01 / Your purpose
What do you need to learn?
Tell us your sectors, business questions, group size, dates and working language. The brief is a study programme: market observation and practitioner discussions, not deal brokerage or investment advice.
Tech & Business China · Shanghai — Hangzhou — Shenzhen
Understand the system
from inside it.
A study programme, not a sightseeing tour with factory visits bolted on. AI, EVs, robotics, livestream commerce and the supply chain that ships the world — on the ground where it happens, with people who can explain it, and the culture and kitchens of three great cities after dark.
Shenzhen Bay at last light — the skyline that forty years ago was farmland.
30-day visa-free entry for most European passports is valid through 31 December 2026. Russia has a separate deadline of 31 December 2027. Check the deadline and entry conditions for your passport before committing to travel. Details
From your question to a confirmed programme
Purpose. Possible visits. Written confirmation.
Start with what you need to understand. A company, laboratory or speaker mentioned in a sample route is not guaranteed access: host consent, availability and written confirmation come first.
02 / Possible formats
Match the visit to the question.
Public showrooms and markets, interpreted discussions, or requested company and lab visits can serve different purposes. Closed-door sessions and specialists depend on host consent and availability; alternatives are discussed with you.
03 / Confirmed scope
Keep pending requests visible.
The written proposal separates confirmed services from open requests. It states visit format, language, service hours, hosting, hotels and transport, plus itemised specialist costs and cancellation conditions.
We coordinate and interpret visits; we do not guarantee meetings with particular executives or commercial results. If a confirmed visit changes, we explain the available alternative and its price implications before seeking your agreement.
Tell us your business question →At a glance — reviewed October 2026
- What this isA private China tech tour and business study programme — company, lab and market visits with professional business interpretation, not a sightseeing tour with factory visits bolted on.
- Who it’s forFounders, investors, senior professionals — and private business delegations of 4–8 participants.
- Length & route6 days / 5 nights: Shanghai → Hangzhou → Shenzhen — the new-consumer, e-commerce and hardware capitals, linked by first-class rail and one flight south.
- Price basisFrom €6,000 per person at six participants, land arrangements; programme design fee from €3,000 per group. International flights stay with you — from Europe typically €700–1,100 return.
- Access honestyNamed visits depend on host consent and availability. The written proposal distinguishes confirmed services from pending requests.
A sample programme
Six days, three capitals of the new economy
Themes are chosen with you — this example follows commerce and hardware. Travel professionals building their own programmes run on the same licensed ground operation — see our China ground-handling and DMC guide.
- Day 1
Arrive Shanghai — reading modern China
Private welcome. Evening briefing over dinner: how Chinese consumer tech actually works, and how to read what you’ll see this week. A working briefing, not a slideshow — questions welcome.
- Day 2
Shanghai — the new consumer
A guided working visit to a tech-driven grocery format and a livestream commerce studio; the Bund and Xuhui riverfront as the backdrop. Evening: Shanghai dining, properly ordered.
- Day 3
To Hangzhou — the e-commerce ecosystem
First-class rail to Hangzhou. The e-commerce value chain on the ground: platform economy, logistics and digital retail explained by practitioners, in showrooms and incubators where access is granted. West Lake at dusk.
- Day 4
Hangzhou — AI and robotics
Company and lab visits where available, plus a requested discussion with a founder or investor, subject to written confirmation. What’s hype, what ships, and why it’s fast here.
- Day 5
To Shenzhen — the hardware city
Flight south. Huaqiangbei electronics market with a sourcing expert (this alone rewrites most visitors’ assumptions), then the EV question experienced, not discussed: vehicles from leading Chinese makers, experienced from the passenger seat, exactly as you would ride on our journeys.
- Day 6
Shenzhen — wrap and depart
Morning session on manufacturing and policy reality; synthesis of the week into your notes; private transfers to Shenzhen or Hong Kong airports.
Photo: King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Samson Ng, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Fit & format
Who this trip is for — and what a tech visit day looks like
A networking trip in the literal sense: groups of 4–8 — a founding team, an investment partnership, a professional delegation — travel privately, and every conversation on the itinerary is arranged around your brief.
The shape of a visit day
Morning: a confirmed working visit — a company, showroom, lab or studio, with a host prepared for your questions and our business interpreter beside you. Lunch doubles as the debrief. Afternoon: a second visit, or the market itself — Huaqiangbei’s electronics floors with a sourcing expert, a livestream commerce studio, the EV question taken as a test drive where that can be arranged. Evenings belong to the city you are in — the Bund, West Lake, Shenzhen Bay — because the culture and the kitchens are part of understanding the market, not a break from it.
On factory visits and sourcing, one honest line
We arrange and interpret working visits wherever access is honestly granted. What we do not do: broker deals, promise meetings with specific executives, or take positions on investments. If your brief goes further — supplier scouting, a sourcing programme of your own — that becomes a custom-designed programme, quoted on the same itemised basis. And if you organise travel professionally — delegations, association groups, company programmes — the same licensed ground operation is available through our travel professionals channel.
Who this programme is not for
Better said here than discovered on day two. Leisure-first travellers — the monuments of these three cities are present but deliberately peripheral; if the Forbidden City is the point, Classic China serves you better. Groups over eight — the rooms we get into do not stretch to larger delegations, and we would rather tell you that now than watch a boardroom visit turn into a lecture hall. Anyone seeking a guaranteed audience — if your trip depends on meeting a specific named company or executive, no honest operator can promise that before contracts are signed, and we won’t pretend otherwise. And shopping-led sourcing trips — we escort and interpret; the moment the brief becomes deal-making, it is a different engagement, quoted separately.
Your ride
New-energy fleet, private driver — planned like everything else
You’re coming to read China’s EV lead; you may as well ride in the evidence. It rides on a luxury new-energy fleet — Denza D9 腾势D9 MPVs and the Zeekr 9X 极氪9X flagship SUV — so the first thing you notice is the quiet under the conversation, and the second row is built for adults, not apologies. Cars are sized to real luggage, with cases riding inside, and charging stops are planned into the pacing — a coffee, a leg-stretch — never sprung on you. The ground rules are written down: non-smoking drivers, water on board, no “factory visits”. And to be plain: you never drive. International driving permits aren’t valid in China, and between unfamiliar road rules, liability that works differently to home, and left-/right-side habits from years of driving, the wheel is where trips go wrong — so a professional driver is always included. That’s policy, not an upsell. Below: the actual models, because we’d rather show you those than a stock limousine.
Photo: Bene Riobó, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: AutoLab, CC BY 3.0.
How it’s priced
Pricing — transparent, itemised, no theatre
| Component | Guide price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Per participant (6 pax example) | €6,000 | Hotels, transport, hosting, interpretation, cultural programme |
| Programme design fee, per group | €3,000 | Theme research, route design, resource organisation |
| Specialist access | cost + 20–25% | Experts, venues, closed-door sessions — itemised in writing |
Before any payment: we set out the scope, price, contracting party, cancellation terms and applicable protection in writing. For travellers resident in the EU, we accept itinerary enquiries only until the relevant contracting and insolvency-protection requirements are satisfied; we do not accept bookings or deposits. Client funds and travel cover →
See this route priced for your dates — itemised quote within one working day →
Worried about the what-ifs? Illness, lost passports, missed trains — our written playbooks are public.
International flights from Europe typically add €700–1,100 return per person — our prices are land-only, so you book the fares that suit you.
Our promises have edges. We do not guarantee meetings with specific
executives, we take no position on investment, and we stay clear of politically
sensitive territory. What we guarantee: honest access, professional interpretation,
and a programme that treats your intelligence with respect. Your guide is matched to your language — English or German as standard, French or Spanish on request and confirmed before booking.
On the leisure side of the house, the same quoting discipline is written down in how private-tour pricing in China actually works — one land price, flights separate, exclusions stated before you pay.
Reading this far?
The next step costs nothing: a free 30-minute call with the person who would actually plan this programme — bring the questions this page didn't answer.
China tech tour FAQ — asked and answered honestly
Who is a China tech tour like this designed for?
Founders, investors and senior professionals — and private business delegations of four to eight participants who want the tech system explained from inside it. It is a study programme, not a leisure tour: themes are chosen with you before booking, and every visit is interpreted commercially as well as technically.
Can you arrange company, factory and market visits in China?
Yes — working visits are the core of the programme: companies, showrooms, labs, studios and markets such as the Huaqiangbei electronics market with a sourcing expert. Visits depend on host consent and availability; the written proposal separates confirmed services from pending requests. We escort and interpret; we do not broker deals.
Is this a networking trip or a sightseeing tour?
Networking first. The days are designed around working visits and practitioner discussions, subject to host consent and written confirmation; the culture and kitchens of Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenzhen fill the evenings. Your group of 4–8 travels privately.
What does a private China tech tour cost?
From €6,000 per person at six participants for the six-day land programme, plus a programme design fee from €3,000 per group. Specialist access such as closed-door sessions is itemised at cost plus 20–25%. International flights are not included; from Europe they typically add €700–1,100 return per person.
And if something does go wrong on the road — illness, a lost passport, a missed train — our published what-happens-if protocols say who does what, hour by hour, before you ever need them.
A useful final evening
Bring the week back to your own questions.
The programme is designed to leave room for a final debrief: compare the visits with your original brief, separate what you observed from what still needs checking, and identify useful follow-up questions. That is a planning aim, not a promise of commercial results.
See how we clarify pace and service scope in our anonymous leisure-trip planning conversations. These are design references, not completed business-trip case studies.
Start here
Tell us what you’re trying to understand.
An hour of conversation usually tells us whether this is the right programme for your group — and what we’d build for you.
Coming this year, thinking about someday, or simply curious — all equally welcome, at any stage. Prefer your own email app instead of a form? hello@privatechinajourneys.com reaches exactly the same person.