NoisebridgeChinaTrip3

NOISEBRIDGE CHINA TRIP #3
-- Date TBD, but perhaps 3 weeks, starting end-of-April-2013

Trip #2 Visit to Petrochemical Univeristy, Beijing

Trip #2 Visit to Shanghai Rui Hao Machinery Equipment Manufacturing Co., Shanghai

Because the first two Noisebridge China Trip were so successful,
I am planning a third Hacker Trip To China, including all cities that currently have a hackerspace, and visiting my manufacturer and other manufacturers. We will start the trip at the Beijing Maker Carnival (their version of a Maker Faire), and everywhere we go we will be shown around by local geeks, to see what they think is interesting where they live.

When: TBD, but 3 weeks, perhaps beginning end-of-April-2013.

Flight, transportation, and hotel Info: We'll each be on our own to book our own air fare to the meeting point on the meeting day in Beijing (to be part of the Maker Carnival, if it happens).

I'm organizing the itinerary and the hotels and other transport. I will pay in advance for all of this. You pay me back.

Where: In each of the cities we go to we'll visit their local hackerspace(s), and be shown around by local geeks to see what interests them where they live. We'll also have plenty of time to do "normal" tourist things too -- and the places we'll be going have spectacular sights!

Here's some possible places we'll visit:

• Assuming it happens next year, we'll start our trip with Maker Carnival China 2013) in Beijing -- we'll have a booth there at the Carnival, so please bring a project (or many) to show off! We'll visit the Beijing Maxpace hackerspace.
  
• We'll go to Shanghai to visit my manufacturer (Etonnet) that I use for TV-B-Gone remote controls and NeuroDreamer sleep masks, where we'll all get to see how products are made, from start to finish, learning how manufacturing works. We'll also visit XinCheJian hackerspace in Shanghai, Onion Capsule Makerspace in nearby Hangzhou, and there will be time to visit the Shanghai electronics mall.
  
• We'll go to Guangzhou, Shenzhen for a few days to visit the Chaihuo Makerspace there, visit Seeed Studio, the open source hardware company, to meet the cool folks there and to see their manufacturing facilities. We'll also go to the famous electronics mall in Shenzhen.
  
• We'll explore Hong Kong, visiting DimsumLabs hackerspace.
  

We'll fly home from Hong Kong. (But, of course, you are free to leave whenever you like.)

Cost: For the second Noisebridge China trip, I paid about $2k total, including air fare from SF and food and everything.

Itinerary for Noisebridge China Trip 3

'?-April-2013 -- Leave home in NA or EU for Beijing
?-April-2013 -- Meet in Beijing next day after leaving
?-April to ?-April -- Beijing
?-May to ?-May -- Hangzhou
?-May to ?-May -- Shanghai
?-May to ?-May -- Ningbo
?-May to ?-May -- Shenzhen
?-May to ?-May -- Hong Kong
?-May-2013 -- fly home (arrive NA or EU on same day)

Photos from Hacker Trip to China #2

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Mitch's photos from Hong Kong
Mitch's photos from Shenzhen
Mitch's photos from Shanghai
Mitch's photos from Hangzhou
Mitch's photos from Beijing

Jacob's photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacobrosenthal/collections/72157629605815578/

You Need a Chinese Visa!!

To go to China you need to get a visa!

• And to get a visa, you need to have a passport that is valid at least 6 months after you plan to fly away from China (so, e.g., if you are leaving China on 24-April, then your passport needs to be valid through 25-October-2013). Your passport must also have at least one entirely blank page.

• You also need a copy of the information pages of your passport.

• You also need one 2"x2" recent color photo (not a printout).

• For US citizens, the visa costs $140 (much cheaper for other nationalities). You can get a single-entry, or a multiple-entry visa. I recommend getting a multiple-entry visa since multiple-entry visas cost the same as single-entry, and they are equally easy to obtain. I recommend getting a Tourist L visa, which is very easy.

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 (which are all closed on 23-Jan and 24-Jan for Chinese New Year). 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 avaliable for $20 or $30.)

(Citizens of US and Europe do not need a separate visa for Hong Kong.)

Here is the application form for the China Tourist L Visa:
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/ywzn/lsyw/vpna/rap/W020110823124017412067.pdf

On this form, most of the fields are obvious.

• For section 2.1, check "Tourism".
• The date of first entry in section 2.3 is the date we will be entering China, which is 2013-04-??.
• Addresses for section 2.5
  • Sitting On The City Walls Courtyard House, No.57, NianZi HuTong, JingShanHouJie, DongCheng District, Beijing, 100009
    -- phone: 010-64027805
  • Shanghai Hanting Season Hotel, No.1018 Kangding Road, Shanghai, China 200040
    -- phone: 021-62307755
    
  • Holiday Inn DongHua jiaYue, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Shandong Building, Nanhai Road, East Park, Block D
    -- phone: 0755-26569999
• Name of inviter in section 2.8:
  

          Wang Yong
          Room 1202, Building #42
          588 South LianHua Road (Ming Hang)
          Shanghai, 201100
          Tel: 021-54296820 or 13795204960

• Name of contact in section 2.9, use the same info as in section 2.8

Previous Noisebridge China Trips

If you're curious about the previous Noisebridge China Trips, they have their own wiki pages:
Noisebridge China Trip 1
          That first Noisebridge China Trip was inspired by Bunny Huang's "geek tour".

Noisebridge China Trip 2

-- Mitch.

People interested in going on the Hacker Trip to China in 2013:

You do not need to be a member of Noisebridge to go on this trip.

Please email me if you are interested in joining us:
mitch *AT* CornfieldElectronics *DOT* com

The trip is limited to 10 people total (including Mitch), so the first 9 people on this list (after Mitch) who buy their plane tickets will be able to join us:

	Name	Purchased flight?	Flight info
1	Mitch Altman	no	Arriving: ?-Apr-12 ??:?? on United UA???
2	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
3	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
4	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
5	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
6	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
7	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
8	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
9	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
10	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
11	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
12	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
13	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
14	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here
15	your name here	no	Arriving: your arrival date, time, and flight # here