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.
TL;DR — as of August 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 honestyEvery visit is confirmed individually before booking — we never promise access we can’t deliver.
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 closed-door conversation with a founder or investor from our network. 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
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 |
Your payments, our terms: a €250 deposit per person locks your dates — full refund 45 days out, one free date change, balance only 60 days before travel. Insolvency insurance is not yet in place — see exactly how it works →
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.
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. Every visit is confirmed individually before you book, and we never promise access we cannot deliver. We escort and interpret; we do not broker deals.
Is this a networking trip or a sightseeing tour?
Networking first. The days are built around working visits and closed-door conversations with founders and investors from our network; 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.
The last evening
The moment the questions change
Somewhere around day five it happens to every group we host: the question at dinner stops being “what does this cost?” and becomes “how do they ship on Friday?” You’re on the Shenzhen waterfront, the bay lights coming on opposite the city that was farmland when your career began, the week’s notes denser than any conference folder you’ve brought home — and the conversation is no longer about China as a subject. It’s about your own roadmap, argued against a skyline that is the counter-argument. That is the evening we build the whole programme toward.
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.