INSIGHT CHINA is prestigeous student project by the FHNW in its now 18th consecutive year and this year’s team strives to continue the successfull journey. A new edition of Insight China lies ahead with the topic “40 Years Opening and Reform in China” and the project team looks forward to broaden horizons of future graduates by organizing memorable seminars in Switzerland as well as in China.

We are looking forward to taking you with us on this journey!

Your Insight China Team 2019

Raphael Gehrig, Nadine Hitz, Michael Schaub, Pascal Neuhaus

Fellow students! Are you a disciplined and persistent person seeking an opportunity to challenge your managing skills?

Apply as a project manager for one of the most prestigious student projects of the FHNW – Insight China, Focus India, connectUS or exploreASEAN ! The deadline for the application is the 11 of May 2018!

A unique opportunity to grow and progress lies ahead of you!

You can find all the application information here!

By Jann Stutz and Julian Jorns

After a long day of travel from Shenzen to Shanghai and a quick trip to the world famous and impressive bund, day 15 of the on-sight seminar marked the first day of company visits in Shanghai. Exactly speaking, not Shanghai, but Suzhou, which is a city fairly close to the multimillion metropole. The Insight China delegation made its way to Suzhou early in the morning to see the beautiful Humble Administration Garden, where many pictures of the amazing pavilions, flowers, bridges and ponds were taken. To close off the morning activities, Insight China went to the Pingjiang Road, an Unesco World Heritage in the city of Suzhou, and enjoyed all the delicious street food offered there.

In the afternoon, we were invited for a company visit at Brugg Cables Southeast China in Suzhou. Mr Zhang, the CEO, warmly welcomed us with an introduction speech, held in German. Several presentations allowed us to gain insights into their ropes, belts and high voltage cables accessories productions. The theoretical part was followed by a tour through their production sites, which further explained the unique products. It was very interesting to learn about the highly developed operations of Brugg Cables, which have successfully established themselves in the global market. We were amazed to learn, that their products are of key importance to one of the biggest buildings in the world, for example the Empire State Building in New York. The day was rounded off by a wonderful dinner with employees of Brugg Cables. Together, we enjoyed delicious food, red wine and could exchange ourselves with each other.

By Michael Kayser and Philipp Leuenberger

After the days in Chengdu, getting in touch with China’s culture and a leisure Day in Shenzhen, the two company visits were on our today’s schedule.

In the morning the delegation went to Tencent, the third largest global internet company around the world. There we had a tour in the exhibition hall.

The company was founded in 1998 and launched QQ, a free instant messenger, in 1999 and today, it counts more than 25 billion users. 2011 the Company launched WeChat. Up to now, more than one billion users are restarted for this messenger. WeChat is not only used for communication, it is also used for payments, doing appointments with doctors and rate them or donate money. Afterwards, we had lunch in the cantine of Tencent.

In the afternoon the delegation went to the offices of DJI. They are producing high-quality drones for the consumer and the professional market. A member of the Shenzhen Technology University (SZTU) showed us the different products and the company’s history. He explained how the drones developed from a “do it yourself” frame to a fully autonomous aircraft. He also showed the commercial grade drones who are used in movie production or the spraying of crops.

After the office tour, we went to a flagship store of DJI to see the drones in action. In a cage, an employee showed how easy they are to control. Some are even controllable by hand gestures which the drones process with AR (augmented reality).

After these very impressive company visits, we enjoyed an ice-cream to end the hot day.

Many thanks to Tencent and DJI for showing us their impressive businesses.

By Tobias Gerhard and Miranda Memeti

After a long and exhaustive bus trip the previous day, day 10 gave us the opportunity to relax a little bit. This day, a very special creature was the center of attention – the giant panda. An animal only living in China.

After leaving the hotel in the morning, our guide Susi took the chance and used the 40 minutes bus ride to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in order to teach us a few panda facts; did you know that pandas eat around 40 kilos of bamboo a day of which only 20% finally are digested? Or did you know that these days, there are only around 2000 pandas living in the wild? However, arrived at the research center we had to find our way through the massive crowd, which visited China on this particular public holiday. Despite the huge number of visitors, we saw them all eating their bamboo and simply being lazy; from the very little baby pandas to the grandma and grandpa pandas.

Other than planned, the afternoon was culturally influenced, too. After having lunch at the Jinli market, the delegation had the oportunity to buy souvenirs. However, it seemed that some of the delegation members were the most popular objects on the market. Pictures of us were taken constantly.

The evening was leisure time, but the mahlrity of the delegation took the opportunity to casually celebrate Lauro‘s acceptance at a Swedish university for his master‘s degree.