Third-Day. Siliconvalleyinspiration Tours in Hongkong & Shenzhen. Here are the insights of the day ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
Another interesting and inspiring day of the Hongkong/Shenzhen Inspiration Tour

Third-Day. Siliconvalleyinspiration Tours in Hongkong & Shenzhen. Here are the insights of the day ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

We finally made it to Shenzhen 🇨🇳 🇨🇳 🇨🇳. With ConferenceOnWheels Tours.

After yesterday's hiccup run from one closed Immigration Office to the next (and finally back to Hongkong), we crossed the Lo Fu border without any problems, this morning. One step into China, you are “eaten” by Taxi-Sharks and you find yourself in a completely different world.

💳 💵 💳 A few things that are interesting and good to know: forget about your western credit card. On the street, everything pays with Alipay or WePay (WeChats in-app payment system). We were happy to find a cab driver who would accept Hongkong Dollars, because that is all we had in cash. UBER is not available, the Chinese Version “Didi” works exactly the same (and you can pay in-app with your cc).


🏭 🏗️ 💻 Today started with a corporate meeting at a massive Chinese company we all know. “I realized you are keeping a diary of your program, please do not write anything about us”. The relationship and fundamentals of trust are cracked with the Western world. Sanctions are indeed not a joke, because next to the truth that China itself is a big enough market, there is a 2nd truth: for every product that depends on international service, Chinese people shy off limitations, as well. People in China travel and if a product does not work outside of China, it does not sell inside of China.


🧑 💻 💪 🗓️ On a more positive note, the culture of progress in impressive in Chinese operations. Decisions are made extremely fast, companies have internal websites where they list problems and potential risks - and everyone in the organisation can submit a possible solution. Roles are chosen based on merits and not on gender (no gender quota, but a company inside endeavor with national attention, called “women in tech”, and I wish I could share details, just one thing: fantastic program).


🔨📱 🤖 Our 2nd meeting was at HAX, a venture capital firm that looks like a hardware maker-space and -community. One of the few companies, we already visited three years ago, in the pre covid Hongkong Inspiration Tour. Since then they matured from a small three room office to a whole floor in a vibrant Shenzhen neighborhood of Hardware-geeks. Absolutely fascinating how a culture of face value is (successfully) tapping into a culture of failure - and gradually turning into an epicentre of innovation.


📱 📷 🖥️ A fun, slightly overwhelming and absolutely must-see experience is the quarter of hardware markets. In the center of the Futian District, a complex of 7 stories warehouses that look like shoppingmalls with thousands of tiny stores sell anything from micro-chips to all possible cables and infrastructure you need to build/prototype ANYTHING with a digital heart. Plus a crazy amount of fake everything in the consumer electronics world. Our favorite: iPone (see photo).


‼ ⁇ 💡Another day in a different world. A world we should pay attention and not make the mistake regarding as risk or enemy. Despite the fact that China is not interested in separating (nor being cut off) the western world, it is just not a good idea for the whole world to separate 20% of the world's population from the rest. I love the concept of embracing differences (rather than fighting them). Is China different? Yes. Is it difficult to understand? Yes (it is a huge and complex country/culture). Is that a good thing? YES!

Stay tuned.


#china #hongkong #shenzhen #innovation #inspiration #tour #explore #factfinding #cultureofprogress #speed #exponentialchange #future

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