NoisebridgeChinaTrip4: Difference between revisions

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          -- 12-Nov: visit Seeed Studio and other factories  
          -- 12-Nov: visit Seeed Studio and other factories  
               7pm: presentation at Chaihuo Hackerspace
               7pm: presentation at Chaihuo Hackerspace
          -- 13-Nov, 7pm: visit [http://szdiy.org SZ DIY hackerspace]
          -- 13-Nov,?pm: visit Huaqianbei electronics markets with the buyer of DealExtreme
             7pm: visit [http://szdiy.org SZ DIY hackerspace]
          -- 13th/14th: HAXLR8R
          -- 13th/14th: HAXLR8R
  15-November to 18-November -- Shanghai
  15-November to 18-November -- Shanghai

Revision as of 07:19, 9 November 2014

NOISEBRIDGE CHINA TRIP #4
-- Start Date: 3-November-2014, in Beijing
-- End Date: 24-November-2014, in Shanghai

Trip #3 Kung Fu Hacking: Hackers In Residence Kickoff event at Tsinghua University, Beijing
Trip #2 Visit to Petrochemical Univeristy, Beijing
Trip #1 Jingshan Park, Beijing
Trip #1 Visit to injection molding factory, Shanghai

Because the first three Noisebridge China Trip were so successful,
I am planning a fourth Hacker Trip To China, including all cities that currently have a hackerspace, and visiting my manufacturer, Seeed Studio, and other manufacturers. We will also be visiting Tsinghua University, considered the most prestigious university in China, and probably some other schools -- all of which want to start a hackerspace. We will also go to the International Exhibition of Inventions Kunshan (IEIK 2014), near Shanghai. And everywhere we go we will be shown around by local geeks, to see what they think is interesting where they live.


When: 3-November-2014 (Beijing) through 24-November-2014 (Shanghai).

Flight, transportation, and hotel Info: We'll each be on our own to book our own air fare to meet in Beijing on 3-November, and fly home from Shanghai on 24-November (or from wherever you decide to fly home from).

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:

  • We'll start our trip in Beijing. We'll visit the Beijing Maxpace hackerspace. We'll also visit Tsinghua University. We can all give presentations and workshops (if you like).
  • We'll go to Shenzhen / Guangzhou for a few days to visit Chaihuo Makerspace and SZDIY hackerspaces, visit Seeed Studio, the open source hardware company, to meet the cool folks there and to see their manufacturing facilities, and visit with Dangerous Prototypes, another open source hardware company. We'll also go to the famous (and totally awesome!) Huaqiangbei electronics market in Shenzhen.
  • 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 Kunshan, which is supposed to be a beautiful city, near Shanghai, to go to the International Exhibition of Inventions Kunshan (IEIK 2014), which is a huge Maker-Faire-ish event where we will have a table to show off stuff, if you like.

I will go on from Shanghai, eventually back to Beijing, where I'll fly to Singapore on 1-December. I'll be part of a mini-maker-fair-ish set of events there that go on for several days, organized by Singapore Makers, and fly home from Singapore to San Francisco on 11-December. Everyone is welcome to join me for any or all of these further advantures. (And, of course, you are free to leave whenever you like.)


Cost: For the third Noisebridge China trip, I paid about $2k total, including air fare from SF and food and everything -- including all the electronics stuff that I bought.
It is possible that part of our trip will be paid for by Tsinghua and IEIK 2014).


#hashtag: #httc2014      (Hacker Trip To China 2014)


Tentative Itinerary sketch for Hacker Trip to China 4

2-November-2014 -- Leave home for Beijing
3-November-2014 -- Meet in Beijing
3-November to 10-November -- Beijing 
        -- 6-Nov, 11am: visit with WW
        -- 7-Nov, 7pm-9pm: THU Makerspace workshop
        -- 8-Nov,2pm: Beijing Makerspace workshop 
        -- 9-Nov, 3pm: Swarm Agent Club presentation
10-November to 15-November -- Shenzhen / Guangzhou 
        -- 10-Nov, 6:30pm: Big group dinner at Yunlaiju Vegetarian Restaurant 
        -- 11-Nov: Tsinghua/UC-Berkeley Shenzhen event
             8pm: Chaihuo presentations
        -- 12-Nov: visit Seeed Studio and other factories 
             7pm: presentation at Chaihuo Hackerspace
        -- 13-Nov,?pm: visit Huaqianbei electronics markets with the buyer of DealExtreme 
             7pm: visit SZ DIY hackerspace
        -- 13th/14th: HAXLR8R
15-November to 18-November -- Shanghai
        -- 16-Nov, 2pm: Arduino For Total Newbies workshop, at XinCheJian 
18-November to 21-November -- Kunshan
        -- 18-Nov: check into Kunshan hotel
        -- 19-Nov: 9am: Kunshan Maker Carnival opening ceremony. 
              10am: projects at our booth
        -- 20-Nov: 10am projects at our booth. 
              4pm-5pm: round-table discussion on the theme "China and US Maker" 
              (exhibition hall floor 2 meeting room 206)
21-November to 24-November -- Shanghai
24-November-2014 -- fly home (arrive NA or EU on same day)

Everyone is welcome to join me for any or all adventures after 24-November

I'll continue to stay in China, eventually getting back to Beijing, where I'll fly to Singapore:

1-December to 11-December -- Singapore
11-December-2014 -- fly home

Photos from Hacker Trip to China #3

Mitch's photos from Beijing, Sep-2013
Mitch's photos from Beijing Oct-2013
Mitch's photos from Shenzhen, Oct-2013
Mitch's photos from Shanghai, Oct-2013
Mitch's photos from Beijing 2, Oct-2013
Mitch's photos from Beijing, Nov-2013


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 printout of a filled-out Visa Application Form V. 2013 of the People's Republic of China (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).
    • a printout of your invite letter (I'll email this to you).
    • a copy of your airline ticket.
  • 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 valid for 1 year, 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 (same as the link given above):
http://www.chinaconsulatesf.org/chn/qianzhen/zgqz/P020130828366275572026.pdf

I'll email you my filled out form as an example to follow -- but here is the basic idea:

On this form, most of the fields are obvious.

  • For section 2.1, check "Tourism".
  • The date of first entry in section 2.4 is the date we will be entering China, which is 2014-11-03.
  • Longest intended stay -- section 2.5: 30 days.
  • Itinerary in China -- section 2.6:
    • Date: 3-11-2014
    • Address:
      • Orange Hotel Beijing Zhongguancun
      • 北京市海淀区北下关街道皂君庙甲7号
  • Who will pay -- section 2.7: myself
  • Information of inviter in China -- section 2.8:

          Name: Xia Hui Dong
          Address: Shun De Building #410, Haidian District, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084
          Phone number: +86 186-1832-8671
          Relationship with applicant: host

  • For sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5: check the "No" box for all these
  • For sections 3.6, 3.7, 3.8: leave all these blank

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

Hacker Trip to China 3


-- Mitch.



People interested in going on the Hacker Trip to China #4, 2014:

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 to arrive in Beijing on or before 3-November will be able to join us (this probably means leaving your home on 2-November):

Name Purchased flight? Flight info
1 Mitch Altman yes Arriving: 1-November-2014, 4:25pm, on United UA889 from SFO
2 Jeff Putney yes Arriving: 3-November-2014, 4:50pm, on Air Canada AC031 from YYZ
3 Rachel McConnell yes Arriving: 3-November-2014, 4:00pm, on Air Canada flight AC029 from YVR
4 Zimmer Barnes yes Arriving: 1-November-2014, 4:25pm, on United flight UA889 from SFO
5 Leandro Pereira yes Arriving: 3-November-2014, 6:15am, on Air China CA966 from FRA
        (didn't apply for Chinese visa in time)
6 Luis Felipe R. Murillo yes Arriving: 1-November-2014, 6:50pm, on Hainan Airlines HU0482 from BOS
7 Liz Cole yes Arriving: 3-November-2014, 7:25pm, on American Airlines AA187 from ORD
8 Adam Williams yes Arriving: 13-November-2014
9 Cedric Honnet yes Arriving: 3-November-2014, 6:55am, on China Southern Airlines KL4303 from Amsterdam
10 herr flupke yes Arriving: 12-November-2014 in Shenzhen, 4:40pm, on Air China CA1303 from Beijing
11 Charles Paul yes Arriving: 5-November-2014
        (only with group through 6-November)
12 Rachael Turner yes Arriving: 9-November-2014 in Hong Kong on Qatar Airways QR0816 from Manchester/Doha (Then 10-11-14 in Shenzhen)
        (only with group through 15-November)
13 Asa Calow yes Arriving: 9-November-2014 in Hong Kong on Qatar Airways QR0816 from Manchester/Doha (Then 10-11-14 in Shenzhen)
        (only with group through 15-November)