NoisebridgeChinaTrip8
NOISEBRIDGE HACKER TRIP TO CHINA #8
-- Start Date: 27-October-2018, in Beijing
-- End Date: 16-November-2018, in Shenzhen
The start and end dates and cities for this year's Hacker Trip To China are now set!
Start: 27-October-2018, in Beijing
End: 16-November-2018, in Shenzhen
Previous Hacker Trips To China
- This will be the 8th Noisebridge Hacker Trip To China.
- (Though the start and end dates are now set, and the start and end cities are now set, the itinerary will be an outline and open to change.)
- This will be the 8th Noisebridge Hacker Trip To China.
- In previous years' Hacker Trips To China, we've visited cities that currently have a hackerspace, visited my manufacturer, Seeed Studio, and other manufacturers. We also visited Tsinghua University, considered the most prestigious university in China, and other schools -- all of which have now starting hackerspaces. China continues to explode with hackerspaces! We also went to the International Exhibition of Inventions Kunshan (IEIK 2014), near Shanghai. And everywhere we went, we were shown around by local geeks, to see what they thought was interesting where they live. Also, wherever we went, those of us interested gave talks, presentations, workshops, and demos. In 2017 we gave presentations at: Maker Bay and Dim Sum Labs in Hong Kong; at HAX, x.Factory, and Lab0x0 in Shenzhen; at Niba Makerspace and for the mayor of Xi'an in Xi'an; at Tsinghua University's iCenter and Beijing LUG in Beijing, and at DFRobot (an open hardware company in Shanghai), Mushroom Cloud, and XinCheJian hackerspcae in Shanghai.
- In previous years' Hacker Trips To China, we've visited cities that currently have a hackerspace, visited my manufacturer, Seeed Studio, and other manufacturers. We also visited Tsinghua University, considered the most prestigious university in China, and other schools -- all of which have now starting hackerspaces. China continues to explode with hackerspaces! We also went to the International Exhibition of Inventions Kunshan (IEIK 2014), near Shanghai. And everywhere we went, we were shown around by local geeks, to see what they thought was interesting where they live. Also, wherever we went, those of us interested gave talks, presentations, workshops, and demos. In 2017 we gave presentations at: Maker Bay and Dim Sum Labs in Hong Kong; at HAX, x.Factory, and Lab0x0 in Shenzhen; at Niba Makerspace and for the mayor of Xi'an in Xi'an; at Tsinghua University's iCenter and Beijing LUG in Beijing, and at DFRobot (an open hardware company in Shanghai), Mushroom Cloud, and XinCheJian hackerspcae in Shanghai.
- You can see info from the previous Trips:
- Hacker Trip To China 2009
- Hacker Trip To China 2011
- Hacker Trip To China 2013
- Hacker Trip To China 2014
- Hacker Trip To China 2015
- Hacker Trip To China 2016
- Hacker Trip To China 2017
- You can see info from the previous Trips:
- -- Mitch.
This year's Hacker Trip To China
When: 27-Oct in Beijing
through
16-Nov in Shenzhen.
Flight, transportation, and hotel Info: We were each be on our own to book our own air fare to meet in our starting city, Beijing, on 27-October, and fly home from out ending city, Shenzhen, on 16-November. Of course, you can decide to come and go as you please.
I'll organized the itinerary and the hotels and other transport. I'll pay in advance for some of this, and you can pay me back when we're in China.
Where: In each of the cities we will go to, we'll visit some of their local hackerspace(s), and will be shown around by local geeks to see what interested them where they live. We'll also have plenty of time to do "normal" (and spectacular) tourist things too!
NOTE THAT THE INFO BELOW IS ONLY A BRIEF POSSIBLE OUTLINE:
Here's some possible places we might visit, leaving plenty of room for the serendipity that makes our Hacker Trip To China truly unique and memorable:
- We will start our trip by meeting in Beijing where we may visit Beijing Makerspace, and other hackerspaces. We'll also visit Tsinghua University, where they built the world's largest hackerspace last year (called the "iCenter"), and where I've been hacker in residence. Beijing has lots and lots of way amazing stuff to visit and be a part of!
- We may go to Xi'an next, where we will be shown the extensive amount of activity to encourage "innovation" there. We can give presentations at Niba Makerspace, where lots of way cool and interesting things are happening. Our hosts will also show us lots of local arts and cultural activities, as well as give us a tour of the 10,000 Terracotta Warriors.
- We may go to Chengdu from there, home of the panda bears, as well as another new Chinese "innovation" hub.
- We may then visit Shanghai. In Shanghai we will visit my manufacturer (Etonnet) that I have used for TV-B-Gone remote controls and NeuroDreamer sleep masks, where we will all get to see how products are made, from start to finish, learning how manufacturing works. We will also visit XinCheJian hackerspace in Shanghai, the coolest hackerspace in all of China. We can also visit companies started by hardware hacker geeks, such as DFRobot. We can also visit the Shanghai electronics mall (a smaller version of the famous electronics mall we will later visit in Shenzhen).
- We'll finish our Trip in Shenzhen, where we can visit Chaihuo Makerspace, SZDIY hackerspace, Litchee Lab, and a few other hackerspaces, some of which are real, and hundreds of which are new over-the-top bizarre government-started places where they want to create "the next Apple" (we won't visit them all!). We'll visit x.factory while we are in town, an interesting mix of hackerspace and incubator, where we will be welcomed for a Bring-A-Hack event, where anyone of us (for those who want to), along with the general public, can show off their projects. We will also visit Seeed Studio - the open source hardware company - to meet the cool folks there and to see their manufacturing facilities. We may meet with the founders of Dangerous Prototypes - another open source hardware company. We'll also visit other manufacturers, to see where all the things we use in our daily lives come from (such as springs, cables, PCBs, packaging, etc., etc.). We can also visit Dorabot, a Chinese robotics company comprised of people in the Shenzhen hackerspace scene. Of course, we'll also visit the famous (and totally awesome!) Huaqiangbei electronics market in Shenzhen (where, we may again be shown around by a professional buyer from Deal Extreme (dx.com). If the timing works out, we will go to the Shenzhen Maker Faire.
For most of us, our trip will end at the end of three weeks, as many people on our trip will fly home from our last city, Shenzhen, on 16-November. But, since Hong Kong is just over the border from mainland China, some of us will go there to fly home (since it is cheaper, and since Hong Kong is a way cool city).
Of course, everyone is free to arrive and leave whenever you like for the Hacker Trip To China.
Cost: For the Hacker Trip To China 2017, I paid $2,656 total (for 4 weeks), including air fare from SF, food, lodging, transportation, a new smart phone, a bunch of new clothing, and everything.
As in past years, part of this year's trip may be paid for by Tsinghua University and other hosts that invite us to give presentations.
#hashtag: #httc2018 (Hacker Trip To China 2018)
Itinerary outline for Hacker Trip to China 8
NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INFO IS ONLY A POSSIBLE OUTLINE
The start and end dates are set, the start and end cities are set, but the rest of the itinerary is open to serendipity:
26-October-2017 -- Leave home for Beijing (arrive in Beijing on 27-October) 27-October-2017 -- We all meet in Beijing -- hotel: various [TBD] 27-October to 2-November -- Beijing 27-October, 8pm: Group dinner 2-November -- train to Xi'an 2-November to 5-November -- Xi'an 5-November -- train to Chengdu 5-November to 7-November -- Chengdu 8-November -- train to Shanghai 7-November to 10-November -- Shanghai 10-November -- train to Shenzhen 10-November to 16-November -- Shenzhen 16-November -- fly home (arrive NA or EU on same day)
One of the two Noah's who were on the HTTC2017 wrote this very useful guide!
Hong Kong Guide
Photos from Hacker Trip To China 2017
Mitch's photos from Hong Kong, Oct-2017
Mitch's photos from Shenzhen, Oct-2017
Mitch's photos from Xi'an, Oct-2017
Mitch's photos from Beijing, Oct-2017
Mitch's photos from Shanghai, Oct-2017
Mitch's photos from Beijing Set 2, Oct-2017
Mitch's photos for HTTC 2017 all in one place
Photos from Hacker Trip To China 2016
Mitch's photos from Shanghai, Oct-2016
Mitch's photos from Zhengzhou, Oct-2016
Mitch's photos from Shenzhen, Oct-2016
Mitch's photos from Beijing, Oct-2016
Mitch's photos from Hangzhou, Oct-2016
Mitch's photos from Beijing Set 2, Oct-2016
Mitch's photos for HTTC 2016 all in one place
Photos from Hacker Trip to China 2015
Mitch's photos from Hong Kong, Oct-2015
Mitch's photos from Shenzhen, Oct-2015
Mitch's photos from Shanghai, Oct-2015
Mitch's photos from Beijing, Oct-2015
Mitch's photos from YiWu & Hangzhou, Oct-2015
Mitch's photos from Beijing Set 2, Oct-2015
Mitch's photos from Shanghai & Suzhou, Oct-2015
Mitch's photos for HTTC 2015 all in one place
Blake's photos:
Torrey's photos from Hong Kong
Torrey's photos from Shenzhen
Torrey's photos from Beijing
Torrey's photos from Shanghai
Photos from Hacker Trip to China 2014
Mitch's photos from Beijing, Nov-2014
Mitch's photos from Shanghai, Nov-2014
Mitch's photos from Shenzhen, Nov-2014
Mitch's photos from Kunshan, Nov-2014
Mitch's photos from Shanghai (2), Nov-2014
Mitch's photos from Beijing (2), Nov-2014
Mitch's photos from Tianjin, Nov-2014
Mitch's photos from Beijing (3), Nov-2014
Mitch's photos from Singapore, Dec-2014
Mitch's photos for HTTC 2014 all in one place
You will Need a Chinese Visa!!
To go to China, you needed to get a visa!
Everyone should get a multiple-entry Tourist L visa (if you only get a single-entry visa, you'll be fine, but you won't have as many options, such as going in and out of Shenzhen to Hong Kong).
- And to get a visa, you need to have a passport that is valid at least 12 months after you planned to fly away from China (so, e.g., if you are leaving China on 28-October-2017, then your passport needs to be valid through 27-October-2017). Your passport must also have at least one entirely blank page.
- You also need:
- a printout of a filled-out Visa Application Form V. 2013 of the People's Republic of China (after we have everything we need I'll email you my filled out form as an example to follow).
- a copy of the information pages of your passport.
- a copy of your most Chinese visa (if you have been to China before).
- one 2"x2" recent color photo (not a printout).
- a screenshot or printout of hotel reservation confirmation (I'll email this to you when I have this).
- a copy of your airline tickets (both to and from China).
- For US citizens, the visa cost $140 (much cheaper for other nationalities). Starting this year, US citizens can get a multiple-entry visa, good for 10 years. We should all apply for a Tourist L visa.
You can pay the fee by Visa, MasterCard, Money Order, Cashier's Check or Company Check. Cash or Personal checks are not acceptable.
To get a visa, you can go to your local Chinese consulate. No appointment is required. You go in one day, and it will be ready for pick up 4 business days later. My experience is that it takes about an hour the first day, and takes only a few minutes to pick up the visa a few days later. (2 to 3 business-day and 1 business day/same-day express service is available for $20 or $30.)
NOTE: The Chinese consulates are all closed for Chinese holidays! Please check the dates! For 2017 these dates were: 27-30 January, 29-30 May, 30-May, 9-June, 4-July, 4-September, 2-October, 9-October and other dates:
2017 Chinese Consulate Holiday Schedule
(Citizens of US and Europe do not need a separate visa for Hong Kong.)
Previous Noisebridge China Trips
If you're curious about the previous Noisebridge China Trips, they have their own wiki pages:
Hacker Trip To China 2009
That first Noisebridge China Trip was inspired by Bunny Huang's "geek tour".
Hacker Trip To China 2009
Hacker Trip To China 2011
Hacker Trip to China 2013
Hacker Trip to China 2014
Hacker Trip to China 2015
Hacker Trip to China 2016
Hacker Trip to China 2017
-- Mitch.
People interested in going on the Hacker Trip to China #8, 2018:
Below is a list of people interested in going on next year's Hacker Trip To China.
You do not need to be a member of Noisebridge to go on this trip!
Please email me if you have any questions, or if you would like to meet up with us on the trip:
mitch *AT* CornfieldElectronics *DOT* com
The trip is limited to 20 people total (including Mitch)
-- the first 19 people (after Mitch) who are either there already, or who bought tickets to meet in our Trip's starting city (TBD) on or before [date TBD] are the people who are in this Trip
(which probably means flying away from home on or before [date TBD minus one day]
Note: Many people have gotten good deals on their plane fares (including me) with the help of my friend Vlad at:
Flystein
Feel free to email me, and I'll send your email to Vlad, who will be happy to help you with your flights.
| Name | Purchased flight? | Flight info | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mitch Altman (Noisebridge, San Francisco, USA) | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 2 | Pan (Limassol Hackerspace, Cyprus) | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 3 | Pawel Ngei (Global Innovation Gathering, Poland) | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 4 | Star (Global Innovation Gathering, Poland / Kenya) | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 5 | T Vishwarath Reddy (Labyrinth Tech, Bangalore) | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 6 | Dimi[1] (Limassol Hackerspace, Cyprus) | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 7 | Mark Hellar (Hellar Studios) | no | Arrive: TBD' |
| 8 | Keir Winesmith (SFMOMA) | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 9 | Jay Mollica (SFMOMA) | no | Arrive: 'TBD |
| 10 | Alex C. | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 11 | Dru Nelson (Redwood City) | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 12 | Rita Wu | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 13 | Bruno Rafael Aricó | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 14 | Eduardo Padilha | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 15 | Fernanda Monteiro Lopes | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 16 | Gloria | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 17 | Paul Hamilton | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 18 | Diane Hamilton | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 19 | Daniel Armstrong | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 20 | Freeman Murray | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 21 | Mayank Malik | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 22 | Yana - Foreign Eye | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 23 | Felix (Germany) | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 24 | Max (Germany) | no | Arrive: TDB |
| 25 | Charles Lehner (Sudo Room) | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 26 | Marlus Araujo (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil) | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 27 | Adrian Kelly (Noisebridge) | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 28 | Michal Stefanow[2] (astralship, UK, Poland) | no | Arrive: TBD |
| 29 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 30 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 31 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 32 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 33 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 34 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 35 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 36 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 37 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 38 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 39 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |
| 40 | your name here | no | Arrive: your arrival info here |