Overseas middle classes are becoming obsessed with visiting "Chinese factories"
In the past two years, with the relaxation of visa policies, the number of foreign tourists coming to China has been increasing, and they are having more and more diverse experiences.
Initially, foreigners came to China to visit the Forbidden City and Zhangjiajie, appreciating the magnificent scenery and long - standing culture.
Later, South Koreans fell in love with "weekend trips to Shanghai", while Europeans and Americans flocked to the international departments of top - tier hospitals.
Now, some foreigners have found new amusements.
Middle - class people from overseas are flocking to Chinese factories in batches.
China's technology tours, centered around visiting factories and exploring new technologies, have become the new favorite of more and more overseas tourists. They find that when traveling in China, you can not only feel the history and enjoy the present, but also enter the future in advance.
A large number of foreigners are even willing to spend up to $9,000 (about 60,000 RMB) just for:
Visiting new - energy vehicle factories;
Or having an aerial takeaway delivered by a drone.
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Middle - class people from overseas are flocking to Chinese factories in batches
"Travel to China to see technology" has now become a popular overseas tourism trend.
On tourism websites in different languages, this project is packaged as:
"Journey to Explore the Future", "Insider Tour of Chinese Technology", "Technology Trip to Shenzhen/Beijing"......
Although the names vary, the itineraries are quite similar:
Basically, a series of "unmanned products" in China are strung together in the form of "one - day experience + local guide" and sold to foreigners who come here with admiration.
This may be common for locals, but it is quite novel for foreign visitors.
If a foreigner signs up for a one - day technology tour in Shenzhen, there are two must - do items in his day:
First, take a driverless taxi.
It doesn't matter where you go. The main thing is to watch the steering wheel move on its own and the vehicle avoid pedestrians by itself.
If by chance the car makes a 180 - degree turn or has a small glitch, foreigners will think they are "extremely lucky" and "get an extra item".
After getting off the taxi, it's item 2: Order takeaway by drone.
It doesn't matter what you eat. The important thing is that foreigners will look up early to watch the "drone master" delivering food fly slowly from afar, land, and they describe this daily delivery as "cool and crazy".
After these two "must - do" items, the rest of the itinerary is more flexible:
Either interact with humanoid robots that can sell goods and make latte art for coffee;
Or go to various exhibition halls to experience AR glasses and AI dialogue machines.
At the end of this kind of trip, most foreigners will choose to go to Huaqiangbei and rush to fill their boxes with a large number of cheap and novel "tech souvenirs" to prove that they have gained a lot from this technology tour.
For a one - day trip like this, the price offered by overseas tourism websites is about 500 - 1000 RMB per person.
The service includes a foreign - speaking guide who will accompany foreigners on a 4 - 8 - hour technology tour. While acting as a translator, the guide will help foreigners with things like mobile phone registration and receiving verification codes, allowing them to experience the future tech life without any barriers.
In the feedback of these tourism packages, comments like "It's great. It's like experiencing a journey to the future" are quite common:
Some people say that after the trip, they feel like they've been to the year 2030.
Some immediately object and give their own observation: The trip to China has taken me to the year 2050.
If some foreigners feel that the experience is not enough and want to explore future technology more deeply, they can join the "Innovation Tour of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics" or the "In - depth Experience Tour of the Whole Chain of Electric Vehicles"......
This kind of tour, although still a technology tour, lasts from an afternoon to 3 days or even a week.
And the "scenic spots" to visit have become technology companies all over China.
For a 7 - day "China Technology Tour", the companies involved in the itinerary include:
Alibaba, Xiaomi, DJI, Baidu, DeepSeek, Unitree Robotics, Game Science......
Although the lineup seems quite luxurious, the travel agency also states in the notice that "the specific itinerary will be adjusted according to the opening situation of the companies". So in essence, it's like "opening a blind box", and which company you can visit in the end depends on luck.
The specific content of the visit mainly includes visiting factories and attending meetings:
Either visit intelligent factories, unmanned production lines, and see to what extent technology and industry can be integrated at present;
Or have discussions with senior executives of relevant companies, attend industry meetings, and learn how to apply the successful models in China to their own countries.
So those who sign up for this multi - day technology tour are mainly students and entrepreneurs from all over the world.
The former come to China for research with the anxiety of future employment, hoping to determine their future majors through this trip;
The latter come to China for research with the anxiety of business models.
To quote the comment of a professor at New York University, "There is a fear of missing out. Business owners think that China's technology ecosystem has developed to a quite mature level. If they don't experience it in person, they will be at an information disadvantage in the competition with their opponents."
In other words, everyone joins the tour with the purpose of learning.
Naturally, their travel expenses are much higher than those of a casual technology tour:
For a 6 - day and 5 - night research camp in Shenzhen, a group of 25 people from Malaysia can get an all - inclusive package for 8,000 RMB;
For a China technology tour designed for investors, covering several technology companies in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Chengdu, the normal price per person is 39,000 RMB;
It is even reported that the price of some customized in - depth technology tours for foreigners has reached as high as about 60,000 RMB......
Although the price is rising, foreigners really buy it.
A startup company called GloPen, which specializes in China technology tours, has received more than 1,000 overseas visitors in 18 months.
Meanwhile, according to a report from GlobalTimes, Alibaba's Fliggy and China Youth Travel Service are also about to enter the market and launch technology tour products related to drones this summer.
How did this trend of coming to China to experience the future start?
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For overseas tourists
Traveling in China means experiencing technology tourism
It all starts with a black guy named IShowSpeed.
IShowSpeed, also known as the "Hyperthyroidism Brother" in the online community, is a super internet celebrity on YouTube with 55 million followers.
From March to April last year, the Hyperthyroidism Brother came to China. He visited 8 major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Shenzhen in 2 weeks and live - streamed his entire trip in a foreign country.
During the journey, he experienced a large number of Chinese technology projects:
He took BYD's water - powered tram, bought Huawei's triple - foldable phone, ordered KFC delivered by a drone, danced with a humanoid robot, and watched a drone show at night......
Before the Hyperthyroidism Brother, many foreigners who came to China mainly took pictures of cultural relics and daily life.
To understand these contents, one needs to have a certain amount of cultural knowledge.
In contrast, the display of technological wonders combined with the Hyperthyroidism Brother's shocked reactions is quite straightforward in dissemination, greatly reducing the threshold of understanding.
It is easy for the audience on the other side of the screen to quickly experience what "a sense of the future" is.
