall. Originally the Great Wall was more then 10,000 kilometres long, but currently there is just 6,000 (!) kilometres left of it. It was built to protect China against invaders from other countries (like Mongolia).
The feeling you get when you stand on top of this Great Wall is unimaginable. The view is spectacular. Surrounded by nature and silence only, you feel a little sad you cannot share this moment with the one you love. But you feel also like a hero, climbing this Great Wall. You will never forget it.
After a delicious meal at Imperial Diner we went back for our last night in Beijing. Tomorrow it’s a business day again!
Saturday, 15 November
Our final day in Shanghai was spent in individual ways by the participants. Some on the party pay a second visit to the China Electronics Fair, one has a business talk and the others decide to have a leisurely time by participating in the cultural programme.
On a boat trip, we can see the Bund and the Shanghai skyline passing by. Next we go to Shanghai’s City Planning Museum. It is incredible! You need at least one day to cover the entire museum. The part we enjoyed best was an impressive virtual tour of the ‘future’ city of Shanghai on a circular screen, and of course the history of the city development and the preparation of Expo 2010. It was great to ‘be on this tour”.
After lunch we visited the oldest garden of Shanghai, the Yu garden, as well as a teahouse. We were able to taste several kinds of tea. China has more than 1,000 (!) flavours of tea. It was quite challenging to navigate the party through the busy, narrow streets so we would be in time for our final tour of Shanghai: the drive to the airport to catch our flight to Beijing.
After a late night dinner, while enjoying a glass of wine or a cool beer, we discussed at length the possibilities and impossibilities of doing business in China.
Friday, 14 November
On today’s programme: the China Electronics Fair, an impressive 60,000 m² exhibition area showing every aspect of electronic industry. This electronics fair spreads across no fewer than five halls and was seen to cover sensors, photoelectric, microelectronics, instruments, electronic tools, transformers, connectors, components, electronic equipment and electronic components.
All things electronic can be found here, from multimeters to mechanical test equipment, enclosures, and so on. A real surprise was the wide variety of LEDs and related components, as well as touchscreens in all shapes and sizes.
The quality of the booths varied from messy to impeccable. The general command of English turned out to be low but we were fortunate to have a technical interpreter available.
The short supply times for prototypes is remarkable; for example, cases made to customer specifications can be turned around in just 5 days. In Europe, the same typically requires several weeks to even months. In general the show was well valued by the participants of Elektor’s second business trip to China.
Next up was a recreational trip in the famous MagLev train which accelerates from 0 to 430 km/h in …. three minutes. The 30 kms distance between Shanghai’s city centre and the international airport was covered in just 7 minutes!
After the group dinner the party paid a visit to a kind of MediaMart outlet, only x times larger. I-pods, cameras, laptops, cameras, accessories and just about everything imaginable can be bought here. Tomorrow we’ll leave Shanghai and fly to Beijing.
A ride in the Maglev train is a top event for adults. The participants can’t wait to take a ride on this speed devil.
Thursday, 13 November
Today we visited the electronics market. Everyone was allowed to go their own way and after about an hour we planned to meet each other again in the hall of the building. The electronics market consists of a modern building of 6 floors where exclusively electronics companies are established. A real Walhalla for the electronics fan and professionals!
Elektor is investigating whether there are possibilities for a Chinese edition of the magazine. On the electronics high street in Beijing, I handed out flyers for the Elektor Chinese website. All the fliers we had with us were gone within one hour!
Wednesday, 12 November
Accompanied by nice weather, today we are heading toward Suzhou, which is also called the ‘Venice of the East’. Before we leave Wuxi, we first have a company visit to Anst.
I must say that this visit was very impressive. Anst is among the international top ten companies in the semiconductor assembly and testing area. Wuxi China Resource Micro-Assembly Tech (the full name of Anst) is an affiliate of China Resources Micro-electronics, which is the core company of the China Resources Logic group and a nationally renowned micro-electronics enterprise in China. The main focus of the company is subcontracting services for semiconductor chip design, IC assembly and testing, and wafer grinding for wafer foundry suppliers. Dressed in white jackets and hats, we are allowed to view the immense factory, where 2,000 employees devote their attention to zero-defect production.
Close to Suzhou is the town of Tongli An, an ancient but very well preserved water township with a history of more than 1,000 years. Located on the eastern shore of Taihu Lake, just 18 kilometres (11 miles) from Suzhou City, Tongli has an area of 63 square kilometres (24 square miles) and a population of more than 33,000. Tongli lives up to its reputation as a really wonderful travel destination, where you can spend a marvellous holiday or experience traditional Chinese culture.
Tongli is a town with a profound cultural background and achievements. Since time immemorial, it has been home to an abundance of poets, painters, Confucian scholars, and government officials. Their abilities have made great contributions to progress in many areas of the country. Dozens of stone tablets from different eras are preserved in Tongli, and many of the streets are named after their official titles. Walking through the back streets of this venerable water town, you cannot fail to appreciate its pristine and intoxicating atmosphere.
In 1981 Tongli Town was declared one of the thirteen national standard tour towns in the Taihu Lake region. In addition, in 1982 it was listed for protection as the standard provincial town of cultural interest in Jiangsu Province. Tongli is now a highly praised historical site and tourist resort, and it enjoys increasing popularity with travel enthusiasts.
In Suzhou we visited a silk factory. Producing silk is a lengthy process and demands constant close attention. There are two essential conditions for producing high-quality silk: preventing the moth from hatching and perfecting the diet of the silkworms. The Chinese developed secret techniques to meet both of these conditions.
The silkworms feed until they have stored enough energy to enter the cocoon stage. They spend three or four days spinning a cocoon around themselves until they look like puffy white balls.
After spending eight or nine days in a warm, dry place, the cocoons are ready to be unwound. First they are steamed or baked to kill the worms, or pupae. The cocoons are then dipped into hot water to loosen the tightly wound filaments, and the filaments are unwound onto a spool. Each cocoon consists of a filament with a length of around 1600 metres. Eight of these super-fine filaments are twisted together to form one thread.
Tuesday, 11 November
Today’s programme was all business: company visits, a business conference, and a visit to the Wuxi New District, where we learned about opportunities for doing business in China. In the morning we started with a company visit to Neways Micro Electronics (Ximec). An impressive company, which specialises in making hybrid circuits. We were welcomed by the General Manager of the company. After a company presentation, we saw the whole production process for hybrid circuits. More than 200 employees are involved in the overall production process, and they work with high concentration and motivation.
After this very impressive company visit, we were awaited at Wuxi New District. There are more than 36,000 enterprises in Wuxi, and they produce more than 6,000 industrial products! International machinery and electronics/IT are the leading industries. Wuxi covers an area of 4,800 square kilometres and has a population of 5 million. Here we also learned about doing business in China.
Next we visited the production department of a company that specialises in producing and assembling printed circuit boards. A private company with 900 employees, big production lines, and again very motivated employees.
We finished the day with a business conference, where Mr F. Visschers, an old China hand, made a very informative presentation on doing business in China. He explained all the do’s and don’ts.
All in all it was a very busy but successful day!
Monday, 10 November
After a long trip with a stopover in Beijing, we arrived at our hotel in Wuxi at 2 pm. The sun was shining, with a temperature of 20 degrees. The flight and the ground transportation were organized well, so everything went perfectly.
Wuxi is a city with four million residents. The electronics industry is the heart of the local economy. Large international companies have established sites here. There is not much left of the old China – as far as you can see, there are only high skyscrapers.
We don’t have any planned activities this afternoon, so we can rest a bit after the journey. Tomorrow we will attend the business conference, and our first company visits are also on the programme!
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